Hillary Clinton Continues With the Smears, Even After Her NY Times Backers, PolitiFact and David Axelrod Called Her Out Carrie Miller Follow Mar 10, 2016 · 4 min read

Bernie Sanders may be too much of a gentleman to call Hillary Clinton a liar, but let me join in with PolitiFact, David Axelrod and the Clinton-endorsing New York Times Editorial Board to point out that the former Secretary of State is repeatedly and shamelessly distorting Sen. Sanders’ record and positions, almost certainly because she loses the fair comparison of their records in the light of day.

In last night’s Univision debate, which provoked a “Ber-nie-”chanting standing ovation for the Vermont senator, Hillary Clinton pulled another lie out of her seemingly bottomless bag of dirty tricks, claiming, in rising-sea-threatened Florida, that Sanders wants to delay the Clean Power Plan.

PolitiFact promptly rated the claim “false,” noting:

Sanders advocates for more ambitious action on climate change, which some experts argue could delay the plan. But Sanders himself has never said what Clinton is suggesting, and he has supported the Clean Power Act in words and action.

Her decision to blatantly lie in the last scheduled Democratic debate is an especially flagrant foul after she was issued a yellow card yesterday by her backers on the New York Times Editorial Board. (The Times endorsed Clinton in January, but seems to be having a bit of buyer’s remorse, having since called for Clinton to release her Wall Street transcripts and admonishing her for a mixed message on immigration.)

On Monday, the board warned Clinton that her campaign tactics are hurting her image with voters, tying her loss in Michigan to her unfair characterization of Sanders as an opponent of the auto bailout at the CNN-sponsored debate in Flint, MI on Sunday. “Mrs. Clinton’s falsely parsing Mr. Sanders’s Senate vote on a 2008 recession-related bailout bill as abandoning the auto industry rescue hurt her credibility,” their editorial said.

Apparently, Clinton’s mobile subscription to the Times has lapsed, because she told the exact same lie at the Univision debate, prompting President Obama’s campaign strategist David Axelrod to call her on it via Twitter, for the second time in a week:

Throwing buckets of mud is a sign of desperation on Clinton’s part, and shows how little respect she has for the intellect of the voters and the integrity of the Democratic primary process. Her backers have loudly and often called on Sen. Sanders to take it easy on her, so as not to muss her hair going into the general election. Those surrogates include the deplorable David Brock, who heads up Clinton’s super PAC, risibly entitled “Correct the Record.” Meanwhile her other super PAC, “Priorities USA” has announced it will spend $4.5 million against Sanders in March, after earlier saying that this corporate-financed slush fund should only be used against Republican candidates.

Count me as one of the growing chorus of voices who say that Clinton’s dishonesty and her decision to condone the use of corporate money to tear down her Democratic rival has disqualified her from the kid glove treatment she’s been getting from the Sanders’ camp. Nobody is saying Sanders should get into a mud-wrestling match with Clinton, who has far more experience working slippery. Sanders has opted not to touch the email controversy, and barring legal developments there’s really no going back on that position.

But there has been no mention whatsoever in all of the Democratic debates about the outrageous conflict of interest and bad judgement then-Secretary of State Clinton showed in accepting donations from foreign governments to her family’s foundation even as she had decision-making authority on the approval of weapons sales to those same countries. Is there anyone on the planet who thinks Donald Trump is going to politely avert his eyes and demur from commenting in a general election?

It’s time to stop treating Hillary Clinton as some kind of fragile china doll. She’s tough, or so she keeps telling us. She’s a dirty fighter slinging punches below the belt. It’s time to see if she can take a shot to that glass jaw of hers.

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