The Denitive, Encyclopedic Case For Why Hillary Clinton

Is the Wrong Choice (And Bernie Sanders Is The Right One)

What is this? Its an article posted on the website DailyKos on February 22, 2016 that went viral and was shared
on Facebook more than 27,000 in the rst 36 hours. It was written by Christopher Landry.

There are nereasons to support Hillary Clintons campaign. Some of the smartest people I knoware behind
her, and Iappreciate their enthusiasm for what would be a historic achievement. I know, too, the long
history of sexism and partisan attacksshe haswithstood. Shes shown amazing resilience.
But time is shortand the stakes are high, and I want to focus ona pattern of her claiming to be
aprogressive Democrat while taking positions that are too often more closely aligned with the other side of
the aisle, and on a record that I worry makes her a real long shot if shes our nominee.
This story borrows (with permission) from dsullys excellent postand benets from his editing.

DOMA AND GAY MARRIAGE

Hillary spoke in support of DOMA at the time it was signed in 1996.Later, In 2004, on the oor of the Senate,
Clinton said, "I believe marriage is not just a bond but a sacred bond between a man and a woman. I take
umbrage at anyone who might suggest that those of us who worry about amending the Constitution are
less committed to the sanctity of marriage, or to the fundamental bedrock principle that it exists between a
man and a woman, and that its primary role.has been the raising and socializing of children into the
society into which they are to become adults.
She ran for president in 2008 while openlyopposinggay marriage (it hadbeen legal since 2004 in
Massachusetts)and did not come out in favor of same-sex marriage until May, 2013, when it was already
legal in ninestates.
She nowsays DOMA was a defensive measure taken to ward o a Constitutional amendment.Rachel
Maddow(video link) calls bullshit on that defense becauseits simply not true.And in a tense 2014interview
with Terry Gross on NPR, Clinton was unwilling to admit to anything more about hershifting position on
same-sexmarriage thanI think Im an American. [laughter]I think that we have all evolved.
Where was Bernie?
Bernie was one of the few in Congress who voted against DOMA. The year before,in 1995, he spoke up in
the House indefense of gays in the military. Much earlier, in1972, in a letterto a local newspaper in
Vermont, Sanders called for abolishing all laws that dealt with sexual behavior, including homosexuality, that
were used to punish people. (However, Sanders did not announce his support of gay marriage, as opposed
to civil unions, until 2009.)

NAFTA
Hillary Clinton supported NAFTA when it passed and for years afterward. In 1996, she said"I think everybody
is in favor of free and fair trade. I think NAFTA is proving its worth and in 2004 said, I think on balance
NAFTA has been good for New York and America.

But NAFTA has been adisasterfor working people in the U.S. and Mexico, costinga million or more
American jobs, increasing income inequality, and failing live up to the promises made about it.
Hillary now claims to oppose NAFTA, just as shes suddenly reversed position on the Trans-Pacic
Partnership afterpromotingit (This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free,
transparent, fair trade) forty-ve times around the world as Secretary of State.
Unfortunately, we have little basis for believingher on TPP (the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for one,
doesntbelieve her), which is anotherdisasterin the making. As Ian Fletcherwrites,She has, in fact, a long
record of verbally criticizing free-trade agreements, but then supporting them when in oce.
Where was Bernie?
He strongly opposed NAFTA. Watch this speech.
Sanders opposes the disastrousTrans-Pacic Partnership, too, as does everyenvironmental group,
because it gives corporations an unprecedented, extra-judicial process to enforce their interests, and
includesno such protectionfor labor and environmental standards.

WELFARE REFORM
Ending welfare as we know it was, with NAFTA, one of the pillars of Bill Clintons triangulation strategy of
selling out the Democratic party and Democratic principles for his own political gain:98% of Republicans
voted for the bill, while 85% of Democrats voted against it. Its author was Republican presidential candidate
John Kasich.
Hillary Clinton speaks in nearly every debate about her service with theChildrens Defense Fund, but she
does not mention that her support of welfare reform ended her political relationshipwith CDF founder
Marion Wright Edelman, who said ofPresident Clintons signing of the bill that it makes a mockery of his
pledge not to hurt children.
The bill ended Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which had been created in the Social Security Act,
andreplaced it with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which was much weaker
and much moretemporary.
Three senior ocials in the Clinton Administrationresigned over the legislation, including Peter Edelman.
Edelman had spent his entire career advocating for fundamental reform of welfare, butwrote:
But the bill that President Clinton signed is not welfare reform. It does not promote work eectively, and
it will hurt millions of poor children. Whats more, it bars hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants
including many who have worked in the United States for decades and paid a considerable amount in
Social Security and income taxesfrom receiving disability and old-age assistance and food stamps, and
reduces food-stamp assistance for millions of children in working families.
Hillary defended the bill,saying Too many of those on welfare had known nothing but dependency all their
lives, and many would have found it dicult to make the transition to work on their own. ButJournalist
andactivist Barbara Ehrenreichremarkedthat it washard to miss the racism and misogyny that helped
motivate welfare reform.

