Sheesh! Does the Democratic Party really want these guys back?

[eggman67]

Wouldn't thanks, but no thanks work?

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-trump-panicking-robert-kagan-15329

If Donald Trump, as seems more than likely, prevails in the GOP primary, then a number of neocons may defect to the Clinton campaign. Already Robert Kagan announced in the Washington Post on Thursday that he intends to back Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump receives the GOP nomination. The fact is that the loyalty of the neocons has always been to an ideology of American exceptionalism, not to a particular party.

The neoconservatives had their home in the Democratic Party in the 1960s. Then they marched rightward, in reaction to the rise of the adversary culture inside the Democratic Party. George McGovern’s run for the presidency in 1972, followed by the Jimmy Carter presidency, sent them into the arms of Ronald Reagan and the GOP.
But it wasn’t until the George W. Bush presidency that the neocons became the dominant foreign policy force inside the GOP. They promptly proceeded to wreck his presidency by championing the war in Iraq. Today, having wrecked it, they are now threatening to bolt the GOP and support Hillary Clinton rather than Donald Trump for the presidency.

Something like this scenario is what I predicted in the New York Times in July 2014. Trump wasn’t around then as a force inside the GOP. But already it seemed clear that some of the leading neocons such as Kagan were receptive to Clinton. Now, in a Washington Post column, Kagan has gone all in.

Should Clinton become the Democratic nominee and Trump the Republican one, a number of neocons may make common cause with Clinton. Watch Rubio’s ranks first.

[DJ13]

1. We would be screwed either way

The takeover of our party by the conservatives would be compete.

This really makes Bernie our last hope, doesnt it?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. The defection of those neo-con artists should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about Hillary.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2016!!!

[mikehiggins]

4. If she wins I fully expect Kissinger to be at the inauguration.

Unless, of course, he's dead by then. They could use a cut-out poster, then, like Trump does.

[NowSam]

31. Indeed it does.

The choice is clear. Civilized society or Cruel Barbarism.

[silvershadow]

5. Make no mistake, it is the neocons we are fighting for the soul of this party.

Some here seem perfectly content, even happy to welcome them back, even gleefully. (And a few have the nerve to admonish me). Education just aint what it used to be I guess, I don't know. My positions haven't wavered in 50 years. And Bernie is espousing the traditional party values for the entirety of the last 80 years or so (well, you know). Doesn't make a lick of sense. Way too many interlopers to the party if you ask me. A neocon I will never be.

[PowerToThePeople]

6. I agree

The neocon takeover of the Democratic party is nearly complete.

It is Bernie or bust.

[btrflykng9]

8. +1

[FangedNoumenom]

7. You don't understand!

It's not neoconservatism! It's The Third Way!

[eggman67]

9. They do love their

"Bombing People for Fun & Profit" foreign policy. I could do without that truth be told.

[jfern]

10. When the the Democratic frontrunner is more of a hawk than the Republican frontrunner

there's a huge problem....

[JI7]

11. he comes from a Jewish family and Trump is scary to just about all minority groups

[highprincipleswork]

12. Apparently that's OK with "Progressives" these days.

[Cobalt Violet]

13. Neocon lives matter.

They certainly seem to more than the Bernie wing of the party.


Wanted : A Progressive political party to join. Must be like an old school FDR type Democratic party. NO Triangulation allowed!

[Divernan]

14. Neocons love them lotsa Disaster Capitalism

That's the whole basis for the Clinton Family Foundation. Glomm in on a disaster like the Haiti earthquake; get capitalists to "donate" money; go into the disaster site and invest those "donations" in luxury hotels, commercial ship docking facilities and industrial parks to provide infrastructure support to said capitalists who move their manufacturing concerns from the US into said 3rd world country to take advantage of slave labor wages.

Even those PR pics of Bill and Chelsea at some school or health clinic? Well for goodness sakes! Corporations need workers educated enough to read instructions and directions; and healthy enough to make it to work regularly. Teach the women about birth control - it keeps the employee turnover rate lower.

And the Clinton Family Foundation grifts a percentage off the top for "facilitating".

And an added beauty of the whole corrupt situation? The corporate donors get to write off their "donations" as charitable deductions.

