Hillary Clinton’s VP choice, Tim Kaine, is well liked Inside the Beltway, partly because he bends to pressure from Wall Street, DLC-style “centrists” and the austerity-pushing mainstream media, explains ex-bank regulator William K. Black.
By William K. Black
By picking Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton has revealed her true preferences and shown that her move to the left on policy issues during the primaries was simply a tactical move to defeat Bernie Sanders. It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. Clinton can talk about caring about the U.S. public, but this choice cuts through the rhetoric.
The two politicians to whom she gave serious consideration to choosing as her running mates were Kaine and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. What both men share in common is, like the Clintons, being leaders of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). The DLC was, on economic and foreign policy issues, a servile creature of Wall Street – funded by Wall Street.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her vice presidential choice, Sen. Tim Kaine. (Photo credit: HillaryClinton.com)
As Tom Frank’s new book Listen, Liberal documents, the DLC vilified the New Deal, financial and safety regulation, organized labor, the working class, opponents of militarism, opponents of the disastrous trade deals that were actually backdoor assaults on effective health, safety and financial regulation, and the progressive base of the Democratic Party.
The DLC leadership, which included President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, entered into a series of cynical bipartisan deals with the worst elements of the Republican Party, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Wall Street elites that:
–Destroyed Glass-Steagall (the New Deal reform that separated commercial and investment banks)
–Created a massive regulatory “black hole” in financial derivatives that Enron and later the world’s largest banks exploited to run their fraud schemes that led to the Enron-era scandals and the Great Recession
–Drove Brooksley Born from government because she warned about these derivatives and sought to protect us from the coming disaster
–Cut the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) staff by over three-quarters, destroying effective supervision of banks
–Cut the Office of Thrift Supervision’s (OTS) staff by over half, destroying effective supervision of savings and loans such as Countrywide, Washington Mutual (known as WaMu, the largest “bank” failure in U.S. history), and IndyMac. OTS was also supposed to regulate aspects of AIG and Lehman, but had no capacity to do so given the massive staff cuts and its deliberately useless regulatory leaders chosen by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
Where Was Kaine?
Kaine, like Hillary Clinton, has embraced for decades the DLC/’New Democrats’ agenda – meaning they are allies of Wall Street. They embrace a neo-liberal, pro-corporate outlook that has done incredible damage to the vast majority of Americans.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts
Kaine is actively pushing to weaken already grossly inadequate financial regulation and pushing to adopt the indefensible “Trans-Pacific Partnership” (TPP).
By choosing Kaine, Hillary Clinton is signaling that her new-found support for financial regulation and opposition to TPP is a tactical ploy to win the nomination before she “pivots” back to the disastrous policies that she, Kaine and Vilsack have helped inflict on the world for decades. She is playing into Trump’s claims that she is not honest.
What’s especially noteworthy is that Hillary Clinton and Kaine are carrying Wall Street’s water while the Republican Party is repudiating some of these policies. The Republican Party platform (cynically) calls for reinstating Glass-Steagall, and Donald Trump has called for the defeat of TPP in an equally cynical fashion.
The self-described liberals – the Clintons, Kaine and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman – are against reinstating Glass-Steagall. This shows Hillary Clinton hasn’t learned a thing from the failed pro-Wall Street policies that have wrecked the economy. It’s bad politics and it’s bad policy.
Actually, that’s not quite right. These policies have worked brilliantly for the top 1/1000th of one percent. The policies have been disastrous for nearly everyone else in the U.S. – and around the world. As Sen. Elizabeth Warren says, “the financial system is rigged.”
As an attorney, professor of economics, serial whistleblower, former financial regulator and white-collar criminologist, I can explain exactly how the DLC and their Republican allies, both of which were traditionally funded by and servants of Wall Street, rigged the system.
You can be sure that people like me who have demonstrated their ability and willingness to destroy the rigged system in order to regulate and prosecute financial elites and their political cronies will never be appointed by a Clinton/Kaine administration.
The Love of Austerity
And that’s just on the finance. On the economics, the choice of Kaine signals that Hillary Clinton is openly returning to her life-long embrace of the economic malpractice of austerity. Recall that Bill Clinton tried, in league with Newt Gingrich, to largely privatize Social Security. That is Wall Street’s greatest dream.
President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 1997. (White House photo)
The only reason it didn’t happen is that the Republican rebels asked for too much and that scuttled the deal that Bill Clinton was making with the Republican-controlled Congress. The same thing happened when the Tea Party sank President Barack Obama’s efforts to reach a “Grand Bargain” with the Republicans to adopt austerity and make cuts to the safety net.
