It doesn’t matter what question you ask Bernie, he will use his answer as another opportunity to make the argument that what truly matters in this election (and our politics in general) is that rich people are fucking over everyone else. Not surprising from a liberal, especially a Democratic Socialist. That is the primary thesis of liberal economic populism.
It all comes down to the rich versus the people.
And in this primary, Bernie’s argument is that it all comes down to one candidate who is bought and paid for by the rich and one who has the courage to fight for the people.
According to Bernie, while he is the candidate of the people, Hillary is literally bought and paid for by the rich, so, you cannot trust her to serve the interests of the people.
Now, here’s what amazes me about this argument. It’s an open personal attack on Hillary’s character accusing her of being a liar and sellout. One that Bernie makes all the time, even to Hillary’s face in the debates. He doesn’t provide any evidence to back up his accusations. He just argues that anyone who takes donations or accepts speaking fees from rich people is obviously bought and paid for. And everyone who believes that this is a truth of politics simply accepts this as an obvious truth.
Hillary makes the exact same kind of argument against Bernie on gun regulations, pointing to his votes on guns as her evidence, and according to Bernie and his supporters, Hillary is shamelessly attacking his personal character and distorting his record.
Can anyone say double standard?
Certainly not Bernie nor his supporters, because when they accuse Hillary of being a liar who is going help the rich fuck over the people, they are just telling the truth.
It’s okay to make extreme accusations against someone’s character… if it’s the truth.
Except that the attacks aren’t substantiated. The only truth supporting the attacks on Hillary’s character are based on an ideological belief that politics comes down to a war between the rich and the people and either you are on one side or the other.
The truth is that Bernie has been playing the same old dirty political games he’s been claiming that he has never and will never play. He has been going after Hillary on her greatest weakness: the public perception that she is dishonest. A public perception created and cultivated over decades by the right.
Let’s talk about the knowable facts about Hillary in regards to her honesty. Hillary has told big fish stories. She has changed positions as public support has changed. And she’s has even been a little too self righteous talking about her new positions.
But none of this is atypical behavior. People tell fish stories. People change their positions and they get preachy about their new positions. Hillary may not be a saint and she may not have been a leader on issues she should have been. But she doesn’t deserve to be considered a dishonest untrustworthy public servant.
But that hasn’t stopped Bernie and his supporters from exploiting this public perception of Hilary and using to side step around having to provide actual evidence to support the accusations they are making against her character.
When Bernie made these accusations to her face in the last debate, she countered with the argument that Obama has taken as much money from the rich for his campaigns as she has and that Obama trusted her enough for her to be his Secretary of State. His response? Did he make the same accusations of Obama? No, he did not. He argued that he’s friends with Obama and thinks Obama is a wonderful person. And then he just made the argument against Hillary again and then left it at that.
Why? Why didn’t he make the same accusations of Obama? Doesn’t he undermine his accusations against Hillary if he’s unwilling to make them of Obama for the same thing?
No, because he wasn’t really making a fair accusation, he was just saying something that reminds voters that they don’t trust Hillary.
We all know about the poll. The first word that most Americans think when they think of Hillary is dishonest.
Bernie doesn’t need to make a legitimate or fair argument against Hillary. He just needs to go after he weakness. Fortunately for him, it’s easy to fit attacking her integrity nicely into what just sounds like his primary message for this campaign. HE isn’t corrupted by donations from the rich. But SHE has taken donations and do you really trust that she isn’t bought and paid for with those donations? Do you?
And all the while, Bernie gets to look like the nice guy who doesn’t engage in dirty politics.
The truth is that Bernie is shamelessly exploiting a weakness in Hillary that he knows for a fact she hasn’t earned. He knows that she has not proven to be any less trust worthy than Obama. Some of you may not think that means much, because you don’t trust Obama either, but Bernie does. He trusts Obama, despite the fact that his argument against Hillary should apply to Obama just as much. So, either Bernie is lying about Obama or he’s making an inconsistent unfair attack on Hillary just to punch her where she is the most vulnerable to be punched.
Now, as I wrote above, Hillary has used this same kind of attack on Bernie. She’s gone after Bernie on guns and even tried a few swipes on socialism. So, I am not arguing that Bernie is playing a dirty game while Hillary has been flying above the fray. She has been perfectly eager to punch Bernie in this primary.
Bernie and Hillary are playing the same game. And they are both playing to win. It’s not fair to point a finger at Bernie without pointing it at Hillary as well. But I am not really writing this to point fingers at either of them. I am writing this to point out that neither of them are running a saintly campaign just focused on the issues. They have both been punching at each others’ weaknesses.
But I will say one last thing about this public perception that Hillary is dishonest. I know that there are people on the left who think that she can’t possibly be trustworthy if she takes donations from the rich. And there are people on the right who think she can’t possibly be trustworthy, because they are crazy and stupid and also think she’s a murderer. But what is it that Hillary has done that makes the majority of Americans think of the word dishonest when they think of her? What has she really done?
I’ll tell you what I think she’s done that makes dishonest the first word the majority of Americans think of when they think of her.
Nothing.
She has done nothing.
I think that the reason that the first word that the majority of Americans think of when they think of Hillary is dishonest, is because the first thing they think of when they think of Hillary is her husband lying to the country about cheating on her.
I know that those of you who see Hillary through an ideological filter will scoff at that and probably ignore everything else in this diary and just write comments below mocking the idea.
But I think that everyone else who takes a moment to think will realize quickly that it’s the truth.
They’ll realize that it’s the truth, because they’ve seen it so many times before. A strong woman is cheated on by her charming husband and somehow his guilt gets assigned to her. She gets to walk around with the scarlet letter and he gets called a rascally old dog.
That’s exactly what happened to Hillary.
Everyone forgave Bill, but nobody believed that Hillary was being honest when she said that she forgave him. They couldn’t comprehend how she could be so publicly humiliated and betrayed and forgive. She had to be staying with Bill because she never really loved him, because she’s a shrew who just wanted power, but because she was a woman, she needed a man and and and… and the gossip has gone on and on since. The shitty gossip that always ultimately shames a woman for how a man hurts her.
The flip side of this is that even though the first word a majority of Americans think of when they think of Hillary is dishonest, it doesn’t mean that they won’t trust her as President. She’s the most qualified candidate between both parties and everyone knows it. They might not prefer her, but they do know that she would be a reliable President, which is why she’s still the odds on favorite to be the next President.