[Divernan]

16. Thank god Clinton Foundation "facilitated" a $45 million luxury hotel in Haiti

so potential corporate investors cough/boodsuckers looking to take advantage of cheap labor/cough could visit in comfort. Those damned ungrateful, greedy Haitians (do I need a sarcasm emoticon?) expected the Clinton Foundation to direct the "donations" cough/bribes/cough to replace housing destroyed by the earthquake. But that $45 million was used to build a 173 room hotel. That works out to $260,000 per room. Way to go, Clinton Foundation! ! ! Five star all the way for corporate investors & your next glittery gathering in Haiti for photo ops.

Once all of the carnage was assessed, more than 100,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people were left without homes and Haiti's government put the death toll at 316,000, according to ABC News.

Five years later, after billions of dollars of aid and donations, many are still living in abject poverty created by the earthquake. NBC News notes that while some $13 billion went to the country, more than "85,000 people still live in crude displacement camps and many more in deplorable conditions."

NBC News does note that while many of the roads destroyed by the earthquake have been repaired and some businesses have been rebuilt, very few people displaced by the massive quake have acquired permanent housing.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/01/_5_years_after_massive_earthquake_where_is_haiti_now.html

Two years after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Haiti's capital, a deal brokered by former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation will add new lodging for aid workers and other travelers to Port-au-Prince -- in the form of a $45 million hotel.

With only about 500 operable hotel rooms, the city has limited space to house aid workers, potential investors and other visitors, according to a news release Monday by the future hotel's owner and its operator.

Caribbean cell phone provider Digicel will own the hotel, which will have 173 new rooms and create 175 new jobs. Marriott Hotels and Resorts will operate the hotel upon completion in 2014. Construction is set to begin in 2012.

[Tanuki]

22. You seeem to be saying that the $45 million for the hotel project came from donations to the Clinton

Foundation, but it did not, as stated in your last paragraph. "Caribbean cell phone provider Digicel will own the hotel, which will have 173 new rooms and create 175 new jobs."
Digicel "will own the hotel" because they were the ones who made the $45 million investment.
If you are interested in what they are doing , you can read more here:
"The Clinton Foundation worked closely with Marriott and Digicel Group to develop the hotel project. The Foundation visited proposed construction sites with the parties, facilitated introductions to the Haitian government and the Haitian Tourism Association, and encouraged all parties to use the hotel as an opportunity to create an economic anchor for the community. In addition to creating good, sustainable jobs for Haitians, the hotel incorporates Haitian art and artisan products into the hotel’s design and integrates green technologies such as solar to reduce the hotel’s environmental footprint. The Clinton Foundation also worked closely with Marriott and Digicel Group to identify and contract with Haitian entrepreneurs, small businesses and agricultural cooperatives that could provide goods and services to the hotel. This local procurement component has been an important aspect of the hotel’s development for all parties.

Digicel Group and its Chairman, Mr. O’Brien, are committed to attracting foreign direct investment to Haiti and to helping the country rebuild in the wake of the earthquake. Mr. O’Brien is Founder and Patron of the Digicel Foundation, which to date has constructed 150 schools in Haiti, and rebuilt the iconic Iron Market in Port-au-Prince. He is also the Chairman of the Clinton Global Initiative’s Haiti Action Network and has been instrumental in driving the activity of 80 support organizations in Haiti to deliver on their commitments.

.........
In addition to the 200 new hotel jobs and hospitality training, the hotel is sourcing goods, food and amenities from local small businesses, social enterprises, farms and Haitian artisans. The unique craftsmanship of more than a dozen Haitian-based artisans, including the hotel’s art curator, Philippe Dodard, is showcased throughout the hotel’s guest rooms, corridors, great room, conference areas, restaurant and courtyard. From signature metalworks, paper mache masks and voodoo flags, to contemporary photography and stone and wood sculptures using natural and recycled materials, the deep, vibrant art culture of Haiti is on display. The hotel will also feature weekly art markets where guests can purchase art from local artists on the hotel grounds.
.........


Marriott Port-au-Prince is pleased to be the first hotel in Haiti to source produce from Afe Neg Combite, a Kenscoff-based co-op made up of 5,500 farmers employing a total of 8,000 people. Marriott’s procurement team has been working with the farmers for more than a year to help them produce, package and transport fruits and vegetables in ways that meet the quality, yield and lower waste standards of the hospitality industry.
(more at link)
http://news.marriott.com/2015/02/digicel-and-marriott-open-haiti-hotel.html

[Divernan]

23. Clinton Foundation skimmed a percentage off top for "facilitating"

That's what they do.