Now we know that reform has been a disaster, doubling the number of children in extreme poverty, tripling
extreme povertyfor female-headed households,and keeping millions from lifting themselves out of
desperate situations.
Still, Senator Clinton in2002 said, Now that weve said these people are no longer deadbeats theyre
actually out there being productive how do we keep them there? Yes, she said deadbeats.
A 2015 article inThe Nationsays of the bill,it is hard to nd a single way in which it hasnt been a
catastrophe for the vulnerable.
Where was Bernie?
Bernie voted against the bill, and wrote in his 1997 book, Outsider in the House:
The bill, which combines an assault on the poor, women and children, minorities, and immigrants is the
grand slam of scapegoating legislation, and appeals to the frustrations and ignorance of the American
people along a wide spectrum of prejudices.

MINIMUM WAGE
Hillary Clinton, who has repeatedly made $225,000 an hour talking to corporations, wants to raise the
minimumwage to only $12/hour over ve years. Aneditorialin the New York Times criticized this stand:
But instead of embracing $15, Mrs. Clinton ghts on for $12, saying that states could set their own,
higher minimums. That is cold comfort. Experience has shown that without a robust federal minimum,
state minimums also tend to be inadequate.
...Economic obstacles are not standing in the way of a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Misplaced caution
and political timidity are. The sooner Mrs. Clinton overcomes those, the stronger her candidacy will be.
Where is Bernie?
He introduced a bill last summer calling for a $15/hour minimumwage, saying:
It is a national disgrace that millions of full-time workers are living in poverty and millions more are
forced to work two or three jobs just to pay their bills.In the year 2015, a job must lift workers out of
poverty, not keep them in it. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage
and must be raised to a living wage.

2001 BANKRUPTCY BILL

Weve all read how Elizabeth Warren convinced Hillary to oppose eorts to make it harder for consumers to
escape from credit card debt by ling for bankruptcy. Warren recalls,She said, Professor Warren, weve got
to stop that awful bill.
Then, as a newly elected senator representing Wall St, Hillary voted for the bill, which had strong support
from the banking and credit card industries.

TheNew York Times:

Charles J. Tabb, a law professor at the University of Illinois who opposed the legislation, said Mrs.
Clintons vote shows the power of the consumer credit industry and our campaign nance world.
She did a 180 once she became senator, he said. It was galling.
During the 2008 campaign, asked if she regrettedher vote, she said,Sure, I do.I was happy that it never
became law. Last year, she changed her story, blaming the whole thing onJoe Biden.
Where was Bernie?
Voting against all such bankruptcy reform bills.

IRAQ WAR
Clinton cast her vote in favor of one of the most expensive, destructive, and unnecessary wars in American
history, and in doing so made a stirring speech in favor of it a speech that took Bush administration
propaganda as truth, when many, many Americans knew Bush was lying. Bernie Sanders, Robert Byrd, and
other members of Congressknew the case for war was deeply awed. Why didnt she?
Clintons vote was not simply a mistake. It was a terrible failure of judgment and a failure to show
courageagainst the post-9/11 jingoism pushing us into a foolish war. This vote alone should endany talk
about her foreign policy experience and expertise.
And its not an isolated incident. Clinton has supported regime change in the Balkans, Libya, Syria, and
elsewhere. Jerey Sachs writes:
Hilary was a staunch defender of the military-industrial-intelligence complex at every turn, helping to
spread the Iraq mayhem over a swath of violence that now stretches from Mali to Afghanistan. Two
disasters loom largest: Libya and Syria.
And in a separate articlehe takes on her claim in a recent debate that she helped with peace eorts in Syria:
In 2012, Clinton was the obstacle, not the solution, to a ceasere being negotiated by UN Special Envoy
Ko Annan. It was US intransigence - Clinton's intransigence - that led to the failure of Annan's peace
eorts in the spring of 2012, a point well known among diplomats. Despite Clinton's insinuation in the
Milwaukee debate, there was (of course) no 2012 ceasere, only escalating carnage. Clinton bears heavy
responsibility for that carnage, which has by now displaced more than 10 million Syrians and left more
than 250,000 dead.
Where was Bernie?
Sanders voted against the war in Iraq andspoke out stronglyagainst it:
Mr. Speaker, in the brief time I have, let me give ve reasons why I am opposed to giving the President a
blank check to launch a unilateral invasion and occupation ofIraqand why I will vote against this
resolution.
One, I have not heard any estimates of how many young American men and women might die in
such a war or how many tens of thousands of women and children inIraqmight also be killed. As a

caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suering that a war will cause.
War must be the last recourse in international relations, not the rst.
Second, I am deeply concerned about the precedent that a unilateral invasion ofIraqcould establish
in terms of international law and the role of the United Nations. If President Bush believes that the
U.S. can go to war at any time against any nation, what moral or legal objection could our government
raise if another country chose to do the same thing?
Third, the United States is now involved in a very dicult war against international terrorism as we
learned tragically on September 11. We are opposed by Osama bin Laden and religious fanatics who
are prepared to engage in a kind of warfare that we have never experienced before. I agree with Brent
Scowcroft, Republican former National Security Advisor for President George Bush, Sr., who stated, An
attack onIraqat this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counterterrorist
campaign we have undertaken.'
Fourth, at a time when this country has a $6 trillion national debt and a growing decit, we should
be clear that a war and a long-term American occupation of Iraqcould be extremely expensive.
Fifth, I am concerned about the problems of so-called unintended consequences. Who will
governIraqwhen Saddam Hussein is removed and what role will the U.S. play in ensuing a civil war that
could develop in that country? Will moderate governments in the region who have large Islamic
fundamentalist populations be overthrown and replaced by extremists? Will the bloody conict between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority be exacerbated? And these are just a few of the questions that
remain unanswered.

REINING IN WALL STREET

TheGlass-Steagall Actthat was repealed by Bill Clinton in 1998 is considered to be one ofthe
underlyingcausesof the nancial crisis of 2008.
Elizabeth Warren, John McCain, and others haveintroduced the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.Hillary
Clinton opposes the act andsays she has other plans (that she wont reveal) torein in Wall Street.
Robert Reich, addressing her claim that Glass-Steagall would not have prevented the 2008 crisis,
simplysays,Baloney.
In an October 2015 debate, Clinton said,"I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 before the big crash that
we had, and I basically said, 'Cut it out!'" .
But thats not true. In that speech, after saying that reckless consumers were part of the problem, she
asked the nance industry to voluntarily agree to three changes in how they operated,while saying she was
prepared to oer the industry legal protection from lawsuits.
What were otherDemocrats in Congress doing?
By December of 2007, bank watchdogs in Congress had long since given up hope that Wall Street could
x things on its own. The subprime mortgage market had imploded 18 months earlier. It had been ve
months since two Bear Stearns hedge funds had collapsed. On Capitol Hill, Rep. Miller and Sen. Dick
Durbin (D-Ill.) had already introduced foreclosure relief legislation that would have allowed bankruptcy
judges to reduce the amount that borrowers owed on their mortgages -- just as they can for credit card
balances and other debts.

Banks were ghting the proposal tooth and nail. If Clinton had wanted to be tough, she could have
voiced support for her colleagues' legislation. She didn't.
Hillary Clintons campaign has received$44.1 millionfrom Wall Street. Hercampaign has put on 31
fundraising events hosted by the nancial industry, with more to come.
And while she apparently wont release the transcripts of her Goldman Sachs speeches, one attendeetold
Politico,Its so far from what she sounds like as a candidate now. It was like a rah-rah speech. She sounded
more like a Goldman Sachs managing director.
Where is Bernie?
Sanders opposed repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 and wants to restore it. He wants to break up the banks
that are too big to fail. He wants to tax Wall Streetspeculation so we can send our kids to college and not
have them graduate in debt. And he wants to get the money out of politics so Congress and the White
House are accountable to the people, not bigcorporations.

CLUSTER BOMBS
Hillary Clintonvotedin 2006 (as thisstoryexplains)to let our military continue to use cluster bombs in areas
with concentrated civilian populations, despite the thousands of innocent children who have died or been
handicapped due to picking up unexploded cluster bomblets.
At issue was an amendment by Senator Diane Feinstein, who said:
I oer an amendment to the Defense appropriations bill to address a humanitarian issue that I have
actually thought a great deal about over a long period of time; that is, the use of the cluster bomb.The
human death toll and injury from these weapons is felt every day, going back decades. Innocent
children think they are picking up a play toy in the eld and suddenly their arm is blown o.
A cluster bomb consistsof a canister designed to open in mid-air and disperse smaller submunitions, often
referred to as bomblets. Cluster bombs are area weapons, meaning they are not designed to attack a
precise target, but rather to destroy all potential targets in a target area.108 nations(but not the U.S.) have
signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, because they arethe single most lethal weapon for civilian
casualties in war, with the 20% that do not deploy on impact actinglikeland mines.
When it came time to vote, every Republican and 15Democrats, includingHillary Clinton, voted against the
Feinstein amendment.Obama was one of 30 Democrats who voted for it, with Kennedy, Boxer, Byrd,
Cantrell, Jeords, Kerry, Leahy, Reid, and others. Why did she oppose this humane measure? I dont know.
Where was Bernie?
He was standing for decency. On February 14, 2007, Senators Dianne Feinstein (CA), Patrick Leahy (VT),
Barbara Mikulski (MD), and Bernie Sanders (VT) introduced the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of
2007 (S. 594).