The leadership of the now defunct DLC continues to applaud the cuts they made to Social Security and the oxymoron they called “welfare reform” that has brought so much misery to poor mothers. The preposterous lie that, working with President Ronald Reagan, they “saved Social Security” is repeated daily on the intro to an MSNBC program.
Even though it would be good politics as well as policy for Hillary Clinton to break with the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party and choose a VP from the Democratic-wing of the Party, she refuses to even pretend that she gave serious consideration to choosing a progressive as her running point.
Democrats should take a lesson from economics and focus on this clear case of “revealed preferences.” She is telling us that she intends to ensure that should she be elected and unable to complete her term of office she can be confident that her successor will continue the DLC’s disastrous agenda.
William K. Black is an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A former bank regulator who led investigations of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, he is the author of the book The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. Follow him on https://twitter.com/williamkblack
Clinton is out of her mind if she thinks her administration can get away with a DLC economic program and a Neo Con foreign policy, either one of these two efforts will sink her presidency before the 2020 campaign.
As for the Bernie people, its like Howard Dean said, fix the local parties and win states, this will pave the way to win Washington. This work has yet to be done.
There are People who think that the Green Party of America should Review the latest Reliable Climate Data that shows that the Planet is now Cooling, and that carbon dioxide does not adversely affect the Climate or the Environment or the Oceans, and they think this because they think that the Green Party of America will lose Votes if it snows in the Southern States of America on or before Election Day, because it is highly unusual for it to snow there, and we Know that Britain has scrapped its Department of Climate Change based on carbon dioxide, because their Scientists Know that it is Solar Activity that affects the Climate, and Not carbon dioxide, and they Know that the Planet will have a Little Ice Age, because of Reduced Solar Activity, and that Solar Activity is by far, the Greatest Determinant of Earth’s Climate, and that Reforestation and natural Greenhouse Gases is the Greatest manmade protection that Regulates the Earth’s Climate during a Little Ice Age.
There are People who think that Clean Mining along with the Cleanest methods of Technology for using Fossil Fuels should be used in rich Countries for Fossil Fuels, and there are Many American Voters who favor Good Science and Good Economics over the Lies of the Pseudo Science that says that carbon dioxide is responsible climate change, and this Lie is Responsible for Unnecessary Unemployment, and Many Workers would Vote for Political Parties that Pursue Proper Science and Good Economics, but Fracking for Gas is Definitely Bad for the Environment.
The Pseudo Science regarding any Alleged adverse affects that carbon dioxide has on the Climate was devised by Corrupt Vested Interests, because ordinary American Voters Know that carbon dioxide is Not a problem for the Environment even if there was much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and if it was not for our Sun, then the Earth would be minus 260 degrees Celsius, and so the Sun is the Greatest determinant of the Climate of the Earth, but carbon dioxide has no adverse affects on the Climate.
This does Not mean that there are no Environmental problems with Fossils Fuels but there is the Technology to use them Cleanly, but there is much Pollution and other Problems with alternative energy, which is Not clean and green, and the Dishonest Establishment environmentalists are Deceiving Americans for their own Benefit and for the Benefit of alternative energy Companies, and doing this to the Detriment of America’s Environment and to the Detriment of America’s Economy, and to the Detriment of America’s Agriculture, because Proper Science shows that there will be Global Cooling that will cause Famines in America and elsewhere.
The thing to keep in mind is that if a Lie is Repeated Often Enough, then it will be Believed by Most of the People, and even Many Scientists have been told that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that adversely affects the Climate, but carbon dioxide is Not a pollutant, because carbon dioxide is a Vital for Vegetation and is therefore Vital for insects, animals, and Humans, and carbon dioxide does Not adversely affect the Climate, but because of this Lie, even Honest People who have been Thoroughly Deceived to keep talking on the Lies regarding carbon dioxide, and there are Many Scientists who say that there are Predicable Solar Cycles, and that the World is Cooling and will have a little Ice Age that will lower Agricultural production, and that because of this the Planet needs more greenhouse gases to lower the degree of Global Cooling of the Planet, like carbon dioxide of Fossil Fuels and more water vapor because of Reforestation, and Reforestation to the Proper Degree will also combat Global Cooling, because Forests retain Heat in the Trees, but Deserts have few trees, and this is why Deserts are Cold at night.