From your own post:

"The Clinton Foundation worked closely with Marriott and Digicel Group to develop the hotel project. The Foundation visited proposed construction sites with the parties, facilitated introductions to the Haitian government and the Haitian Tourism Association, and encouraged all parties to use the hotel as an opportunity to create an economic anchor for the community.

Thank god Clinton Foundation "facilitated" a $45 million luxury hotel in Haiti so potential corporate investors cough/boodsuckers looking to take advantage of cheap labor/cough could visit in comfort. Those damned ungrateful, greedy Haitians (do I need a sarcasm emoticon?) expected the Clinton Foundation to direct the "donations" cough/bribes/cough to replace housing destroyed by the earthquake. But $45 million was used to build a 173 room hotel. That works out to $260,000 per room. Way to go, Clinton Foundation! ! ! Five star all the way for corporate investors & your next glittery gathering in Haiti for photo ops.

Once all of the carnage was assessed, more than 100,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people were left without homes and Haiti's government put the death toll at 316,000, according to ABC News.

Five years later, after billions of dollars of aid and donations, many are still living in abject poverty created by the earthquake. NBC News notes that while some $13 billion went to the country, more than "85,000 people still live in crude displacement camps and many more in deplorable conditions."

NBC News does note that while many of the roads destroyed by the earthquake have been repaired and some businesses have been rebuilt, very few people displaced by the massive quake have acquired permanent housing.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/01/_5_years_after_massive_earthquake_where_is_haiti_now.htm

[Divernan]

24. Murky, but Clinton Foundation pays itself for "facilitating", i.e,

they line up funding from corporations and foreign governments, and skim a share off the top for their services. The Clinton Foundations has invested hundreds of its millions with an outfit run by the woman who was a classmate & matron of honor at Chelsea's wedding. That woman's husband is a partner with Chelsea's husband in his Eagle hedgefund. Is some or all of that $250 million parked in that hedgefund? Inquiring minds want to know.

Another flashpoint came in 2013, when the foundation was renamed the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, an elevation of the Clintons’ daughter that struck some of the old guard as presumptuous and troubling. It was one thing, they grumbled, to add the name of a former first lady who had also been elected a United States senator and was coming off an acclaimed stint as secretary of state—but their kid?

They worried that the family was letting her use the foundation to establish herself as a serious player in her own right. She expanded the foundation mission into new causes—including curbing elephant poaching and ivory harvesting—that seemed peripheral to its core missions of fighting AIDS, climate change and childhood obesity, or Hillary Clinton’s efforts to increase opportunity for women and girls.

And some rolled their eyes when the foundation’s $250 million was invested with a firm called Summit Rock Advisers where Chelsea Clinton’s best friend Nicole Davison Fox is managing director. The two were classmates at Sidwell Friends School and Davison Fox interned in the Clinton White House. She later served as matron of honor in Clinton’s wedding, and her husband was a founding employee of the hedge fund started by Clinton’s husband, Marc Mezvinsky.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/clinton-foundation-eric-braverman-115598_Page3.html#ixzz3c6DqGeU1

Getting obscenely wealthy off of human suffering. One pampered well-manicured hand washes the other.

[Divernan]

29. That hotel is for visiting corporate exploiters of cheap labor

Tourism? Get real! It's a lovely, totally luxurious hotel. Great as long as tourists don't set foot outside the hotel! It's Bubble Tourism!

What exactly are Haiti's tourist attractions? Beaches with homeless people sleeping rough? Guided day trips (including armed guards) to a slum where 200,000 people live without water, sanitation or electricity?

