Biden Will Not Accept Corporate Money If He Runs! Money in Politics 'Corrosive & Corrupting' he says

[sabrina 1]

About one month ago, Joe Biden issued a challenge to Democrats after calling the Money that is so corrupting to our system of Government "A Hell of a Way to Run Democracy"

Biden said that Democrats MUST 'disarm' from this money and lead the way to getting it out of our system of government:

– He specifically called out the argument that candidates can’t “disarm” because their opponents won’t. [b]“The first place you’ve got to start is the Democratic party. No matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand of us that we demonstrate we understand. We can do something about the corrosive impact of massive amounts of money.”

That's a pretty strong statement so I am sure that if he enters the race, he will be joining Bernie Sanders and leading the way to END the takeover of our government by a small group of wealthy donors.

In fact, like Bernie, Biden believes that getting 'Private Money out of politics' is and should be a #1 issue for Democrats:

He said on a variety of issues, nothing is going to happen until we address the broken system. “If you could do only one single thing, only one, to increase fairness, equity, opportunity to middle class, pass rational gun control, deal with immigration, etc. What would it be? I can tell you one thing I would do. It would be get private money out of political process.”

And like Bernie Sanders, he believes that it CAN BE DONE, but of course, only if Candidates REFUSE to accept it, as Sanders is doing:

– And he believes change is possible: “You know, we have to speak up. You have to speak up. I know a lot of what I just said sounds Pollyannish to you. But I’ve been around longer than these other guys. I’m telling you it can be done. It always is done with generations like yours.”

“So ladies and gentleman, I predict one day that the American people are going to wake up and they are going to demand change....

The American People HAVE ALREADY wakened up. Over 80% of Americans across political lines, now say this IS a number one issue for this country.

And here Biden echoes, though he doesn't mention, Bernie Sanders on HOW it is possible to NOT accept money from Private Corporations:

If I get a chance to go on television with millions of dollars or I’m able to put 2,000 volunteers on the street, I’d take 2000 volunteers for free. Folks, don’t underestimate your ability to influence all of us who are tempted to yield to temptation to go ahead and do the same thing and, again, rationalize.

As everyone knows, Bernie Sanders has made Citizens United, which he calls 'one of the worst SC decisions ever made' a central issue of his campaign.

And as always, Bernie isn't just talking, he refuses to accept money from big donors and is taking small donations only from the PEOPLE who he hopes to represent and work for if elected.

He is demonstrating that it is FALSE to claim that candidates cannot run effective campaigns WITHOUT taking Corporate Money.

Biden NOT talking about Hillary he seems to want us to know, OR himself, I hope should he enter the race:

But what are we doing? I know a lot of people are going to read into this part of what I’m saying something I’m not intending. I’m not talking about any individual. I really am not.

So, I personally look forward to Biden joining Bernie in refusing to take the 'corrupting, corrosive' Corporate money now even more corrosive due to Citizens United IF he enters this race.

If he does NOT then he risks, as he stated himself, losing the trust of the people.

“Folks, we ought to start in our own party. You ought to be demanding of all of us, because at least in our own party fights among ourselves, in primaries, that we adhere to a policy that doesn’t rest on millionaires and billionaires.

We are, Mr. Vice President, we are! See Bernie Sanders' Campaign and join his Political Revolution which would benefit greatly with not one, but two Candidates for the WH running WITHOUT the influence of Corporate Money!

All highlights of quotes are mine ...

And if you want to know who else AGREES with Bernie, and now Biden, see here:

“Yes, We’re Corrupt”: A List of Politicians Admitting That Money Controls Politics

From Jim Hightower, one of the many from that article, both Repubs and Dems, who have now spoken out about this issue:

“Today’s whole political game, run by an absurdist’s nightmare of moneyed elites, is ridiculous – a game in which corporations are people and money is magically empowered to speak; candidates trek to the corporate suites and secret retreats of the rich, shamelessly selling their political souls.” – Jim Hightower, former Democratic agricultural commissioner of Texas, 2015.

Two Democratic Presidential Candidates running WITHOUT taking Corporate money would totally undermine Citizens United.

Let's hope more will join them in what is the #1 issue of this campaign!

[Fred Sanders]

1. What is the full quote where Biden said that?

Because this is not what you imply it is. The use of a clipped two word quote is the give-away.

– He said on a variety of issues, nothing is going to happen until we address the broken system. “If you could do only one single thing, only one, to increase fairness, equity, opportunity to middle class, pass rational gun control, deal with immigration, etc. What would it be? I can tell you one thing I would do. It would be get private money out of political process.”

Nowhere express or implie ddoes Biden say that the Democraric Party should disarm and not accept corporate donations.....prove me wrong.