I have discovered Many Lies in what passes as Science, and these are mainly those things that cannot be repeated by experiment, and we Know that these Scientists learned these Lies at University, and Many of them Had to Accept those Lies or else work in a Factory, because the Lying Scientists who Want Government Funding will Not let Honest Scientists work as Scientists, and one of them is the Alleged orbital shift of the Earth’s orbit, but the Earth is just too Massive for its orbit to experience anything more than very negligible temporary orbital shifts because of Alleged changing ice patterns in the Antarctica, because the Arctic is Not on Land but on Ocean, and it can shift according to where the Axis of rotation of the Earth happens to be, and it would shift to compensate for any temporary and very negligible changes to Ice Cap patterns in Antarctica, and this keep the Earth’s orbit very much the same at all times.
I have heard some Scientists say that the Sahara Desert came into existence because of the Earth’s orbital shift, but the Roman Empire’s Historian named Pliny said that he marveled at the abundance of fruits in the forests and the variety of animals in North Africa, and that the Emperor’s armies set about clearing the land to establish farms, and that for the next 200 years North Africa supplied the Roman Empire with half a million tons of grain a year but, over the years, deforestation, salinisation, and over exploitation of the land took its toll, and Crop Productivity dropped and the Climate changed, and I think it is Logical to accept Pliny’s and other accounts of other Historians of the Roman Empire as an Accurate account of what happened with the Sahara region, because the Roman Empire was Responsible for much Deforestation in the territories of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire would Not have gone to North Africa and stayed there for hundreds of years if the Sahara was a Desert, and the Roman Empire made its North African territories a Desert, with Farming and Forestry, and the Desert has increased from what the Romans left it as, and this is because of rising salt levels and the wind blowing sand over areas that had Vegetation until they became Desert, and People are trying to halt the spread of that Desert with the Green Wall of Africa.
The Wrong theory of orbital shifting of Earth’s orbit is needed for some other area of Pseudo Science by the Lying Scientists, and so these Unscientific Scientists want to use this Lie of the Sahara Desert being caused by the shifting of Earth’s orbit, but it has been Proven Scientifically on Many occasions that some Scientists take Bribes and Deliberately Lie and that some Scientists are Genuinely Mistaken or Deceived at times, and Many Establishment environmentalists do Not want to mention Deforestation or the Varying level Solar Activity as causes of Climate Change, and there are Rainforests in other regions of the World that are on the same Line of Latitude as the Sahara region, and they were Never Deserts, and we can see the Forests along the Equator and on Continental Europe, and if the Earth orbit had shifted from the Sahara region to one of those regions, then why are those regions Not Deserts today like the Sahara is, and the answer is that some Scientist Lie, they Lie, and they Lie, and after they have done All of that, then they Continue to Lie, even as the Establishment environmentalists Lie and Continue to Lie.
There is nothing wrong with having Proper Vested Interests as long as those People earn their Money Properly, and Innocent carbon dioxide was Slandered by those with Corrupt Vested Interests and Honest Experts Know these things, and they should inform Americans of Good Science and Good Economics.
I think that every statement should be considered on its own merits, and not on when it was written or who wrote it, because we Know that the certain Corrupt Vested Interests are the Masters of every type of Lie, and every type of Deceptive argument, and every type of Trickery.
This is my own Research on what is causing Climate Change, and while I agree that Climate can and does change, I Disagree that carbon dioxide is a major or even significant factor, and I think that the Major Causes of Climate Change are Deforestation, and periods of weaker than average or stronger than average Solar Activity.
It needs to be kept in mind that some Scientists and Economists on both sides of the carbon dioxide issue are either genuinely mistaken or Deliberately Lying for some reason, and which does Not always have to be because of Corruption, Blackmail, Intimidation, or Bribery, but Many Scientists are Deliberately Lying because of Wrongly blaming Innocent carbon dioxide for climate change.
There are Scientists with PhD Degrees, and as an entire group, they Disagree on every aspect of the Debate of the role of carbon dioxide on climate, and because these PhD Scientists as an entire group Cannot all be correct on every aspect of that topic, then it is up to Individuals to make up their own minds on this matter.
This is what I have done on this matter, and with more Research there is better understanding of this matter, and I do not claim that my opinions on this matter are all correct, but there is No intentions to intentionally lie, and some Scientists say that the Arctic Ice Cap is Melting and other Scientists say that the Polar Ice Caps are Increasing in size, but the much Slandered Innocent carbon dioxide, is Not causing any problems to the Environment or Climate or Oceans, and which would Not cause any problems even if there was much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and we speak of an excess of water during a Flood, but no one thinks that water is pollution, and neither is carbon dioxide a pollutant, and perhaps the Earth Needs more carbon dioxide to help Crops to grow bigger, better, and faster, and to help heat up the Earth to have more heat for the coming Little Ice Age at http://www.suspicious0bservers.org/top-6-climate-change-problems/ .