"Everyone got their hip boots and face masks on? Stick together now."
Vaccines up to date?
Typical travel immunizations recommendations for all people traveling Haiti include:

Hepatitis A– this nasty viral infection of the liver is often spread thru food or water. This is strongly recommended for anyone traveling to Haiti. Full immunity requires 2 vaccines 6 months apart. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to get both doses prior to travel, 90% of people are protected with the first vaccine.
Typhoid- is also spread through food and water. You know you don’t want high fevers, belly pain, and diarrhea so get protected.
Tdap– This is the tetanus shot with whooping cough built in. Now you are protected if you get a cut or scrape as well as from whooping cough.
Influenza–
Malaria vaccine– It isn’t available (yet). I included it as I get asked about this all the time. You will need to discuss malaria prevention with both medication and mosquito bite avoidance with your travel medicine specialist.
Hepatitis B – you will want protection from this viral infection of the liver. It is spread through contact with body fluids; if you cut yourself and need stitches or need any other medical care you could be exposed. If you will be working in health care, returning to Haiti multiple times or travel internationally frequently you should seriously consider protecting yourself against Hepatitis B. It requires 3 doses of vaccine over 6 months. The other ways of contracting Hepatitis B should be avoided while traveling: tattoos, piercing, and new sexual partners.
Rabies-Animal bites are serious business, often requiring evacuation for proper care. If it is within your budget and you will be staying a long time or visiting often, protection with vaccination is advised. Many people choose instead to learn how to provide first aide for a bite and purchase travel health insurance to cover evacuation for treatment with vaccine and HRIG.

Vaccines are only the tip of the iceberg when preparing to travel to Haiti. You will need to prevent Malaria, Dengue, Cholera, and traveler’s diarrhea. The medical system in Haiti is overburdened and was severely impacted by the recent earthquake. You will want to make plans to receive any needed medical elsewhere.

http://travelreadymd.com/which-travel-immunizations-do-you-need-for-haiti/

Look at the photos of this elegant, luxurious hotel, built courtesy of "facilitation-for-a-fee" by the Clinton Foundation. As long as you stay inside, you're safe. Guess you'd call this "Bubble Tourism". http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g147307-d7592296-Reviews-Marriott_Port_au_Prince_Hotel-Port_au_Prince_Ouest_Department_Haiti.html



"Five years ago, the eyes of the world were on Haiti after the devastating earthquake tore lives apart and left more than 2 million people homeless," Chiara Liguori, Caribbean researcher at Amnesty International, said. "Sadly, since then, the world’s interest has waned while tens of thousands of people remain destitute and homeless."

Although the number of people living in displacement camps has dropped over 90 percent since July 2010, the majority of those who left are still not living in durable housing, the report notes -- many have moved back into unsafe structures or began construction on their own homes without expert assistance.

As NBC News reported, at least 200,000 people reside in slums known as Canaan-Jerusalem, where there's no electricity, running water or sanitation system in place.


“Nicer Than Some Stateside Marriotts”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed January 7, 2016
Honestly, It is hard to travel the streets of Port au Prince from the airport to the hotel and not feel horrible about the conditions of the city compared to this hotel. I felt like I was in a completely different country after I stepped into the lobby.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g147307-d7592296-Reviews-Marriott_Port_au_Prince_Hotel-Port_au_Prince_Ouest_Department_Haiti.html

[Divernan]

25. SOS HRC presided over the $300 million failed park's opening in 2012

Disaster capitalism has proven a veritable gold mine for the Clintons in many respects! As documented below, Hillary's State Department promised "more than 65,000 jobs". The harsh reality? No more than 1500 jobs, paying $3.40 a day, with no benefits. Thanks, Hillary!

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/10/a-glittering-industrialparkfallsshortinhaiti.htm

A glittering industrial park in Haiti falls short (headline)

A cornerstone of post-earthquake 'reconstruction', the Caracol park is not living up to its backers' lofty promises (subheadline).

CARACOL, Haiti — The young men playing dominoes in this tin-roofed fishing village used to have high hopes for the industrial park being built up the road. They had heard of the U.S. government's plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a part of Haiti where most people are barely scraping by, and promises from a South Korean garment manufacturer to create tens of thousands of jobs.

But less than a year after Caracol Industrial Park's gala opening — with Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sean Penn, designer Donna Karan and Haiti's current and former presidents among the guests — the feeling these days is disappointment. Hundreds of smallholder farmers were coaxed into giving up more than 600 acres of land for the complex, yet nearly 95 percent of that land remains unused. A much-needed power plant was completed on the site, supplying the town with more electricity than ever, but locals say surges of wastewater have caused floods and spoiled crops.

