Sanders campaign goes after Buttigieg

[brooklynite]

BERN NOTICE: Buttigieg's Desperate Attack On Bernie's Higher Ed Plan
The South Bend mayor's new attack ad isn't working -- it is boomeranging

Pete Buttigieg kicked off the holiday season by launching a negative attack ad against Bernie’s plan for debt-free higher education, and then having his campaign staff promote a screed calling proponents of debt-free college “faux progressives.” Buttigieg is now on the defensive about his ad and his own plan, which refuses to provide a basic guarantee of higher education to all Americans.

Here are a few facts to keep in mind:

BUTTIGIEG ATTACKS COME AS HE RAKES IN WALL STREET CASH: Buttigieg’s sudden attacks on Bernie come at precisely the moment Buttigieg is raking in cash from Wall Street donors who hate Bernie’s plan. Indeed, the Washington Post recently reported that “Wall Street donors have a new favorite candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential field: Pete Buttigieg.” According to a recent Bloomberg News report, those donors hate Bernie’s plan because it is paid for by a modest tax on Wall Street speculation. And now comes Buttigieg’s ads attacking the plan. See the connection there?

BERNIE EXPLICITLY GUARANTEES FREE TRADE SCHOOLS, BUTTIGIEG DOESN’T: A Buttigieg spokesperson claimed that “unlike other candidates in this race, (Buttigieg) understands that not everyone *NEEDS* to go to college & that's it's height of elitism to suggest people can't live well without a degree.” However, Bernie’s College For All plan explicitly guarantees tuition-free trade schools. By contrast, “Buttigieg excludes trade schools from his main tuition subsidy proposal,” according to the Huffington Post. Similarly, Bernie’s plan also explicitly eliminates existing trade school debt — and Buttigieg’s plan does not.


BERNIE’S COLLEGE FOR ALL PLAN IS WILDLY POPULAR: A recent poll by Data for Progress found that tuition free college for all is supported by the majority of likely voters in most states — including Buttigieg’s own home state of Indiana.

BERNIE EMBRACES UNIVERSALITY, LIKE OTHER SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted that Buttigieg’s attack ad promotes “a GOP talking point used to dismantle public systems.” Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik notes that that “the argument that public programs designed to be universal are somehow flawed because they benefit all echelons of society, rich and poor alike, indeed is a common Republican talking point.” It has been used against the most successful programs, such as Medicare and Social Security.

During a conference call with reporters today, Bernie 2020 senior adviser Jeff Weaver called Buttigieg’s attack on Bernie’s plan "a ludicrous argument." Weaver said: "The truth of the matter is the type of the attitude that Mayor Pete Buttigieg is exhibiting here is in fact elitist in itself."

Bern after reading,

Sirota

https://bernie.substack.com/p/bern-notice-buttigiegs-desperate?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNjgxODY1LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoxODY4MzMsIl8iOiJ4WUI5cyIsImlhdCI6MTU3NTQ3NjUyNiwiZXhwIjoxNTc1NDgwMTI2LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMTUzNjUiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.LYN6NCJHYWUMelUO89AZPDBdSZd154V8OCJlyFUUOF4

[Fresh_Start]

1. trying once again to help Trump win an election

if only BS spent as much time attacking the GOP as he does attacking other Democratic candidates.

[JudyM]

8. "Pete Buttigieg kicked off the holiday season by launching a negative attack ad against Bernie's

plan.”

[Celerity]

16. that is the detestable Sirota's spin on it, & Sanders is not the only one pitching free for all uni

Under Buttigieg's plan the lower 80% pay no tuition anyway. (and yet that is still called RIGHT WING, lolololol)

It is just another dodgy purity test from the left of the left fringe.

[murielm99]

2. Pete must be gaining on him.

I notice that AOC has to get her two cents in as well.

Aren't there some repiggies they could attack? Trump is acting like an ass in Europe. There is an impeachment in progress. Do either of them know this?