Queen HELL und $hitizen Kaine : PROGRE??IVE? fur All ?EA?ON? !
While I appreciate the opinions expressed here, I think a good indication of a politician is their actual voting record. Here’s a link to Tim Kaine’s voting scorecards, courtesy of Vote Smart:
http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/50772/tim-kaine
Some highlights: 100% NARAL, 76% ACLU, 94% League of Conservation Voters, 10% Gun Owners of America, 85% Americans for Democratic Action.
You’re giving “approval ratings”, not his voting record. Never heard of any “League of Conservation Voters” before, but they must be a wacky bunch to even “approve” of “an anti-environmentalist pro-coal governor of Virginia.”
Most people who claim to be “conservationists” worry a little bit about the world dying.
Tim Kaine has been pushing for a congressional authorization for war on ISIS. I generally agreed with him but was troubled by his acceptance of factual premises and narratives that I know to be false. If Congress is not willing to admit that the real question is whether we should be toppling the Syria regime and provoking Russia, I’m not sure that congressional debate will be a useful check on future wars. I would like to hear from one of the excellent writers at Consortium News about Kaine’s record on this issue of congressional authorization and whether it offers any slim hope for restraint on Hillary Clinton’s expected belligerence.
any slim hope for restraint on Hillary Clinton’s expected belligerence.
Only if some other entity outbids the Israel Lobby and the military industrial complex for her favors.
Tim Kaine has been pushing for a congressional authorization for war on ISIS. I generally agreed with him but was troubled by his acceptance of factual premises and narratives that I know to be false. If Congress is not willing to admit that the real question is whether we should be toppling the Syria regime and provoking Russia, I’m not sure that congressional debate will be useful check on future wars. I would like to hear from one of the excellent writers at Consortium News about Kaine’s record on this issue of congressional authorization and whether it offers any slim hope for restraint on Hillary Clinton’s expected belligerence.
I do not think relitigating the Treaty Clause issue is fruitful, as the Congressional-Executive Agreement now has a long history and is broadly accepted as valid. I am not convinced that a senatorial monopoly is necessarily better just because it sets a higher barrier in some cases. I want the democratic promise of two-house participation to be fully realized, which I don’t see with secret texts released after the crucial fast track vote.
When I say constitutional, I mean that these agreements create future constraints on legislative action. Even if an investor cannot force a state to repeal a law, the threat of sanctions chills public interest regulations. If Congress is going to give away its power, which is our power, then it should be done with full opportunity for public input and full accountability. Passing Fast Track based on secret texts, then approving an agreement in a lame duck session does not provide this input and accountability.
Seems that much of Kaine’s Wall Street tilt is recent. It mostly dates from Mark Warner’s near death experience in the 2014 election. Warner, and apparently Kaine, attributed that to not being Republican enough. Historically, going back to Kaine’s start on Richmond City Council he’s been to the left of the DLC. That does not mean I like his current positions any better, just that he is not a long term, right wing, DLC, triangulating, Repub wanna be like Hillary.
Trump and Clinton are evil in such different ways it is impossible to tell if one of them is lesser. Vote for good policies this year, vote Green.
Tom, the TPP and other so-called trade agreements have little to do with trade, and much to do with deregulation and privatization. The Virginia ports will be just fine without the TTIP, TTP, TISA, and whatever other agreements are in the pipeline.
Virginia is being sued now in federal court for not allowing uranium mining, for sound reasons. At least the case will be heard by a real judge applying our national and state laws, because the mining company is not owned by a European, Australian, or Japanese company and TTIP/TTP Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) has not been approved by Congress yet. Already a Canadian company has been able to sue under NAFTA ISDS before a corporate-friendy arbitration panel, as is happening with the Keystone XL pipeline. Why increase the reach and power of these tribunals? Tim Kaine as a Harvard-trained lawyer is well aware of the issues, and should address them forthrighty without resort to platitudes about his state benefitting from free trade.
These so-called trade agreements are constitutional in nature, and should not have been fast-tracked, and certainly should not be passed this December by a lame-duck Congress. Let the TTP/TTIP/TISA be an issue for the presidental and congressional races, and let the new administration and Congress publicly debate it come February.
