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Just how big of a problem is Bernie Sanders going to be for Hillary Clinton?
Hotair ^ | 04/30/2015 | Noah Rothman

Posted on 04/30/2015 9:01:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Bernie Sanders just announced that he is running for President in 2016.

The conventional wisdom shared not just by conservatives but many Democrats is that self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is so unrepresentative of mainstream American political thought that he cannot pose a serious threat to Hillary Clinton. It’s true that the former secretary of state remains the prohibitive favorite to win her party’s nomination in 2016, and there isn’t much evidence beyond the anecdotal that suggests Democrats are uncomfortable anointing her Barack Obama’s chosen successor. That dynamic might change, however, if Sanders runs against Clinton in a manner that former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has so far refused; seriously and aggressively. He seems inclined to do just that.

“Why don’t you tell me what Hillary Clinton is campaigning on, do you know?” the always agitated Vermont senator told MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts earlier this month. “You don’t know and I don’t know and the American people don’t know.”

Sanders went on in that appearance to mock the media’s fascination with the spontaneity of Clinton’s Midwestern car trip in a vehicle dubbed “the Scooby Van.” That criticism was proven well-founded when reporters learned that Clinton’s innovative van trip was merely a reprise of a stunt from her 2000 U.S. Senate campaign that also featured a trip around New York in a van named “Scooby.”

But Sanders isn’t content to make snide remarks and to shame the Clinton-loving press. The Green Mountain State senator is running for president, and the punches he is throwing at Clinton aren’t feints. He intends to land some blows.

When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl about the continually evolving tales of financial improprieties out of the Clinton Foundation, Sanders called it “a very serious problem.”

“[A]nybody now who is running for office, with few exceptions,” he added after linking the Clinton Foundation to the Koch Brothers’ charities – a slur of the first order for the left. “I am one of the exceptions.”

“I am not going to start a super PAC,” the socialist senator added. “I’m not going to go around the country talking to millionaires. Now I’m saving my time because they wouldn’t give me any money anyhow and that’s fine.”

It’s that kind of commitment to ideology that will prove frustrating for Clinton who, even her supporters would admit, holds few convictions other than the tenacious embrace of that which is popular in the moment. It was Sanders’ authenticity that led National Review’s Charles C. W. Cooke to dub Vermont’s senator the “anti-Hillary.”

“To those among us who like to bat ideas around, such bluntness represents a welcome change — especially given the current alternatives,” Cooke glowed after reveling in Sander’s dogmatic adherence to the tenets of welfarism. “At present, alas, the Democratic primary is being dominated by a corrupt, controlling, soulless, cynical, entitled, and mostly synthetic avatar named Hillary Clinton, and, in consequence, it is almost entirely devoid of ideas.”

All told, Sanders is to public policy and professional politicking what Joe Biden is to personality. He is open, blunt, unapologetic, compelling, ready to debate, suspicious of frivolity, and — in a culture that loathes frayed edges and rewards aridity and insipidity — downright necessary. Democrats who are spoiling for a debate over the future of their party should be thrilled that he has come along.

Even before Sanders formally entered the race, the polls began to suggest that his presence would be welcomed by Democrats. The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling revealed this week that, while 62 percent of Iowa’s Democratic caucus-goers still back Clinton, Sanders has secured the support of 14 percent of Hawkeye State liberals.

“Given the peculiar character of the Democratic race, just being in double digits qualifies a candidate as a legitimate opponent of Clinton,” Washington Examiner columnist Byron York submitted. “And PPP numbers also put Sanders in double digits in New Hampshire.”

Clinton’s campaign has long been preparing for a serious challenger to emerge and to take the fight against her to Iowa. It was there that enthusiastic liberals unconcerned with such trite matters as electability scuttled her presidential ambitions six years ago, and the memories of that rebuke are still fresh for Team Hillary. At this stage, it seems unlikely that Sanders can not only unite the uncommitted Democratic vote but also chip away at Clinton’s support to a degree that threatens her candidacy, but he wants to try. And given the kid gloves with which her party’s prospective presidential aspirants have handled Clinton, that’s saying a lot.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: 2016; 2016election; berniesanders; cromnibus; demprimaries; doddfrank; election2016; elizabethwarren; fauxahontas; hillary; hillaryclinton; hitlery; lieawatha; massachusetts; omalley; sanders; vermont
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To: ilovesarah2012
Maybe not, but it is pretty clear that she is in a constant state of PMS.
41 posted on 04/30/2015 9:41:22 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: kingu
"...Hillary believes in the traditional marriage..."

