WATCH: Hedge Fund Billionaires Are Desperately Spending Money to Attack Bernie Sanders

[RiverLover]

A new advertisement released by Future 45 criticizes Sanders' proposed minimum wage increase and health care for all.

By Sarah Lazare / AlterNet
February 18, 2016


It is no surprise that hedge fund billionaires oppose Bernie Sanders, the U.S. senator and 2016 presidential hopeful who has proposed a .5 percent speculation tax and pledged to tackle wealth inequality.

A new article in the Intercept finds that hedge fund managers have banded together to form their own super PAC, called Future 45, and it has started launching attacks on the Sanders campaign. In a new advertisement circulating this week, Future 45 goes beyond the individual, taking aim at the very tenets of Sanders’ candidacy: a $15 minimum wage, free college and health care for all.

Woot! They're worried!!!!

Sucks for them that such a relatively small % of the population actually watches TV ads anymore.

[Jarqui]

1. The truth hurts

so does having to pay your fair share

[Gothmog]

10. This ad is designed to help Sanders not hurt him

So the ad that Clare McCaskill ran against Todd Akin was really to attack Akin and not to help him become the GOP nominee.

Karl Rove is also running ads for the benefit of Sanders because Rove like the Ricketts know that Sanders is the weakest possible Democratic nominee http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-karl-rove-attack

The Hillary Clinton campaign on Tuesday said that recent attacks from conservatives show that Republicans are hoping Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will win the Democratic nomination because they believe he would be easier to beat in the general election.

In a Tuesday evening statement, the Clinton campaign's communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, mentioned an ad from the Rove-aligned super PAC American Crossroads, which accused Clinton of being in Wall Street's pocket. Palmieri said the ad suggests that Republicans want to face Sanders in the general election.

"While Senator Sanders tries to make a case on electability based on meaningless polls, Republicans and their super PACs have made clear the candidate they’re actually afraid to face. The Sanders argument falls apart when the GOP spokesman is trying to help him and the Republicans run ads trying to stop Hillary Clinton in the primary," she said in the statement.

Clearly Karl Rove wants the weaker candidate to be the nominee as do the people running the ad mentioned in the OP

[Jarqui]

16. I got the ad the first time

I think what Rove is trying to do is drag this out so the Democratic coffers are spent. Just let them beat each other over the head for months, suck the enthusiasm out of their followers and drive a deeper stake between them two sets of followers.

Bernie wins Nevada, more folks are going to sit up and say "what is going on here?"

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Just to be clear, they think that is an ad AGAINST Bernie?

Oh sure, they toss in the usual scare tactics about 'job killing', but really, they do a great job of letting voters know Bernie wants a good minimum wage and 'free' healthcare and college.

[reformist2]

5. No, no, no. These ads could hurt him terribly.*

*Except I don't really think so at all - I agree with you, that these ads could end up backfiring... I just don't want the hedge funds to know that!

[Gothmog]

11. Rachel agrees with your analysis

Maddow does a great job of explaining why this was an ad supporting Sanders

[reformist2]

3. I wonder how the public will react to these ads...

... I have this odd feeling that any ad they put out will end up helping Bernie!

[RiverLover]

6. I hope so.

The "hurts small businesses" meme is effective, and something Clinton herself has used.

Despite~

3) Myth: An increase in the minimum wage is bad for employers

Paying a higher wage to employees can also help employers cut costs in other ways, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Beyond simple supply and demand theory,” reads a comprehensive report on the economics of raising the minimum wage, “increasing the minimum wage may also spur businesses to operate more efficiently and employees to work harder.”

Thus, the idea that employers are losers in the push to increase the minimum wage is baseless. Writing for the Department of Labor, small business owner Gina Schaefer explained it as such.

... “We value them as assets to the business because we know they are the people who are on the front lines with our customers. Higher wages lead to happier employees who stay with me longer, and reduce my turnover and training costs.”


It’s more expensive to hire and train new workers than it is to retain a long-term, loyal workforce. Workers win because they have more purchasing power, and employers win because they are more able to rely on a happy, productive workforce.


The 7 most dangerous myths about the fight for $15 minimum wage

[Gothmog]

12. Republicans Take Their Sanders Advocacy to the Next Level

This ad was designed to support Sanders just as McCaskill's ads against Todd Akin were designed to do http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-28/republicans-take-their-sanders-advocacy-to-the-next-level

Add Republican operatives to the list of strong Bernie Sanders supporters in the Democratic primary, along with progressive activists and young voters.

A super-PAC founded by Republican billionaire Joe Ricketts is making its first foray into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, spending $600,000 on a television ad in Iowa calling Sanders "too liberal," according to The New York Times.

The ad then spotlights two of the policies that have helped fuel his rise in the Democratic primary—his calls for "completely free" college education and more taxes on Wall Street and the "super-rich."

"It's exactly the same thing we did with Todd Akin," said Caitlin Legacki, who served as communications director to Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill's during her successful campaign in 2012. "They're clearly trying to use the exact same playbook."

Four years ago, McCaskill spent nearly $1 million in TV ads calling Akin "too conservative" in an effort to promote him, rather than his two opponents. He won the primary, then McCaskill trounced him on Election Day.