When I wrote my Congressman Don Beyer in opposition to TPP, I was shocked to see in his response a statement that ISDS is “mediation,” when it is binding arbitration that will force our government to pay “lost profits” for regulation in the public interest. Takings law under our Constitution as intepreted by our Supreme Court will be superseded by corporate-friendly rules set by corporate law firm arbitrators. Not acceptable.
“These so-called trade agreements are constitutional in nature…”
These trade agreements are TREATIES, not trade agreements. They have been cleverly and subversively presented to the American public as legislation rather than international agreements in order to evade the strict and prohibitive ratification process that would otherwise doom them to failure. They fundamentally change the nature of our country from a representative democracy to a corporate oligarchy…in other words, they codify a fascist system. But the average American, no matter how hard you try to explain, cannot grasp this reality. It doesn’t matter who you vote for. Neither Trump nor Clinton will actually be “calling the shots”. But as long as the public thinks its vote counts, they’ll remain willfully duped. H. L. Mencken said it best: “Democracy proves Americans know what they want…and they deserve to get it good and hard.” This election cycle, they’re really gonna get it good.
This is a concise correct statement of the facts. It is too bad that the court system has not followed the rule of law on this issue for decades. Because of the dominance of the yankee imperium, other countries like Canada, Australia and the UK are also being consigned to the post-legal era. This is another key reason why it is imperative that in the US the Clintons be defeated. By the way, kudos to Dr. Black for writing the article as a vehicle for these comments.
“It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. Clinton can talk about caring about the U.S. public, but this choice cuts through the rhetoric.”
The only thing I can add to this is that many of her other choices show that she does not care about the American people and really has no understanding of the policies that she and her co-horts in the establishment on both sides have thrust on the Amerian people with disasterous consequenes.
Thank you Professor Black for this article. Spot on! I give you a deep bow.
IAL Ph.D., MBA
“It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. Clinton can talk about caring about the U.S. public, but this choice cuts through the rhetoric.”
Nevertheless, millions of voters will be divorced from any knowledge about what Hillary has done — and hasn’t done – and will march to the cadence of her campaign bullshit. Hillary Fighting For You. What a crock!!!
On Monday morning, Schultz got a preview of the negative reaction she could face this week from the convention floor. At a breakfast for the Florida delegation, which represents her home state, Schultz was booed during her short remarks. NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell captured some of the scene in a video.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-conventions/democratic-national-committee-chief-stepping-aside-after-convention-n615826
CNN reports that some in the crowd displayed signs calling out the email leak and yelled “Shame!” as Schulz spoke. She tried to get the crowd to calm down—“I can see there’s a little bit of interest in my being here, and I can appreciate that interest,” Schultz said, according to ABC News—but left the stage amidst the heckling. Schultz will have more interaction with the delegates as she gavels each session of the convention in and out. It won’t be a good look for Democratic unity if she’s met each time with boos.
As much as I respect Bill Black, I believe his rhetoric is off base in this lumping of Kaine in the Wall Street crowd. A little more research is due on his part. Virginia’s economy is tied to import export with the Norfolk ports, so trade support is not a big stretch. Virginia bank regulation has been very strict. That the big banks have used regulation to make life difficult for regional banks is a strategy that Bill Black should be fully aware of. It is a common corporate strategy, protest regulation, then use it to prevent entry of new players and to burden the small players.
Unless everybody writing about Kaine is deluded, the man is in the pocket of Wall Street.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/clinton-vp-favorite-pushes-for-bank-deregulation.html
And a person might ask – why would Hillary be interested in him if he wasn’t a free-trade deregulating neocon?
Kaine was a senate spearhead for fasttracking the TPP and other so-called “trade agreements” which are really initiatives to replace regulatory systems and the rule of law with multi-national corrupt corporate arbitration tribunals. He has also recently reiterated his support for this system. As such he betrayed the traditions of the Democratic party, the interests of the public, and US sovereignty. This constitutes treason in spirit if not legally in fact and contempt for the public health and welfare, which would be destroyed if these initiatives are put into effect. It also makes a lie out of any claims that the Clinton regime would do anything for global warming other than eliminate regulations on fossil fuel companies. Private arbitrators would be even more corrupt than the regulators being criticised since they act both as prosecutors and judges, and the only acceptable arbitrators are those who play ball with the corporate controllers of the system..
Hillary and Tim Kaine: a Match Made on Wall Street by Eric Draitser – http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/22/clintons-vice-president-a-match-made-on-wall-street/
The party of FDR is no more. The Clintons and their cronies killed it. They have pushed the Republicans into full blown crazy and become the new Republican Party.
