Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) refused to argue Sunday that rival Hillary Clinton should release transcripts of the speeches she gave to financial firms.
When asked CBS News “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson asked Sanders if Clinton should release the transcripts, the presidential candidate said it was up to his opponent.
“Yeah well a lot of people think you know that’s ultimately her
decision. I mean her point is that she’s given these speeches. My
understanding now is her campaign says she’s not going to release those
transcripts,” Sanders said. “That’s her decision. But I think it would be you know a positive thing for the American people to know what was said behind
closed doors.”
Oh Jesus H. Christ, are the “speech transcripts” now going to be a thing? The Clinton rules are in effect. Things other politicians do, like give paid speeches, must automatically be evil when a Clinton does it.
She gave speeches in front of auditoriums full of employees. She was paid, very handsomely, so the employees could feel in the know and probably get a selfie taken with Hillary Clinton. What nefarious thing is implied that she said at these speeches? It’s like the emails - release the emails, she must release her emails, they must be hiding something. Turns out it was her inability to program her Tivo.
Sounds like a big yes to me.
This is a kind of “inverse condemnation” a popular tool of career politicians; the sort that goes something like:
“Well, it’s not for me to say whether or not X should do/say/admit this or that. That’s between X and his/her conscience, but I will say that the public has a right to know; blah, blah, blah, transparency, glasnost, let the voter decide…”
Coy, much?
Yep…the BernieBros are convinced that she committed some great horror in this speech, and out for blood over it right now. They’ve seen her speeches to Wall Street leading up to the 08-09 collapse, but no…the real evil is being hidden in the speeches she have 4-5 years later.
What I find interesting is their antics have now hit the point where Bernie himself has had to weigh in and tell them to knock it off.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/07/3746988/bernie-sanders-tells-berniebros-to-knock-it-off-we-dont-want-that-crap/
I doubt it will have much impact however.
Of course he doesn’t want her to release the transcripts. Right now he’s putting forward straw man arguments to his heart’s content. If it turns out that there is nothing nefarious in her speeches (as I suspect is more likely than not) then he can no longer beat her over the head with it.
As always, the ball is in Hillary’s court. Team Clinton should have learned long before this that the perception of stonewalling only adds to the negative “trustworthy” rating. It’s a really stupid tactic if what Hillary said is innocuous. Perhaps the Team Clinton sees this as playing to her long suit of alleging conspiratorial persecution.
Senator Sanders is correct not to call for their release. What do Hillary supporters expect him to say: “No one cares about your damn speeches”?