OTHER ARMS SALES

Unfortunately, supporting arms sales is a pattern for this candidate who talks of how she has traveled the
world to speak out for women and children.The International Business Times:

Under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms
sales to 20 nationswhose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation, according to an
IBTimes analysis of State Department and foundation data. That gure -- derived from the three full
scal years of Clintons term as Secretary of State (from October 2010 to September 2012) -- represented
nearly double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State
Department during the same period of President George W. Bushs second term.
Among other deals, Clintonapprovedmassive arms sales to the oppressive Saudi government that were
used in a brutal bombing campaign againstYemin:
Theindiscriminate bombingof civilians and rescuers from the air has prompted human rights
organizations to claim that some Saudi-led strikes on Yemen may amount to war crimes. At least2,800
civilianshave been killed in the conict so far,according to the United Nationsmostly by airstrikes.
The strikes have killedjournalistsandambulance drivers.
As weapons transfers were being approved, both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Boeing (the
manufacturer) made donations to the Clinton Foundation. TheWashington Postrevealedthat a Boeing
lobbyist helped with fundraising in the early stages of Hillary Clintons current presidential campaign.

HUMAN RIGHTS ABROAD

in 2010-2011, despite her having opposedfree trade with Colombia during the 2008 campaign, Bill and
Hillary Clinton workedtogetherto make Colombia safe for corporate interests, despite the countrysvery
poor record on human rights.
The Clintons were both in Colombia in 2010 (Hillary called it a happy coincidence in her memoir) to meet
separately withPresident Alvaro Uribe.BillClinton ewtoColombia with his friend and collaborator, the
Canadian billionaireFrank Giustra, who hasgiven the ClintonFoundation some $130 million.
The Washington Postprovides the timeline:
The three [the Clintons andGiustra]dined together in Bogota. The next morning, Bill Clinton met
privately with Uribe at the presidential house.
A few hours later, Hillary Clinton held her own meeting with the Colombian leader. In a subsequent
televised interview, she announced that she was inclined to support a much-sought-after free-trade deal
with Colombia a reversal in position since her 2008 presidential campaign.
David Sirota:
The State Department publicly praised Colombias progress on human rights, thereby permitting
hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to ow to the same Colombian military that labor activists say
helped intimidate workers.
At the same time that Clinton's State Department waslaudingColombias human rights record, her
family was forging a nancial relationship with Pacic Rubiales, thesprawlingCanadian petroleum
company at the center of Colombias labor strife. The Clintons were also developing commercial ties with
the oil giantsfounder, Canadian nancier Frank Giustra, who now occupies a seat on theboardof the
Clinton Foundation, the familys global philanthropic empire.

Before you cast a vote for Hillary Clinton, considerreading Simon Heads articleThe Clinton System,and
Greg Grandinsexcellent piecein The Nation:
Its hard to convey just how stunningly cynical she has been on Colombia: In 2008, running against
Obama, sheopposed, in unambiguous terms, a free-trade deal with Colombia. Senator Clintons
position is clear and unequivocal: She is opposed to the deal,saida spokesperson. Yet even as she was
telling voters she was against the deal, her chief adviser, Mark Penn, wasmeetingwithColombian
ocials to tell them otherwise.
Then it wasrevealedthat Bill Clinton was paid $800,000 by the Colombia-based Gold Service
International to give four speeches in Latin America, in which he advocated for the free-trade
agreement.
Here, as elsewhere, we have to untangle the money and the very real appearance of conict of interest.
Because there were atleast 13 occasions worth $2.5 millionwhen Bill Clinton received a speaking fee
from corporations or trade groups that were at the time engaged in lobbying at the State Department while
Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.
And thats only the speakingmoney. The Washington Post reports that, The Clinton Foundation accepted
millions of dollars from seven foreign governments during Hillary Rodham Clintons tenure as secretary of
state, including one donation that violated its ethics agreement with the Obama administration. Vox
reports:
At least 181 companies, individuals, and foreign governments that have given to theClinton
Foundationalsolobbied the State Departmentwhen Hillary Clinton ran the place, according to a Vox
analysis of foundation records and federal lobbying disclosures.
Where was Bernie?
Never wavering from his commitment to human rights around the world.
He wrote in his book, for example,of a 1985 trip to Nicaragua tocondemnthe Reagan war on the people of
Central America:
I was introduced to a crowd of hundreds of thousands who gathered for the anniversary celebration. I
will never forget that in the front row of the huge crowd were dozens and dozens of amputees in
wheelchairs young soldiers, many of them in their teens, who had lost their legs in a war foisted on
them and nanced by the U.S. government.
And in 1997, for example, hetraveledto Costa Rica in support of workers opposing CAFTA.
And in 1998, he stronglycriticized(video link) Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin about the IMFs failure to
protect human rights in Indonesia, telling him, You have not obeyed the law.

