Skillful. Experienced.

One small nugget nestled among other nuggets posted in a diary here yesterday:

Other inconsistencies: [...] (Wall Street) … Sanders voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000, which eased regulations on Wall Street, thus paving the way for the credit default swaps that sank the economy in the Great Recession.

Where could anyone get such an idea? Oh yeah:

"Well, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08," Clinton said. www.washingtonpost.com/...

But there’s more to the story.

And she's right. But here's what she didn't say: Not only did President Bill Clinton sign that bill into law, but key officials in his administration were also credited with helping to craft it. [...] The CFMA made its way through Congress on the back of a must-pass, 11,000-page bill to fund the government that year. This is where Sanders comes in, he joined a majority of Democrats and Republicans in approving the omnibus bill, which was signed into law by Bill Clinton. www.washingtonpost.com/...

So, the Clinton administration helped draft it and it was part of a must pass bill to fund the government? So, did Sanders have any real choice but to vote to fund the government?

Hillary knows that the disastrous legislation, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), had nothing to do with Sanders and everything to do with then-President Bill Clinton, [...] Sanders, like the rest of Congress, was blackmailed into voting for the bill because it was tucked into omnibus legislation needed to keep the government operating. Only libertarian Ron Paul and three other House members had the guts to cast a nay vote. The measure freeing Wall Street firms from regulation was inserted at the last moment in a deal between President Clinton and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who had failed in an earlier attempt to get the measure enacted. Clinton signed it into law a month before leaving office. www.commondreams.org/...

Wait? What? It was in the bill because of a deal between President Clinton and Phil Gramm?

During his time at the Treasury, Gensler had pushed hard for Wall Street deregulation and even helped write the CFMA, something now-Senator Bernie Sanders found unacceptable. And so Bernie moved to block Gensler's nomination. Sanders explained his actions during an appearance on Democracy Now.

So what's Gary Gensler - the guy who promoted the CFMA - up to today? Oh, you know, nothing big. He's just the chief financial officer of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Yep, that's right, the CFO of the Hillary Clinton Campaign! www.truth-out.org/...

And, this Gensler guy who promoted and helped write the CFMA is the CFO of the Hillary campaign?

Wow! Beautiful! Totally turning the truth and reality on its head!

...we create our own reality. www.nytimes.com/...

I can see why people might want that in the White House!

How did she do that? It’s called the Gish Gallop.

Named for the debate tactic created by creationist shill Duane Gish, a Gish Gallop involves spewing so much bullshit in such a short span on that your opponent can’t address let alone counter all of it. To make matters worse a Gish Gallop will often have one or more 'talking points' that has a tiny core of truth to it, making the person rebutting it spend even more time debunking it in order to explain that, yes, it's not totally false but the Galloper is distorting/misusing/misstating the actual situation. A true Gish Gallop generally has two traits. 1) The factual and logical content of the Gish Gallop is pure bullshit and anybody knowledgeable and informed on the subject would recognize it as such almost instantly. That is, the Gish Gallop is designed to appeal to and deceive precisely those sorts of people who are most in need of honest factual education. 2) The points are all ones that the Galloper either knows, or damn well should know, are totally bullshit. With the slimier users of the Gish Gallop, like Gish himself, its a near certainty that the points are chosen not just because the Galloper knows that they're bullshit, but because the Galloper is deliberately trying to shovel as much bullshit into as small a space as possible in order to overwhelm his opponent with sheer volume and bamboozle any audience members with a facade of scholarly acumen and factual knowledge. www.urbandictionary.com/...

Here are some more examples. Watch the master in action!

"[Sanders] was against the auto bailout," — Hillary Clinton, March 2016 I understood why Hillary was reticent about identifying the bill she supported and Sanders opposed as TARP. The program was, and is, as unpopular as it was necessary to keep the financial system from collapsing. But it was misleading to say that by voting against TARP, Sanders opposed the auto bailout -- particularly since he had, a month earlier, voted for a free-standing bill, which was defeated, to provide emergency loans to the auto industry. So when the subject came up on CNN the night of Bernie's surprising Michigan victory, I opined that Hillary's debate comments on autos, and a full-out effort by her campaign afterward to amplify them, were "kind of a cheap shot." www.cnn.com/...

“The Clean Power Plan is something that Sen. Sanders has said he would delay implementing, ..." — Hillary Clinton, March 2016 Sanders actually advocates for more ambitious action on climate change. Some experts argue that 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. www.ajc.com/...

And there’s more:

In a Democratic primary debate on February 26, 2008, Hillary Clinton picked up the meme: "Last summer, [Obama] basically threatened to bomb Pakistan, ..." — Hillary Clinton, February 2008 talkingpointsmemo.com/...

“by 2004 [Barack Obama] was saying that he basically agreed with the way George Bush was conducting the war.” — Hillary Clinton, February 2008 www.nytimes.com/...

“I actually started criticizing the war in Iraq before [Obama] did.” — Hillary Clinton, April 2008 www.politifact.com/...

You know sometimes people just have to lie. Like, about Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny.

Or “Oh! You look nice today.” Or, if you want to invade Iraq and there’s no legal reason to do so.

So, skill at obfuscation, lying and the Gish Gallop can be critical skills at manipulating people. And isn’t that what we need in the White House?

Compared to that other guy:

Bernie Sanders: On the Issues. Sincere Beliefs and Principles. Quick Reference.

It is not even close! Bernie Sanders is just too honest to be President.