Progressives need to let go of any illusions that this scenario can be reversed. It can’t. It’s time to form a cohesive progressive front to bring down this hellish oligarchic system. Voting for Jill Stein is a good start whether she wins or loses, but it’s only a start. We need a sustained organized movement that will not go away. That is our only hope of reversing this insane neoliberal assault on the planet and its inhabitants.
If they are not totally disillusioned the members of Occupy Wall Street and Bernie’s Sandersnistas could be a base on which to build a new party. If only a leader could rise to lead them?
Bill, No outsider will come as close to winning as Donald Trump has. This is your best chance to get an outsider in. He has used his own money to beat the bought and paid for establishment politicians. He has a tough job. I remember well my enthusiasm for Obama, especially after his speech in Cairo. But I underestimated just how radical he was and is – which did not become apparent until after the 2014 election, when he could run no more and do any more for the Dermocrats.
Unlike Obama, Trump has a backbone and the support of grown up, solid, grounded kids. As Mike Pence said, you cannot fake such great kids….
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/07/24/eric-trumps-full-speech-at-the-2016-republican-national-convention/
“To whom much is given, much will be required.
“This is the very belief that made my father make this great sacrifice.
“To run for the most powerful yet unforgiving office in the world.
“There is no greater calling….
“Vote for the candidate who can’t be bought, sold, purchased, coerced, intimidated or steered from the path that is right, and just and true….
“To the veteran tuning into this speech from his or her hospital, whose been ignored and disrespected by an ungrateful system, my father is running for you….
“Vote for the one candidate who does not need this job.”
— Eric Trump, son of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, spoke Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Here, here!
You’ve summed it up perfectly. I hope millions of Americans get the idea that one does NOT have to pull the lever for D or R (where’s that new Zeitgeist when you need it?). I’m with Jill & the Greens this time. I’ve fallen for “Lesser Evilism” for the last time. I think by 2020, G and L will be our new D and R parties. I just hope a Civil War isn’t needed this time to effect a Paradigm Shift.
What more lackluster, flaccid choice could Killary make than to select a mealy-mouthed and supine DLC type New Democrat? Though this of course is an unsurprising selection since Kaine’s a corporate-Wall Street Dem as is Clinton.
By selecting Kaine, Trump will likely slay Clinton in November since vast chunks of the Dem’s populist base (what’s left of it) will now either sit home, vote for Stein, or some may even throw the lever for Trump.
If there’s any fight left in the Democratic Party — a not altogether sure bet — we’ll see scores of them in the streets of Philly with gas masks at the ready.
Kaine and killary are the real republicans running this time: war with Russia on behalf of jihadis in Syria, “trade” agreements which eliminate the rule of law, replacing it with corrupt insider corporate arbitrators on all consumer issues, and further threats to privatize social security. Anybody who calls this the “left” is seriously misinformed. This is the real face of neoliberal neocon fascism. I don’t see how this excites the Democratic party base. They seem to think that, by demonizing Trump, they can win anyway, but his reality is less odious than they paint him, and most of his speech was accurate, though he threw some bones of absurdity to the people who voted for him. Meanwhile, the Harpy’s neocon foreign policy risks of armageddon are too serious to ignore, as is the fact she is a war criminal. I only hope that the Trump campaign brings out the massacre of Africans carried out by killary’s handpicked jihadis in Libya after their takeover. Politics ain’t beanbags, as they say in Massachusetts, particularly when neocon war criminals and corporate stooges are those being attacked.
Excellent points all, exiled off mainstreet.
To stave off a potential war with Russia (a nation Killary insists on demonizing constantly) we may be better off with Trump as Prez. At least in his acceptance speech he didn’t say one word about Putin or Russia, he didn’t vilify them at all.
I don’t see how this excites the Democratic party base.
The party base (Democrat and Republican) will react according to their tribal instincts that are devoid of rational thinking. Meryl Streep, one of the more distinguished members of the Democrats’ base said she was persuaded to vote for Hillary because three women gave Hillary credit for saving their lives. Three women. How many hundreds of thousands of women have had their lives ruined through death or displacement because of policies supported or initiated by HRC in The Balkans, Iraq under sanctions, Afghanistan, war on Iraq, regime changes in Honduras, Libya and Syria?
You know Bill, it is sad and strange to watch how people evolve with this election.
I just spend the evening with some friends who can’t stand Hillary, but they are so afraid of an irrational Donald Trump having the nuclear codes, that they are reluctantly going to vote for our favorite Queen of Chaos anyway.