[sabrina 1]

2. Here:

He specifically called out the argument that candidates can’t “disarm” because their opponents won’t. “The first place you’ve got to start is the Democratic party. No matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand of us that we demonstrate we understand. We can do something about the corrosive impact of massive amounts of money.”

[Fred Sanders]

3. Nope, that is not it. Clinton has said more or less the same...fight fire with fire now and put it out

when able. Also said, in summary, by Obama in 2012, remember that?

But we can all have our opinions and interpretations of others spoken words, it is just that some folks want the full quotes and context before leaping to questionable conclusions...so, no problem.

Carry on.

[sabrina 1]

5. That is not 'what'? He is clearly admitting that money in politics has a corrosive effect on our

system and is telling US we need to 'start with our own party' to demand that they show they are listening to us regarding this obvious problem with the private money in politics.

Or do you think that Corporate buying of candidates is okay?

[Fred Sanders]

7. Strawman questions usually burn up before the poor thing is even fully constructed.

You say potatoe and I say potato.

[sabrina 1]

9. I say Biden is telling us how corrosive the effects of millions of dollars of corporate money is on

our government, and how until we get rid of it, NOTHING ELSE can be done. And that he tells us it CAN be done, Dems CAN disarm, as he calls it, and he tells us HOW.

You are talking about vegetables which isn't much of an argument against Biden's own words.

[Fred Sanders]

11. "Corporate" or "corporations". Maybe I missed where Biden even used the words? Help me out!

Entirely I agree:

– He said on a variety of issues, nothing is going to happen until we address the broken system. “If you could do only one single thing, only one, to increase fairness, equity, opportunity to middle class, pass rational gun control, deal with immigration, etc. What would it be? I can tell you one thing I would do. It would be get private money out of political process.”

[sabrina 1]

17. If he could do only one thing, it would be to get money out of politics. I agree and so do

millions of Americans, who ARE now aware of how corrupting it is. As does Biden and an increasing number of current and former elected officials.

It IS going to be a major issue in this campaign and candidates can no long say 'we have to do it because the other guys are doing it', as Biden also points out.

And mainly because Sanders is proving that to be wrong. As Biden said, it is better to have thousands of volunteers who cost nothing, see Bernie again, than a few million dollars from a handful of millionaires.

[MaggieD]

4. I doubt Biden is suggesting....

The Democratic Party should just lay down and die - content to lose for lack of funding - until CU is repealed. Because if they do CU will never be repealed.

If he actually believes that he is unsuitable to lead Democrats, IMO.

[sabrina 1]

6. No, he's not. He's telling us that the Dem Party has to lead the way in NOT accepting it and that we

need to call them out when they do.

He goes further, he SHOWS how it can be done. See his quote regarding 'millions of dollars' from a few big donors V '2000 volunteers' which he says, he would choose over the money.

[MaggieD]

8. Sorry, that is nuts

He wants us to demonize those in our own party because they won't lay down and die in the face of CU? Again, if true then I say bye, bye Biden.

[sabrina 1]

10. Bernie Sanders is doing it very successfully, why is Biden 'nuts' for acknowledging what Sanders is

already proving? And how on earth can we get the money OUT of politics if Dems keep taking it?

[MaggieD]

13. Bernie is a guaranteed loser

.... If he allows himself to be buried in GOP money. Guaranteed.

The way we get the money out of politics is to win and get a better USSC. BUT we can't do that without a win. The extreme left and their Nader folly is much of what caused it in the first place.

Seems we never learn.

[sabrina 1]

18. Wrong, according to Biden (and now many other elected officials) Because, as Biden says

once you take that money 'there are strings attached' and he says, you will find it hard to vote against the interests of those who donated to you once in office.

So to continue to TAKE what amounts to bribes, see the other link I provided, means not being ABLE to do anything about issues especially THIS ONE.

Bernie is WINNING this election, and in just three months! He is winning mainly BECAUSE of this issue which is a top issue for the American people. Second overall in this race, ahead of all the Repubs, he is gaining on Hillary even among Dems every, single month.

Biden says that if they, Dems, keep TAKING that money then they can expect to lose the trust of the American people. And that is turning out to be very obvious.

[artislife]

22. Because it makes Hillary look bad....nt

[ancianita]

12. VERY glad for this. I just think Biden, as president, will make more concessions than will Bernie

to corporate influence in America's tax spending priorities and trade policies. But that's all a long way off, so I won't argue it right now.

I hope Biden will throw in his endorsement to whoever emerges as strongest from the Democratic debates.