Most critically, fewer than 1,500 jobs have been created — paying too little, the locals say, and offering no job security. "We thought there was going to be some benefit for us," says Ludwidge Fountain, 34, laying his domino with a satisfying smack. He worked for two months at the park as a guard, taking home about $3.40 a day, until his contract ran out. "Maybe it’s good for some of the people inside the park. Everyone else got nothing."

The industrial park near Caracol is the centerpiece of U.S.-led reconstruction of Haiti after its January 2010 earthquake — even though the northern village was undamaged, sitting more than 100 miles northeast of the epicenter. (AND HERE'S THE STATE DEPARTMENT'S BIG, BIG LIE ) The State Department has promised the park will create 65,000 jobs, powering an economic revitalization of northern Haiti while reducing overcrowding in the quake-stricken capital (though northern Haiti is at least as seismically active as the south). At the opening, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called it "a new day for Haiti and a new model for how the international community practices development."

[Divernan]

26. Heckuva job, Hillary! You provided slave labor for Walmart!

Bad enough, her goal was to exploit a natural disaster to provide cheap labor for her corporate buddies; but she couldn't even do that right.

Yet in a larger sense, the project is the result of an economic philosophy promoted by Washington for poor and ravaged countries around the world: that setting up a low-paying textile sector to cheaply stock U.S. stores and closets is a first step on the path out of poverty. In fact, it has been the core U.S. economic plan for Haiti since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the country's economy was under the control of the dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. And still today, it's a plan that — unlike other forms of development aid — the U.S. is generally eager to finance: More than $270 million has been set aside for Caracol by the U.S. Agency for International Development and Inter-American Development Bank.

But despite those high expectations — or maybe because of them — some officials in Washington are as frustrated as the factory's neighbors. Nearly three years after the project was announced, the park still has just one major tenant: Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd., a Seoul-based textile giant that supplies Wal-mart, Gap, Target and others. (The sole other occupant, a Haitian franchisee of Sherwin-Williams Paints, has only a few dozen employees.) Even with another apparel maker expected in the park soon and Sae-A planning to create another 1,400 jobs by year's end, the park is nowhere close to producing the 20,000 jobs its backers have promised over the next few years, much less the 65,000 predicted by the State Department.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/10/a-glittering-industrialparkfallsshortinhaiti.html

[jmowreader]

15. We'll take 'em back if they promise to behave

On the other hand, I'm starting to think we don't want the Bernie supporters back.

[tazkcmo]

18. No problem. n/t

[Vinca]

21. Then you'll have to round up a whole lot of Republicans to win the election for Hillary.

I imagine that won't be a problem given she was right of center before Bernie came along and I imagine she'll be right of center again soon.

[CrispyQ]

30. You'd rather have neocons than Sanders supporters?

This is what's wrong with the Democratic party.

If HRC loses the election you will be back to blame all the Sanders supporters for not GOTV for HRC.

[jmowreader]

33. Considering all the crap I've seen from Sanders supporters?

The ideal would be to send the neocons back to the GOP and the Sanders supporters back to the party-less wilderness, but if I HAD to choose between well-behaved neocons who'd agree to join the Democratic Party and not try to turn it into another Republican Party, or the boors Bernie Bros have proven themselves to be...well, give me the neocons.

[cherokeeprogressive]

34. Finally, someone who speaks for Clinton supporters tells the bottom-line truth.

Go with that.

[Doctor_J]

17. The dinos don't want liberals in the party, but would love to have Kissinger

and the like

[obamanut2012]

19. Former NJ Gov. & Bush Cabinet member Christine Whitman said the same

That, if Trump is the nom, she will vote Hillary, and she knows many other Republicans who will do the same. Because Trump and his backers are scary AF.

I predicted this would happen. Good. Trump must be stopped.

[Skwmom]

20. We will be in endless war. n/t

[noamnety]

27. And I expect us all to unite with the neocons in November if that happens!

(am I doing this loyalty oath thing correctly?)

[CrispyQ]

28. Who didn't see this coming?

As both parties drift to the right, at some point there were bound to be a large number of republicans who no longer recognize their party & realize that the new democratic party is much more like their old republican party. I know three republican women who are going to vote for HRC, & I'm supposed to be excited about a candidate who appeals to republicans. Good grief.

As soon as the primary is over I'm changing my affiliation back to Green.

[MisterP]

32. *brainlessly claps* "yaay! more voters for Clinton!"