[George II]

3. Yep. They're going after the top three opponents, one by one. Yesterday it was Biden...

Today it's Buttigieg. I hope Warren is steeling herself for tomorrow.

Amazing that the Sanders campaign is relying on a person who has a history of race-baiting.

[Celerity]

4. Sirota is far left troll who hates our Party

Bernie Sanders Just Hired His Twitter Attack Dog

David Sirota had been working unofficially for Sanders while savaging the other Democratic candidates on Twitter.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/sanders-promised-civility-hired-twitter-attack-dog/585259/

[George II]

10. But don't criticize Sirota on twitter. I did so, diplomatically, and was immediately blocked.

[Celerity]

12. I never engage with that lot on Twitter, they are viscous and hateful, Twitter is a cesspool overall

The external Bernosphere is going all out flamethrower on Buttigieg across a vast front these past few days. Soon it will start up at an even greater level on Biden and eventually Warren.

Their scorched earth tactics will accomplish nothing at the end of the day other than to help aid in vote suppression that will hurt us against the ogre Rump in the general. If, a few weeks or a month or so after Super Tuesday, it is clear that Biden is going to be the nominee and yet Sanders stays in, it is going to become a massive shit show. I hope, at that point, something is done here to stop the attacks, as it will be crystal clear than the only reason he doesn't drop out like the rest is to hurt Biden's chances in the general. There is zero chance to spin it any other way, as there would be (in my scenario) zero pathways for him to win the nomination at that juncture.

[Me.]

5. What I Like About Pete

He's a Dem, has always been a Dem, will always be a Dem

[WA-03 Democrat]

7. Agree

It’s very clear

[BootinUp]

20. Crystal. Nt

[33taw]

6. I get turned off by candidates when they attack others.

I like the way Buttigieg and Warren handles this regarding differences.

[Hortensis]

15. :) Tactics identify target voters. Sanders campaign isn't trolling

for the kind of people turned off by viciously dirty politics. His staff is full of "surrogates" hired for their expertise in just that.

Actually, looks to me like he's just trying to hold onto, and in some cases get back, those attracted to this kind of stuff all along.

After all, if he can get 15% of the vote in a primary, he will get to hold onto 15% of that state's delegates instead of losing them all to whoever does. Sanders is scrabbling for 15%.

[patricia92243]

9. I received email from Pete saying he returned the money as soon as he knew

about it.

[TidalWave46]

13. Sirota is a shit stain on American politics.

Even most Sanders supporters like to ignore the fact that such an unethical person holds such a position in the Sanders campaign.

[Hortensis]

14. Desperation and vicious, dirty politics, but they're not Buttigieg's.

[Politicub]

17. I support Buttigieg and think this line of attack is fair on Sanders' part.

They are battling in the realm of ideas, which is what I would like to see other candidates do.

For example, Buttigieg isn’t being attacked for his gayness. I have seen this characteristic of Mayor Pete being trotted out as an argument against him. Most sadly this has happened on my beloved DU. In this instance, Sanders is not doing that. This matters.

There are strong policy disagreements among candidates. Buttigieg is running as a moderate. Sanders is running as a liberal revolutionary. While my sentiments are to the left of Buttigieg, Biden and Klobuchar, I believe any of them would make a fantastic president.

[Gothmog]

18. Who is surprised by this?

[Eric J in MN]

19. Bernie 2020 is just responding to

...Pete Buttigieg’s TV ad against free tuition at public universities.

A college education today is equivalent to a high school education 50 years ago. Bernie Sanders is correct that public universities should be tuition free.

[Celerity]

21. Pete's plan makes public uni free for the bottom 80% of Americans, and has large subsidies

for families making up to 150,000 USD per year.

But hey, that is obviously a right wing plan and talking point.

[LesterT]

22. Hmm.

Sounds more like truth and defending his positions and platform. Facts are stubborn things. The gaslighting from Pete's supporters is amusing though. The perpetual digs and attacks from the moderates on the left wing are just politics. A little return fire from the left wing and the Bernie Sander's campaign are "attacks."