"More than anything that should be a concern for Democrats, because you don't make those kinds of investments in support of a candidate from another party unless you believe there's a good reason for it," Legacki added.

[hobbit709]

4. They should be more worried about this than a minuscule tax

[Gothmog]

13. Hillary Clinton attacks Todd Ricketts' super PAC over Sanders ad

This is an ad designed to help Sanders. Conservatives and the GOP do not fear sanders and want him to be the nominee and these same conservatives are scared of Clinton http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1283025/hillary-clinton-attacks-todd-ricketts-super-pac-sanders-ad

“And then just the other day, another billionaire, called Joe Ricketts puts up an ad to try to really muddy the waters to confuse Democrats about who has the toughest, most comprehensive plan,” Clinton said, referring to her Wall Street reform plans.

“I got to tell you. I do find this perversely flattering. But I also find it very instructive. Because if they weren’t afraid of me, they would be just sitting back just hoping I would get nominated. … They know me. They know I say what I mean. I mean to do what I say.”

“And I will never let them do what they did to us before. So they are trying to stop me before I get too far. Well, a lot of folks have tried to take me out before. And I am still standing.”

A Clinton spokesman, Nick Merrill, said after the event the Sanders assault was “sleight of hand” and its real intent was to “fire up his base.”

I am amused that Sanders supporters think that the conservatives are worried about Sanders being the nominee

[wilsonbooks]

7. This ad will backfire.

The more people are exposed to Bernie's ideas the more they like them.

[Gothmog]

14. Compare this ad used by McCaskill to fool stupid republicans into nominating weakest candidate

McCaskill used this ad to fool stupid republicans into supporting the weakest the possible general election candidate. The GOP is trying to return the favor. I hope that Democrats are smart enough to not fall for this trick

[Qutzupalotl]

8. Bernie is unapologetic about what he's doing and why.

He doesn't cower like they want him to. He embraces the democratic socialist label and higher taxes, primarily on the rich. If people are willing to listen to his actual words (with context), he can persuade a lot of them.

Even if none of his agenda passes, I want a guy like that making decisions on our behalf!

[Gothmog]

15. Look at this ad used by Clare McCaskill to fool dumb republicans

McCaskill used this add to select the weakest possible general election opponent to run against. The GOP is trying to pull the same trick on Democrats

Hopefully, Democrats will not fall for this trick. The GOP wants to run against the weakest possible general election candidate which is Sanders

[Qutzupalotl]

17. Clinton is the weakest GE candidate.

Her favorability numbers are UNDERWATER. That's deadly. Bernie beats more Republicans and by wider margins.

[Gothmog]

9. GOP’s anti-Sanders attack ad intended to help, not hurt, Sanders

Karl Rove is running the standard attack ads against Clinton but other GOP types are trying to help Sanders also. The ad mentioned in the OP is really designed to help Sanders and not hurt him. http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gops-anti-sanders-attack-ad-intended-help-not-hurt-sanders

About a month ago, a Republican super PAC launched a $600,000 ad buy that, on the surface, might have looked like an attack ad targeting Bernie Sanders. A closer look, however, made clear it was the opposite – the commercial, backed by a prominent Republican mega-donor, was actually trying to boost Sanders, not hurt him.

The ad called Sanders a “liberal” who supports tuition-free college, single-payer health care, and higher taxes on the “super-rich.” The intention was to boost Sanders in the Iowa caucuses, since Republicans see the Vermont senator as an easy target in the general election.

This week, it’s happening again. A group called Future 45 is running ads that, at first blush, seem critical. But the spots actually tout some of Sanders’ ideas that are popular with Democratic primary voters: an increase in the minimum wage, higher taxes on banks and corporations, tuition-free college, and universal health care.

And who’s Future 45? The Intercept reported yesterday:

Future 45 is [a super PAC] run by Brian O. Walsh, a longtime Republican operative who has in the past served as political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Most recently, he was president of the American Action Network, a dark money group that was the second-largest outside spender in 2010.

Over the last year, Future 45 has been funded primarily by hedge fund managers. Two billionaire Rubio-backers – Paul Singer, who runs Elliott Management, and Ken Griffin, who runs Citadel – have each contributed $250,000.

The overarching point is effectively the same as it was a month ago: Republicans are running anti-Sanders “attack” ads that are actually intended to help him, not hurt him.

As we discussed in the first go-around, this is part of a larger strategy in which Republican mega-donors try to manipulate Democratic voters because they see Sanders as a sure loser in November.

Karl Rove and the GOP mega donors know that Sanders is the weakest possible general election candidate and are running ads to help Sanders. The fact that some think that these ads are to hurt Sanders is sad but funny.

[GreatGazoo]

18. Awesome. Thank You Wiley Coyote ad agency !

I don't know what agency created that ad but it:

- will help even more people perceive Sanders as a viable alternative to HRC
- lays out his proposal to combat stagnant wages versus rising COL
- makes Bernie look every bit as honest as he is

If the end said "raise taxes....on Wall Street speculation" it could be a Sanders ad.