Why Bernie Sanders Should Talk A LOT More About Hillary Clinton And Goldman Sachs

[Purveyor]

By Chris Cillizza January 25 at 2:02 PM Follow @thefix

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. (Mic Smith/AP)
Bernie Sanders sat down for an interview with The Washington Post over the weekend. This is, by far, the most important thing he said in it:

I do not believe that you can get huge speaking fees from Goldman Sachs and then with a straight face tell the American people that you’re prepared to do what is necessary to take on the greed and illegal behavior on Wall Street. I don’t think people think that passes the laugh test. . . . Why do special powerful interests give you money? Are they dumb? I don’t think so.

That, in the space of 71 words, is Sanders's strongest closing argument against Clinton in this week leading up to the Iowa caucuses. It not only casts the difference between Clinton as consummate insider and Sanders as outsider-in-chief but also effectively raises the central question at the heart of this race: Can someone who has played the game for as long and as well as Clinton possibly be able to fundamentally change that game?

Then there's the more visceral hit that bringing up Clinton's speeches gets Sanders. The idea that Clinton was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Goldman Sachs and lots of other major corporations — here's a full-ish rundown of the $11 million Clinton earned from speeches in 2014 and the first three months of 2015 — suggests a level of access and elitism that many people will blanch at. Clinton got paid $200,000 for a single speech to Goldman Sachs; the average median family income in Iowa is just more than one-quarter of that ($53,712).

Then there's the fact that Clinton hasn't, really, found a good response to this line of attack from Sanders.

MORE...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/25/heres-bernie-sanders-best-closing-argument-against-hillary-clinton-in-iowa/

[RobertEarl]

1. with a straight face?

"" ... tell the American people that you’re prepared to do what is necessary to take on the greed and illegal behavior on Wall Street""

If she can make some DUers believe it, than she might get a few more votes somewhere. But if she tells the truth she'll lose even the few on DU. I feel her pain.

[global1]

2. I Know Bernie Won't Do It - But Maybe His Surrogates Or Supporters Can....

and that is demand that Hillary release the transcripts of her speeches to these groups and corporations. It is only reasonable that we the voters whom Hillary is asking us for our votes - find out whether she says the same things to these groups as she does to us.

Talking about 'the laugh test' - I understand that the other day somebody posed the question to her about releasing the transcripts of these speeches - and she just laughed and hurried away. Somebody should post that here again for all to see.

[global1]

3. Just Listen To What Trump Has To Say About Political Donations....

He says - "When you give - they do whatever the hell you want them to do." A speech is just a round about way of giving a donation.

[Skwmom]

5. No duh. It's really bad when Trump will tell the truth before a lot of Democrats. n/t

[Skwmom]

4. It's far more than just Goldman Sachs. Average Americans get it. n/t