CHILDREN FROM CENTRAL AMERICA

Hillary Clinton said in a recent debate that she wants to send desperate children back home to danger to
send a message. Sanders, as you can see in this video, is upsetby her lack of compassion.
Well, heres some truth about Central America.

Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, in 2009 supported an illegal coup in Honduras against
thepopulardemocratically elected progressive President, Manuel Zelaya. She did it in the face of world
opinion, in the face of her ambassador in Honduras calling the situation an open and shut caseof an
illegal coup, and in the face of thethe unanimous opposition of every country in theUnion of South
American nations, who voted that they would not recognize any government elected under the coup regime.
She did it, sadly,with Obamas reluctant acquiescence.
Why?Well, the chief lobbyist hired by the Hondurans behind the coup was Lanny Davis, Hillarys old friend
and loyal supporter for decades who had supported Bill Clinton during the impeachment. And because
Zelaya was an advocate for higher wages.
Salon:
NYU history professor Greg Grandin, author of a number of books about Central and South
America,boiled the coup downto a simple economic calculation by the Honduran elite: Zelaya was
overthrown because the business community didnt like that he increased the minimum wage. Were
talking about an elite that treats Honduras as if it was its own private plantation.
Grandin was echoed by a Honduran Catholic bishop, Luis Santos Villeda of Santa Rosa de Copan,
whotold the Catholic News Service, Some say Manuel Zelaya threatened democracy by proposing a
constitutional assembly. But the poor of Honduras know that Zelaya raised the minimum salary. Thats
what they understand.
Thats not all. In Haiti, where wages are the lowest in the hemisphere, the Haitian government was
preparing to raise the minimum wage to 62 cents an hour, or $5/day. The Nation:
Haitian advocates of the minimum wage argued that it was necessary to keep pacewith ination and
alleviate the rising cost of living. As it is, Haiti is the poorestcountry in the hemisphere and the World
Food Program estimates that as many as 3.3million people in Haiti, a third of the population, are food
insecure. In April 2008 Haiti was rocked by the so-called Clorox food riots, named after hunger so painful
that it felt like bleach in your stomach.
Contractors supplying American companies like Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and Levis were strongly opposed
to payinghigher wages. On their behalf, Clintons State Department pressured the government for almost
two years to keep wages low.
So those children eeing for their lives? We helped create the poverty and violencethat made them ee, and
Clinton played a role in that. When she says she is an admirer of Henry Kissinger, we need to believe her.

FOR-PROFIT PRISON INDUSTRY

Hillary Clinton was a friend and supporter and beneciary of the private prison industry. From Lee
Fangsreporting:
As wereportedyesterday, fully ve Clinton bundlers work for the lobbying and law rm Akin
GumpStrauss Hauer & Feld. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison company in
America, paid Akin Gump$240,000in lobbying fees last year. The rm also serves as a law rm for the
prison giant, representing the companyin court.
She cut ties with the industry a few months ago, under pressure from Black Lives Matters and others, and
donatedtheir campaign contributions to charity. But why was she in bed with thiscorrupt industryin the

rst place? How did that serve the public interest? And why is her campaigncontinuing to benetfrom
industry connections, as reported in Politico on February 2?
Despite the refunds, Clinton campaign continues to benet handsomely from the fundraising assistance
of some closely connected to the private prison business. In another report led Sunday night, the
campaign disclosed that Richard Sullivan of Capitol Counseluntil recently,a Raleigh, N.C.-based
federally registered lobbyist for the for-prot prison operator GEO Groupbundled $69,363 in
donations for Clinton in the fourth quarter, bringing his total for the year to a whopping $274,891
Where is Bernie?
Calling for theendof private prisons.

DEATH PENALTY
In October, 2015 Hillary Clinton was asked about the death penalty and said:
We have a lot of evidence now that the death penalty has been too frequently applied, and too often in
a discriminatory way, she said. So I think we have to take a hard look at it.
Mrs. Clinton added, I do not favor abolishing it, however, because I do think there are certain egregious
cases that still deserve the consideration of the death penalty, but Id like to see those be very limited
and rare, as opposed to what weve seen in most states.
A a time when the inevitability of wrongful convictions, often due to a justice system heavily biased against
poor people and people of color, has become very clear, Clintons stand is the wrong one.The death penalty
is not just a moral issue, it's an issue of equal protection under the law.
Where was Bernie?
He is opposed to the death penalty, saying in October, "I believe it is time for the United States of America
to join almost every other western, industrialized country on Earth in saying no to the death penalty."