Then there is my relative who is wed in a same sex marriage. This relative and his husband are deathly afraid of a Republican president reversing the same sex marriage laws that there again they will reluctantly vote for the breaking down the barricades especially LGBTQ Grandma Hillary.
Everyone is upset with me since I will be voting for Jill, and that is like throwing my vote away, they say. So I guess I’m the odd man out.
Another thing, now that Hillary VPed Tim, what was all that about a couple of weeks ago when Hillary and Elizabeth Warren were waving and strutting around with each other on the stage? Was that for us all to celebrate the progressive Hillary?
I hate politics!
Let’s face it people when it comes to election year 2016, we are all screwed.
Let’s face it people when it comes to election year 2016, we are all screwed.
The only possible redemption is for the vast majority of the American people to reject the Democratic and Republican candidates in November and live up to their pledge of allegiance: [O]ne nation, …, …, with liberty and justice for all. Unfortunately, the Second Coming is more likely to occur before such an expression of true patriotism on the part of the American people.
True. Black Trump Supporter Smacks Down CNN Reporter for Race Baiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxcAN0t6GrI&feature=youtu.be
I love African Americans like the one in this video.
He’s got it right. Black & White Trump 2016! Wake up Americans of all colors!
Trump has said he will eliminate “Nation Building” and “Regime Change”; he will work alongwith Putin, who is a popular pragmatic leader advocating cooperation and fair play, that is a good thing.
We’ll see. If he uses surgical strikes to take out dictators.
I hope he improves things domestically and internationally for America.
He is definitely not going to give Israel anything without getting something back in return for his own country, unlike his predecessors or Hillary Clinton who personally lives and thrives in the Ziocon pockets. Traitors and a disgrace to self-respecting Americans.
“By selecting Kaine, Trump will likely slay Clinton in November since vast chunks of the Dem’s populist base (what’s left of it) will now either sit home, vote for Stein, or some may even throw the lever for Trump.”
Sad to say, if Clinton loses, the Democrats will blame Sanders and the tired, sorry meme of being a Nader/spoiler. It never occurs to them that the very voters who would be their base could possibly be communicating their dislike of the policies of the DLC. Strange, strange times. This Indie sees the entire spectacle for what it is.
Now we’re left with a Wall Street functionary to loose the wolves again to ransack the rest of the dwindling capital of struggling average Americans, mostly those that still own some property. Trump is too crazy to figure out but his #2 paints a gloomy picture to say the least and I doubt the neocons firmly entrenched on the beltway would let him do anything to upset their power structure. So now we’re all left with two candidates both equally scary for entirely different reasons. So even though my vote won’t count, I’ll vote with my morals and conscientiousness intact and go green and wash my hands of the disastrous folks spending ungodly sums of $ to garner our votes. Things, in my life anyway, have never seemed darker. Sorry.
I feel the pain, Ol’ Hippy.
Kaine spoke of infrastructure building and that’s a ray of hope which could not be allowed to happen under Obama.
You must hear, or read the well imagined, highly encouraging words of his speech.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/23/tim-kaine-just-killed-it-in-his-first-speech-with-clinton.html
“Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. They are throwing money at her because they have total control over every single thing she does. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings. That is why Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change: never ever. My message is that things have to change – and they have to change right now.”
“In fact, her [Clinton’s] single greatest accomplishment may be committing such an egregious crime and getting away with it, especially when others have paid so dearly. When that same secretary of state rakes in millions and millions of dollars trading access and favours to special interests and foreign powers I know the time for action has come.”
— Donald Trump —
Although I am completely opposed to Hillary’s foreign policy — I am vibrantly encouraged by Kaine’s speech.
It was the loud and clear voice of optimism — as opposed to the doom & gloom of a week of Mr. Trump’s defeatist pessimism
I am vibrantly encouraged by Kaine’s speech.
Talk is cheap and pre-election speeches are fool’s gold.
Mr.Doe, it is Hillary’s foreign policy that will bring doom & gloom to the USA. Some people in the USA live in a media induced slumber….Okay ? Good
Indeed, the very notion of collaboration with a war criminal and Wall Street puppet such as Clinton is anathema to everything the left and “progressives” are supposed to stand for. – Eric Draister
If this election is a referendum about Morality, Bill & Hillary Clinton will lose and Bill & Hillary Clinton will lose badly.
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/07/26/1008125miller-exposes-corruption-that-even-trump-wont-touch/
Kain’s ‘foreign policy’ position seems to be pretty much the same as Hillary’s.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45167.htm
The gentleman is a ‘devout’ Catholic, which is fine, except for his wanting to cram his beliefs down my throat. IMO there is no chance at all he’d appoint a pro-choice judge to the Supreme Court. Or move to halt the Vatican’s growing monopoly on US hospitals.
