Re: Hillary Clinton 2016: Bernie Sanders attack from her proxies

From:john.podesta@gmail.com To: brentbbi@webtv.net CC: roy.spence@gsdm.com Date: 2015-09-06 10:31 Subject: Re: Hillary Clinton 2016: Bernie Sanders attack from her proxies

We already discussed Castro. Beyond that, why do you think that story is not just a bunch of hyped up BS intended to have exactly the kind of reaction you are exhibiting? On Sep 6, 2015 7:48 AM, "Brent Budowsky" <brentbbi@webtv.net> wrote: > I would not discourage either or both of you from sharing this note > directly with > Hillary Clinton because if she wants to become president she needs to > understand > the point I am making her with crystal clarity. > > Someone sent me the story from Politico I link below suggesting that the > Hillary > Clinton campaign is telling surrogates to attack Bernie Sanders and is so > ashamed > and embarrassed by their own talking points that they refuse to put in > writing what > they are telling surrogates to say about why she should become president. > > I cannot think of anything more stupid and self-destructive for a campaign > to do, > especially for a candidate who has dangerously low levels of public trust, > than > writing surreptitious talking points to attack an opponent whose support is > premised on cleaning up politics and whose supporters----unlike some who > surround > Hillary Clinton----are not in it for the money, or to get a job in her > administration that > will not happen if this kind of thing continues, or to supplement their > lobbying or consulting incomes. > > I spent three hours yesterday at George Washington University's back to > school > engagement fair where 500 campus groups and clubs had booths to interact > with incoming students. There were Democratic and Republican booths, but > the > only two candidates who had booths were Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders. > > There was no Hillary Clinton booth. > > The Bernie Sanders booth---I talked to them and kept an eye on > them---spent the > entire three hours getting names and contact information on a yellow pad > for students > who want to actively support Bernie. This is happening at every major > campus > in America. > > And at a major university in Washington, D.C., where many of the kids come > here > because of an interest in politics and are already working as interns, > there was not > one student who gave enough of a damn for Hillary to open a booth, or even > wear > a Hillary button----I didn't see one and I was looking. > > If there are secret Clinton talking points to surrogates to attack > Bernie---and I now > believe the story is true-----she is going to create ill-will that neither > she nor her > staff can even imagine. There are people entering politics for the first > time, especially > but not only young people, who begin with some level of distrust towards > Hillary, > who will be disgusted by these attacks against him by Clinton through > surrogates > and many----who she will desperately need in November if she is > nominated----will > just stay home because they are not interested in a slightly better > version of a > system they believe is corrupt. > > Moreover, Bernie is a pro, and his inclination will be to play ball if > Hillary is > nominated and urge his supporters to come around. What will happen if > this continues is Bernie will get pissed off and lash back and I can write > the > words he will say if Clinton tactics anger him----FBI investigation and > aides > taking the Fifth will be among them---and it will not be pretty. > > The way to handle Bernie is to do what I have done in my columns---give > high > praise to Hillary, emphasize the historic moment for women and her vast > qualifications, counter-attack against the Republican inquisitions, make > love > to Bernie and his idealistic supporters, and co-opt as many of his > progressive > issues as possible, such as increasing social security benefits and paying > for it > through a transaction tax on Wall Street. > > The way NOT to handle Bernie is to telegraph how afraid the Clinton > campaign > is of him, and then dispense covert talking points that cannot be put in > writing > that embody the oldest politics that will only infuriate many liberal > Democrats > and give an already-biased media a legitimate story line to push. > > Read the Sunday NY Times story about all the tech wizards doing for Bernie > for > free what Hillary has to pay for, and imagine how they will feel when they > read the > Politico story I link below....imagine what the college kids for Bernie > will feel when > these surrogate attacks on Bernie become more visible....what the Hillary > campaign > should be doing is attracting her own student supports, especially women > students, with a vision and inspiration in talking points that should be so > powerful in everything good they say about Hillary that they should be > leaked > with pride and not negative politics that can't be put in writing and have > to be > hidden like grand jury testimony because her well-paid consultants do not > want > anyone to know why they think she should become president..... > > Candidly, bluntly, with all of the verbal brutality I can muster the > Clinton campaign > has some very big problems and the kind of politics in the Politico story > I link here > are Exhibit A of why the problems exist, and Exhibit B of why they must be > changed if she wants to be nominated and elected. > > If nobody else will do it, I will volunteer to take an hour to write the > talking points > about what surrogates should be saying, about why she should be president, > that will make voters so proud that the campaign should call a press > conference > to publicly release the talking points---and I would not accept a dime and > I damn > well do not want a job now or ever and I won't plead for her to write an > endorsement > of the consultant business I won't ever do..... > > Hillary Clinton needs to think seriously about these things while there is > still time. > > > > http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-2016-proxies-attack-bernie-sanders-213359 > > > Sent from my iPad