DOMESTIC SPYING
Clinton voted for the Patriot Act in 2001 and again in 2006, despite criticism of its unconstitutionality and
impact on civil liberties. Then, when the courts last yearruled against the NSAs bulk collection of telephone
data, she calledfor reformingthe Patriot Act. (This is a pattern: supporting something the citizensoppose,
then later distancing herself from it.)
When asked about the NSA during an appearance in Silicon Valley this year, Clintoncalledfor reform.
Well, I think the NSA needs to be more transparent about what it is doing, sharing with the American
people, which it wasnt. And I think a lot of the reaction about the NSA, people felt betrayed.
Yes, people felt betrayed, all right by her selling out on ourguaranteed civil liberties.
Where was Bernie?
Sanders neverwavered. Hevoted against the Patriot Act bothtimes, saying,All of us want to protect the
American people from terrorist attacks, but in a way that does not undermine basic freedoms. He was
named Politician of the Year by the Library Journal for his work in 2003. Watch him.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

From the Clinton campaign website:
as a U.S. senator, she served on the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee, as a key member
shaping the No Child Left Behind Act, with the hopes that it would bring needed resources and real
accountability to improve educational opportunities for our most disadvantaged students.
Ask any teacher. Ask any parent. No Child Left Behind is one of the worst things to have happened to public
education in years. Mandatory testing, arbitrary scores determining funding, punishment for the poorest
schools with the fewest resources that wereteaching the kids with the most to lose. How was this ever a
policy supported byDemocratics?
Where was Bernie?
He voted against the bill.
I voted against No Child Left Behind in 2001, and continue to oppose the bills reliance on high-stakes
standardized testing to direct draconian interventions. In my view,No Child Left Behind ignores several
important factors in a students academic performance, specically the impact of poverty, access to
adequate health care, mental health, nutrition, and a wide variety of supports that children in poverty
should have access to.By placing so much emphasis on standardized testing, No Child Left Behind
ignores many of the skills and qualities that are vitally important in our 21st century economy, like
problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork, in favor of test preparation that provides no benet to
students after they leave school.

AMERICAN JOBS CREATION ACT OF 2004

Mother Jones reportsof this $137 billion tax break for huge corporations:
Arizona Senator John McCain decried "the worst example of the inuence of special interests that I have
ever seen." The president's own Treasury secretary, John Snow, bemoaned the myriad "tax provisions
that benet few taxpayers." Top White House economists protested one new loophole that would cut $3
billion, primarily from the taxes of pharmaceutical and high-tech companies, without yielding "any
substantial economic benets.
The Act has never created jobs, only further incentive for companies to move jobs oshore. Thats why Salon
called it The most absurd corporate tax giveaway of 2005. It was a boondoggle. HeresSalon on IBM, which
pocketed $2.8 billion from the bill:
According to its annual report for 2005, the company added fewer than 400 jobs worldwide last year
toits workforce of 329,000 people. At the same time, IBM shed 5 million square feet of space in the
United States, making it highly unlikely that any of those jobs were added in the U.S. Indeed, numerous
news reports, includingthisBusiness Weekarticle, put IBM's head count in India at close to 40,000 at the
end of 2005, more than a fourfold increase over the 9,000 reported at the end of 2003.
Hillary Clinton crossed the aisle to vote for the bill.
Where was Bernie?

Sanders voted against the bill, as perhaps youhave guessed, along with SenatorsKennedy, Bird, Kerry, and
many others.

CLIMATE CHANGE
Hillary Clinton has made a number of big policy shifts since she announced her candidacy last year:

She supported the KXL pipeline until she suddenly came out against it last September.

She supported oshore drilling until she suddenly didnt in December.

She supportedpromotedfracking around the world as environmentally safeand still supports fracking in
the U.S. She still supports fossil fuel extraction on public lands, or did as she campaigned in New Hampshire,
where she was challenged by young people.
Her platform on climate change calls for rapidly expanding renewable energy, but it doesnt say anything
about putting a price on carbon, which would keep more coal and oil underground.
Why are herenvironmental positionsso surprisingly weak?I dont know, but the Hungton
Postreportedthat Nearly all of the lobbyists bundling contributions for Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clintons campaign have at one time or another worked for the fossil fuel industry.
As I wrote above, Clintons past support of theTPP(in 2012 she said This TPP sets the gold standard in
trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade) is troublesome because (among other things) it
gives corporations the right to sue a government, in private tribunals, for unlimited cash compensation over
nearly any policy that might reduce its prots. See the Sierra Club report,A Dirty Deal, on how the TPP
threatens the climate.
Where was Bernie?
Sanders opposed the KXL pipeline and opposes oshore drilling, fracking, and fossil fuel extraction on
public lands. Hes called for a tax on carbon to bring emissions under control. He opposes the TPP.

