Bernie Sanders accuses Clinton, DNC of colluding to violate campaign finance law

[geek tragedy]

https://berniesanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Bernie-2016-Letter-to-DNC-1.pdf

Looks like he wants to burn the party down.

Maybe he'll try to sue to get himself named the nominee.

[msongs]

1. a paranoid cult leader with few professional friends feels persecuted. boo hoo nt

[geek tragedy]

2. we'll take care of business in New York tomorrow, to put an end

to this third party saboteur's attempt to destroy the party

[salinsky]

32. I sure hope you're right ...

... the demagoguery got old some time ago.

[geek tragedy]

33. he's done, and tomorrow will be the first exclamation point nt

[Jefferson23]

4. A cult leader? lol

You are suppose to represent rationale discussion?

[k8conant]

5. She does????

I don't know why.

[Jefferson23]

3. No merits, is that your claim? n/t

[geek tragedy]

11. desperate act of a dying campaign that hasn't raised anything for down-ticket

Democrats facing Republicans in the general election.

the campaign covers the costs of the fund in direct proportion to how much money the fund raises for the campaign.

Sanders knows this, this is just a publicity stunt so they can spin getting their ass kicked tomorrow, and of course raise funds.

He can't sue his way to the nomination, but he'll probably try, or try to throw the race to Donald Trump if he doesn't get his way.

He's Ralph Nader without the honesty.

[Jefferson23]

24. You are not telling me what I need to know, does the suit have legal merit.

What you are telling me is speculation on complex campaign finance
issues within the suit.

I know you don't support Sanders, but that is not the issue here.

I will wait to hear from a more neutral source on the merits, thanks.

I will say, that you're opinion of him and a third party run accusation
is premature, at best and if there is one in the future and there
may very well be one. It will not be due to Sanders, but from people
who do not see the Democratic Party as a viable means of change.
That determination will come in part, not whole, from what a Clinton
administration looks like and how she governs should she win.

It will come from us....not meaning you, per sey, but his supporters
and other disaffected voters.

For anyone to attempt to portray him as a cult leader or Naderite
is off the mark and misunderstanding this political movement.

[geek tragedy]

26. this isn't a suit, it's a letter designed to get attention, complaints get filed with the FEC

Bernader quite clearly never stopped hating the Democratic party, and now the High Sparrow trying to get his revenge for the audacity of Democrats of rejecting him.

There's not much I could say that you would trust, given the antipathy I have towards the High Sparrow.

President Obama will probably have to step in.

It's an open question of whether they give this third party saboteur a speaking spot at the convention.

[Jefferson23]

37. Semantics, that is the goal, is it not? It's a complaint with legal merit or not.

I think you're missing the bigger picture here, and Obama is not going to stop anything
long term.

There are divisions here that have nothing to do with Bernie being the
antagonizer, the Democratic Party status quo enablers is where you need
to look. It would be naive to think one Senator could catapult millions of
people and his message of corruption would resonate with them if that
understanding had not already been well within their being as US citizens.
Although Bernie is best placed since he has been sounding the same
warning for decades. He is also not a man out for it for his ego, he would
have run for the WH many years ago if that's what he really wanted.


His movement is not about free stuff, it is about what blocks that which people
believe to be within their grasp as Democrats but don't see meaningful results
and continuing to place sole responsibility on Republicans for it is a falsehood.

Those are some of the precursors to a possible third party...ours could reform
itself, but that remains to be seen.

[geek tragedy]

39. no, it doesn't have legal merit.

the relationship between HVF and HFA (and other partners) is that HFA pays a % of HVF's operating costs that matches the % of HVF's funds that go to HFA.

It's a fundraising gimmick from a candidate who has hated the Democratic party his entire adult life.

[Jefferson23]

40. We'll see. n/t

[R B Garr]

6. What an absolute farce! Bernie doesn't even know what's going on in his own campaign.

He's under investigation by the FEC for serious irregularities. How hilarious he's put upon about donations in excess of $2,700 per individual when his campaign is riddled with those improprieties.

I think you're right. He just wants chaos and destruction. It's also just another talking point for him since he doesn't honor his own campaign platform. This should be good for his collection plate, though! Stir up chaos, collect more money.