Hillary + Kaine running against Trump + Pence = disaster = either way. Oh, Trump would be a lesser evil – assuming he didn’t have a heart attack or get run over by a truck. But Pence shows the man has no judgement at all, and add to that his position on Torture and the Supreme Court makes him a No-Go zone for me.
Kaine is pro-abortion, despite his religion. He’s like Biden.
Adding to the drama at the Democratic convention, Bernie Sanders delegates are warning of the possibility of a revolt. At a press conference this morning, Norman Solomon of the Bernie Delegates Network, identified as a network that “includes 1,250 Sanders delegates” explained how unhappy delegates might protest at the convention.
According to Solomon, “the exact configurations of the protests are unclear, but it’s evident that a substantial majority of the polled survey delegates support participating, say they want to participate in protests on the floor.” He added: “in part in connection with Hillary Clinton’s appearance, even more so than in the scheduled acceptance speech of Tim Kaine, although there’s a majority in that realm as well.” Solomon added that there is “strong” and “overwhelming support for a challenge to Tim Kaine’s nomination.”
Karen Bernal, a representative of the California Sanders delegation, indicated that delegates may protest Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the convention as well. “I don’t consider booing and chanting and being noisy and rude to be harmful. It’s just a part of democracy,” she said. When asked if she expects delegates to boo Wasserman Schultz, Bernal replied: “I would be very surprised if you could have a conversation in normal tones.”
Will all this talk jeopardize Democratic unity? “The Bernie Sanders delegates understand full well the necessity of defeating Donald Trump,” Solomon said, explaining that “one of the reasons we are so upset by the selection of Tim Kaine [as Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential pick] is that we believe, contrary to the assertions of the punditocracy … this is not a move that will solidify support from progressives. It’s not a move we believe will strengthen our hand in defeating Trump.”
@ Doe. “It was the loud and clear voice of optimism — as opposed to the doom & gloom of a week of Mr. Trump’s defeatist pessimism ??”
Hmm…
“Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. They are throwing money at her because they have total control over every single thing she does. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings. That is why Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change: never ever. My message is that things have to change – and they have to change right now.”
“In fact, her [Clinton’s] single greatest accomplishment may be committing such an egregious crime and getting away with it, especially when others have paid so dearly. When that same secretary of state rakes in millions and millions of dollars trading access and favours to special interests and foreign powers I know the time for action has come.”
— Donald Trump —
Now the real Hillary Clinton is revealed so much that it might penetrate the minds of the most gullible of her supporters. Oops. Come to think of it, that’s wishful thinking.
Hah! Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the status quo, wants a better title ?
Mike Pence rallies crowd behind Trump, takes on Hillary Clinton:
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/07/25/mike-pence-rallies-crowd-behind-trump-takes-on-hillary-clinton/
“Donald Trump Gets it. He is the genuine article.
“He’s a doer in a game usually reserved for talkers.
“And when Donald Trump does his talking, he doesn’t tip toe around the thousand new rules of “political correctness.”
“He’s his own man. Distinctly American.
“And where else would an independent spirit as his, find a following, than in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
“The funny thing is, the party in power seems helpless to figure out our nominee. The Media has the same problem….
“The man just doesn’t quit.
“He’s tough, he perseveres, he’s gone as far as you can go in business, but he’s never turned his back on the working men and women who make this country grow.
“And Donald Trump will never turn his back on those who serve and protect us at home and abroad. “
“You know, Hillary Clinton wants a better title… and I would want one too, if I were Secretary of the status quo.
“You know, this won’t be America’s first glimpse of the Clinton machine in action. As Bernie Sanders can tell you. And this time around, she’ll have the press doing half her work for her.
“The good news is, it won’t be nearly enough… Not against a candidate who has captured the attention of the country as Donald Trump has. On issue by issue, he and I will take the case to the people.
Hillary Clinton’s record on foreign affairs gets even worse…
It was Hillary Clinton who left Americans in harms way in Benghazi and after four Americans fell, said: “What difference at this point does it make”
As a proud father, of a United States Marine, let me say from my heart, anyone who said that, anyone who did that, should be disqualified from ever serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of United States of America.
“HILLARY CLINTON WILL NEVER BECOME PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”
– MIKE PENCE –
Debbie Menon: I have an assortment of bridges for sale. Looks like you are in the market. George Washington Bridge is not one of them. Chris Christie might sell it to you though.