HEALTH CARE
Youve probably heard Hillary say she supports universal health care, but thatsnot what she has proposed
on her campaign website.In fact, the word universal is not even mentioned in her health care plannot
oncenot even as an aspiration. Her websitesays everyone should have a right to aordable health care,
without dening aordable. Her entire plan, in fact, consists of six bullet points.
She has saidthatsingle-payer health insurance "will never, ever come to pass and while campaigning in Las
Vegas said, untruthfully:
And he [Sanders]wants to have a new system that would be quite challenging becauseyou would have
to give up the insurance you have now, and it wouldcost a lot of money.
80% of Democrats, and the majority of Americans,support single player.The Aordable Care Act, as large a
step as it was, has left millions uninsured. Is it the position of the Democratic party that we have done all we
can do? Hillary has said shell take care of the 29 million uninsured, but she wont say how.
Clinton hastaken inroughly $13.2 million in campaign contributions from the health sector. Since 2013 she
has received $2.8 million in speaking fees from the industry.

Where was Bernie?

Sanders supports a single payer system, a Medicare for All approach that is supported by National Nurses
United and others, but he amended theAordable Care Actto fund Community Health Centers and voted
for the bill. His health plan, which she calls unattainable, is much more detailed and complete than her set
of bullet points.

KISSINGER.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. (Those are all links.)
Where was Bernie?
"I am proud to say that HenryKissingeris not my friend.

FOOD
Reasonable people can disagree about the safety of GMOs, but the fact is that nearly 90% ofAmericans
want mandatory labeling for GMO foods, as they are already in 64 countries.
Hillary Clinton expressed her supportfor genetically modied crops and crop biotechnology(and received a
$335,000 speaking fee) at the Biotechnology Industry Organization convention in 2014.She even coached
the industry, saying, Genetically modied sounds Frankensteinish. Drought resistant sounds really like
something you want. Be more careful so you dont raise that red ag immediately.(You can watch the talk.)
Hungton Post on Hillarys ties to big agriculture:
TheClinton Global Initiative(CGI), which gathers leaders to solve the world's problems, promotes
Monsanto, the maker of RoundUp and RoundUp Ready seeds. Hugh Grant, Monsanto's Chairman
and CEO spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in September, 2014. Ms. Clinton's top
campaign advisor, Jerry Crawford, was a lobbyist for Monsanto for years and is now thepolitical pro for
her Super PAC, "Ready for Hillary." Clinton spoke in favor of the government'sFeed the Future(FtF)
program, aUSAID funded, corporate-partnered programthat brings RoundUp Ready technology to the
most vulnerable populations of the world. Monsanto and Dow Chemical support Hillary and Bill's
'Clinton Foundation' withgenerous donations
Where is Bernie?
Berniesupports allowing states to require labels on foods containing GMOsbased on the consumers rightto-know, but does not believe that GMOs are necessarily bad.

GUNS
Hillary has been a supporter of the Brady bill andhas a better record on gun control than Bernie Sanders
(although in the 2008 campaign she called herself pro-gun to separate herself from Obama.)
Where was Bernie?
Sanders has voted against the Brady billseveral times. This is the issue on which he is most divergent
frommost Democrats. Yet heapplaudedthe Obama Executive Orders oninstant background checks
andhas voted in favor of anationwide banon assault weapons, anationwide banon high-capacity

magazines of over ten rounds, and nationwideexpanded background checksthat address unsafe loopholes.
And he has a D- rating from the NRA.

CAMPAIGN MONEY
Clinton entered the race in an unusual way, reported the New York Times:
Hillary Rodham Clinton will begin personally courting donors for a super PAC supporting her
candidacy, the rst time a Democratic presidential candidate has fully embraced these independent
groups that can accept unlimited checks from big donors and are already playing a major role in the
2016 race.
That turned out to be politically unpopular, so she created some distance,setting up a joint fundraising
campaign fund via the DNC thatchanged Barack Obamas ruleabout the DNC accepting money from
lobbyists. Now, instead of that $2,700 maximum campaign donation, or the no-coordination rule with super
PACs,lobbyists can give Hillarys campaignup to $360,000by routing the money through the DNC.
A fun coincidence: On February 12, 2016, thesame daythe DNC dropped Obamas ban onlobbyist money,
Hillarysnon-coordinating super PAC decided to throw$5 million against Bernie.
Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting Clinton, unleashed a $5 million infusion of
spending on her behalf, upending plans to hold its re until the general election.The move calls
attention to growing concern within the partys leadership that her campaign may be in trouble, and it
illustrates how crucial several upcoming contests have become in Clintons battle with Sanders.
Wall Street is all in for her. Big Pharma and Big Healthcare are all in for her. So when Hillary promises to curb
those big corporations, the lobbyists believeshes just saying what she has to say.
Where is Bernie?
Sanders is not accepting corporate money, and is funded entirely by the people, who so far have made more
than four million donations to his campaign, setting new records for a people-powered campaign. Its
absolutely clear to whom he is accountable.