[sabrina 1]

14. I think he gave this speech, he probably wasn't planning on running himself. But now he will be

held to what he said by voters who are paying a lot of attention to this issue. I am taking him at his word, and hoping he will do as Bernie is doing, which Biden himself says is possible and what he would prefer. Though he didn't mention Bernie or Hillary, making sure to say he wasn't talking about any individual candidate as people COULD think he's talking about Hillary. Now he has to abide by his own words, or lose credibility himself. I think he is right and should act on his words.

[ancianita]

15. We shall see. Thanks for your OP.

[seaotter]

16. Joe Biden will not be running for POTUS.

[sabrina 1]

19. Why do you say that?

[seaotter]

29. Simple.

One does not go from contemplating his resignation as VP to running for POTUS in such a time frame.

[sabrina 1]

30. Do you mean he contemplated ending it BEFORE the end of Obama's term or

that he will automatically be out of that office in approx 18 months?

If it's the latter, I don't think he would be the first VP to run for the WH.

I had not heard that he was thinking about resigning before the end of his term though.

[seaotter]

33. The former.

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/firststatepolitics/2015/08/05/biden-resigning/31151041/

[sabrina 1]

35. Well, it appears he is running. So hopefully now he too will refuse the money he himself has said

is corrupting our entire system of government.

[Zorra]

20. I'd definitely vote for Joe if he somehow managed to beat Bernie in the primaries. nt

[sabrina 1]

21. I would if he ran and like Bernie, refused huge Corporate donations, IF he beat Bernie in the

primaries. But his record is nowhere near as good as Bernie's on almost every issue, so not even considering him right now. However it's good to know how he feels about this issue, which is going to be probably the most important in this race.

[Zorra]

25. Agreed, and I'm not considering him right now either.

But voting for HRC is totally out of the question for me, and for many others, Democrats and left independents alike. And I've voted only Dem, and for every Dem, on my GE ballots for over 4 decades.

So my point is, at the very least I can, in good conscience, actually vote for Joe if he somehow managed to beat Bernie in the primary.

[Metric System]

23. Interesting, considering his Senate record is to the right of Hillary's.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/31/1374629/-Hillary-Clinton-Was-the-11th-Most-Liberal-Member-of-the-Senate

[sabrina 1]

24. Too many of our party Reps have moved to the right, and it's mostly due to the money

they take from special interests.

Since I agree with Biden and Bernie and now so many others who are speaking out on this, I know that this is why Dems, like Biden, who has pretty much admitted it, or Hillary, vote for policies that are not part of the Dem platform, eg, assuming the Dem Party is still the party of the people, representing Labor eg.

We still don't know eg, where Hillary stands on the TPP or the Keystone Pipeline or the Private Prison Industry.

Which is why I support the candidate whose views on all these issues are very clear.

[mother earth]

26. Good for Joe! I have always loved him, this is how it should be. TY, Sabrina, great news!

[sabrina 1]

36. I just saw that he is running, so let's hope he keeps to his words regarding the money in politics.

Having two candidates do that, would make a strong statement. So we'll see, hopefully Bernie won't remain the only one refusing that money.

Edit: Forget that, he's not running. Not yet anyhow.

[magical thyme]

27. well he'd better get a move on then and start looking for those volunteers

before Bernie sweeps up all of them!

[sabrina 1]

28. You know what I think would happen if ALL the Dems joined Bernie in refusing those huge

donations, I think it would wake up the people, including all those who have given up on the system and Dems could USE it to shame the Republicans into either trying to defend themselves, or eventually a few of them, see Trump right now who is raising the issue, even if for all the wrong reasons since HE is BUYING the primary himself, saying they won't take it either. THEN we would have a REAL election where candidates were beholden to the people.

It IS becoming a huge issue. And if Dems are ever allowed to debate, it will be part of that debate, unless the DNC influences the topics of the debates also.

[ecstatic]

31. Unless the GOP nominee takes the same approach

then no. It sounds great, but it's too risky. Too much is at stake.

[sabrina 1]

32. What's risky about taking an issue the American people overwhelmingly support and USE IT

against Republicans especially since it has now become a major issue in this campaign.

And if Republicans do the same thing, which can almost be guaranteed NOT to happen, then great, the campaign will then be based on who is the best candidate to lead this country, rather than 'who has the most money'.

AND we would see fewer of those expensive, annoying negative ads. That alone would be a good thing for the country.

[ecstatic]

34. It's not as big of an issue for Americans as you think it is

If it were, people would have been rioting after that supreme court decision.

I want whoever the democratic nominee is to get elected first, then stack the court with as many liberals as possible.

[sabrina 1]

38. Well, 80% of the voting population thinks it is.

[Motown_Johnny]

37. ... and Hillary already has it all. n/t