Holy cow with this guy!

[Sheepshank]

7. Not once, never since he announced, was I ever under the impression that Bernie would party build.

I knew all along he wanted to demolish and rebuild it in his image.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

8. The Party is burning itself down with rampant corruption. n/t

[imagine2015]

9. Dead silence from Hillary supporters. They have not and will not respond to the charges here.

They have no defense. What can they write here that's actually related to the letter? Nothing of substance.

It's kind of like expecting Hillary to make public the speeches to her wealthy benefactors on Wall Street.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Bernie is just warning Schultz and Hillary to quit playing with matches

lest they burn the party down.

Thanks for the thread, geek tragedy.

[geek tragedy]

14. I think he will go third party or refuse to endorse Clinton after this.

We will see who is right.

Cheers.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Bernie will never go third party but I'm wondering if Hillary will endorse Bernie after this?

Cheers.

[geek tragedy]

18. For his Senate re-election campaign, probably not no.

He's probably cost himself a speaking spot at the convention.

[Uncle Joe]

21. That's not the normal tradition for the nominee but I have little doubt Bernie would still have the

good grace to allow Hillary to have one.

[geek tragedy]

27. Dude, we both know he's not going to be the nominee. nt

[Uncle Joe]

29. That makes one of us. n/t

[geek tragedy]

30. How close does he need to keep it in NY, Pennsylvania and Maryland to have any hope? nt

[Uncle Joe]

31. Only time and the rest of the nation voting will tell. n/t

[salinsky]

34. Magical thinking ... nt

[Uncle Joe]

35. That's right, magic.

[ViseGrip]

12. when it comes to corrupting and cheating, I don't care what side it is, I want to stop them.

[oasis]

13. Jeff Weaver was talking smack on MSNBC this a.m.about

Hillary's campaign not giving a proper contribution percentage to down ballot Dems. The Sanders campaign would file some legal action. Weaver had nerve to claim they were supporting down ballot Dems as well, but went unchallenged by the interviewer.

[geek tragedy]

16. Sanders campaign is determined to bern down the Democratic party.

The Democrats in New York, and Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and Connecticut will help keep the invader outside the gates.

[Prism]

15. You compared Bernie supporters with Nazis

So, your analysis is . . . suspect.

[Live and Learn]

19. The Clintons ruined the party with their third way chit. Fact!

Making themselves filthy rich in the process. Shame on anyone that defends them.

[imagine2015]

20. Hillary's supporters on DU still won't respond to the actual charges in the letter.

The only thing one can assume is that they haven't been handed their talking points yet.

So they don't know what to write in regard to the specific charges.

If there is merit to the charges, it means Hillary's is absolutely corrupt and is leading the destruction of the Democratic Party.

[brooklynite]

22. Translation: I'm not raising money for down-ticket races, so Clinton shouldn't either?

[geek tragedy]

23. And then Bernader used that letter to send a fundraising email. nt

[Tom Rinaldo]

25. If the accusations are correct, are you OK with it?

If our political parties become too adept at even "legal" money laundering, and too dependent on it, or even wore if a dominant faction becomes comfortable with it as a way to perpetuate their dominance, there will be lip service at best paid to any real efforts to fundamentally alter the toxic relationship of money to politics in America. And there are many creative ways to give lip service while sabotaging efforts at real change, so as to seemingly be on the right side of an issue while secretly benefiting from the status quo.

[geek tragedy]

28. accusations are not correct, the letter is a fundraising ploy and omits

certain key details--namely that the costs of the HVF are largely covered by the Clinton campaign.

[WhiteTara]

36. But the FEC keeps writing him letters

they must be in cahoots with the DNC and Hillary. Yeah, that's it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. The letter describes a money-laundering scheme.

Donations to the DNC-created Hillary Victory Fund PAC (some of those donations are as large as $360,000 or 100 times more than allowed by law to donate to a candidate's campaign) are being used to directly solicit smaller donations (I'm serious Maddie!) on behalf of Hillary for America (the candidate's campaign).

It's money laundering, plain and simple. Hillary can't match Bernie's outreach to small donors, so she err.... Debbie Wasserman-Schultz... uses the proceeds from those large donors to shake down the small ones who can donate directly to the campaign.