ETHICS
The Wall St Journal reported last year:
A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to
Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter. The Internal Revenue Service was suing
UBS AG to get the identities of Americans with secret accounts. If the case proceeded, Switzerlands
largest bank would face an impossible choice: Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or
refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court. Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a
tentative legal settlementan unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over
information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS.
Heres what happened next:
Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a
cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according to the foundation and the bank.The

bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs,
through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a
series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann,
making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White
House.
This is just one case, one example from a long and complexrecord of money and inuence that the
Republicans will rain down on her campaign if she wins the nomination.
And now, in addition to State Department and FBI investigations, a conservative group has been allowed by
a federal judge to question her top aides about the email server. This is not going away any time soon.
Where was Bernie?
Sanders has never faced allegations of impropriety or conict of interest. His net worth, in fact, is less than
what Clinton was paid for her speeches to Goldman Sachs.

MORE ON TRUST
Right now,67%of Americans dont think she is trustworthy. Among
independents, who will be crucial in November, that number rises to
74%. Whether from her embarrassing sniper re story, or from her
other controversies, she has realdicultyconvincing people that shes
telling the truth.
Watch this awkward exchange last week with Scott Pelley of CBS. Why
the hesitation when asked if she will lie to the American people?
Because she knows she has a record of inconsistencies, including
thisunfortunate sniper re story to answer for. If she wins the
nomination, the reality is that we can expect to see this video over and
over.
This is why her ratings are dropping, and why her campaign is lying
about Bernie Sanders, as Chelsea Clinton did last week, saying, "Sen.
Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare, and dismantle
private insurance. In fact, none of that is true.

ITS VERYCLEAR
I dont think Hillary Clinton is a bad person. Not at all. I just think shes become part of the establishment
that instinctively servesits own needs while protecting itself from those who would challenge it.
The Clintons, who have famously earned a combined $153 million in corporate speaking fees, are not the
ones we are looking for to change our broken politics.
There are not two progressives in this race. There is one progressive candidateand one who is, at best, the
moderate she used to say she was. (You can see for yourself in the detailed issues chart Ivecompiled.)

You cant be a pro-war, pro-big business, pro-arms sales, pro-death penalty, weak-on-climate candidate
with ties to the private prison industry, a record of increasing povertythrough welfare reform, a
disastrous record on war, and a liking fordomestic spying and still get to call yourself a progressive.
Notunless the word means nothing anymore.
Young people are especially tired of empty promises. Theyre angry about the cost of college, aboutlow
wages, high housing costs,and grossly inadequate action on climate change. Theyre tired of being told to sit
down and be happy for incremental change, whenmost people are falling further behind. They are the
future, and the future is running about 80% for Bernie Sanders.

Will we listen to these young people, or will we lose another generation of activists and Democrats?
We live in a time of global climate crisis that has beencaused by a dysfunctionaleconomy that allowsthe
very richto amass great wealth at the expense of the planet and everyone else,all of itenabled
byestablishment politicians who themselves are in the 1%. And those politicians are so deeply entwined
with their corporate underwriters that studies show thatCongress literally doesnt care what you think.
Thats why Debbie Wasserman Schultz could so calmly explain,Unpledged delegates exist really to make
sure that party leaders and elected ocials dont have to be in a position where they are running against
grassroots activists. She and her pals at the DNC dont think the party belongs to the voters any more than
the CEO of Comcast thinks thecompany belongs to its customers.
Thats why Hillary Clinton is mocking Sanders and his supporters with the same insulting magic wand
comments she used tomock(video link) Obama and his supporters in 2008:
Lets just get everybody together, letsget unied, the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial
choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect.
Maybe I've just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be. You are not
going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear."
No, youre not. Youre not going to have the special interests disappearuntil we stop enabling politicians who
enrich themselves and then tell us to stop being ridiculous with talk of free college and healthcare as a
human right.
Hillary Clintonsartful smear comment was pure theater. She knows shes never been paid to change her
vote. No one is accusing her of that. Shes paidbecause she generally votes the right way, the way her
corporate friends might hope she would.
I'm tired of hoping. With Bernie Sanderswe have achance, perhaps ournal chance for a very long time,
to stand up to the massive power of massive wealth, and begin to rein in a deeply unjust and destructive

form of oligarchical capitalismso that we cansaveour democracy and have a ghting chance of leaving
our children a livableplanet.
This is not because Bernie Sandersis here to save us. Itsbecause he is telling uncomfortable truths about
how the system is rigged and about who has rigged the system.And by telling the truth at a time when that
is rarely done, he hastapped into a huge well of activism that gives us a ghting chance to face down the
establishment that mocks those of us who want a better country.
Lets please not screw this up.

IF YOU ARE CONVINCED

Please contributeto the Bernie Sanders campaign through my Act Blue Page. Can we get 1,000 donors?
Check where and when to vote in the primaries and make sure you are registered in time.
Its not enough to attend a rally with Bernie! Its not enough to share this on Facebook!
Get your friends together, make a plan, and vote!