Yep, if she were down for the struggle she'd be married to Huma already.

42 posted on 04/30/2015 9:42:51 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: SeekAndFind

“Just how big of a problem is Bernie Sanders going to be for Hillary Clinton?”

No problem at all. Hillary and Bernie have one most important thing in common....both are socialist commie/supporting, RATS.


43 posted on 04/30/2015 9:46:17 AM PDT by kenmcg
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To: buckalfa

Do you really think votes, liberal or conservative, want middle of the roaders (ie: road kill)? An honest liberal vs an honest conservative, instead of all of the bought and paid for pols (both political parties) would do the US a lot of good.


44 posted on 04/30/2015 9:52:59 AM PDT by grania
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To: Suz in AZ

I believe he’s a member of the Socialist party. Only the lying media claims that he’s an independent.


45 posted on 04/30/2015 10:02:26 AM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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To: SeekAndFind

He is the Ron Paul of the Democratic party. Popcorn for everyone.


46 posted on 04/30/2015 10:12:39 AM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: SeekAndFind
At the moment Sanders would seem insignificant.

"Insignificance" really depends on Sanders' own message.

If Sanders expounds facts and information that Hillary must defend against and respond to then it could get very sticky for Miss Hitlery.

47 posted on 04/30/2015 10:19:44 AM PDT by VideoDoctor
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To: Paladin2

If being a woman isn’t enough to get her the nomination, I certainly wouldn’t put any money against her shacking up with a woman before the first primary.


48 posted on 04/30/2015 10:21:19 AM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: grania
"Do you really think votes, liberal or conservative, want middle of the roaders

" I understand your point and want to think the voters want a clear choice, but remember this is the age of the 10 second sound bite and low information voter. Image rather than substance will likely rule the day.

49 posted on 04/30/2015 10:29:03 AM PDT by buckalfa (Confused)
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To: SeekAndFind

I hope Bernie gets offended by the democrat apparatchiks and runs as an independent. Drawing off votes to the left helps our side


50 posted on 04/30/2015 10:30:20 AM PDT by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .C)
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To: SeekAndFind

The young folks love Bernie and Liz. Wait til Omalley, Liz Warren and Jim Webb get in the Democrat primary. Clinton will deflate like week old gay pride balloon. :-)


51 posted on 04/30/2015 11:17:40 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bernie will be Ralph writ small at best.


52 posted on 04/30/2015 11:20:39 AM PDT by Phlap (REDNECK@LIBARTS.EDU)
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To: buckalfa
this is the age of the 10-second sound bite

That's why a clear, to the point, no exceptions, simple to understand position could work: No illegals in the US; US jobs for US citizens; No Common Core; etc.

It's ambiguity and nuances that confuse people.

53 posted on 04/30/2015 11:39:03 AM PDT by grania
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To: Genoa
He’s running as a Democrat. (His proclaimed socialism will be no big deal in the Dem primaries. But he still has to work for any results he gets. It has a lot to do with his ability to raise funds.)

My neighbors have a Vote for Bernie bumper sticker. They went to a fundraiser for him in Austin a few weeks ago.

54 posted on 04/30/2015 11:50:53 AM PDT by sockmonkey (Of course I didn't read the article. After all, this is Free Republic.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Wouldn’t it be interesting if a lot of republicans crossed over to vote for Sanders in the primaries and helped lift him to the Democratic Candidate (hint, hint). Not that the Democrats have ever done anything so devious (i.e. to help end up with an unelectable Republican candidate in the general)..


55 posted on 05/03/2015 5:26:47 PM PDT by utford
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