Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)Don't Believe the Hype: Candidate Clinton's Sudden Populism [View all]
Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to reporters at a state launch party for her presidential campaign,
in Concord, New Hampshire, June 15, 2015. In spite of her use of populist rhetoric on the campaign
trail, Clinton's actions, history and friends in the financial industry tell a different story.
(Photo: Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist/The New York Times)
Don't Believe the Hype: Candidate Clinton's Sudden Populism
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed
Tuesday 16 June 2015
Short of writing, following and studying the news is my primary profession; the latter nourishes the former. I swim in headlines, drown in text, and too often choke on nonsense. It's fascinating, but not fun ... and while much of the news these days makes me hedge the yawning chasm of despair, every once in a while a story will come along that quite simply makes me want to run my head through a plate glass window.
The Washington Post provided the latest example of pure, mind-bending awful. You've certainly heard by now that California is enduring the worst drought since God wore short pants. Governor Brown has initiated severe water rationing as a result, and according to the Post, the rich folks aren't taking it very well. "Rich Californians Balk at Limits: 'We're Not All Equal When It Comes to Water,'" reads the headline. The lawns and pools on their estates, their flower gardens and private golf courses, all will be affected.
"What are we supposed to do," said one aggrieved party, "just have dirt around our house on four acres?"
There you have it, friends. George Orwell - "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" - was a true prophet. In a state where the aquifers are almost empty, the water that's left has been tainted with fracking waste thanks to the profit motive, and the poverty-burdened migrant worker community which basically supports the state's economy only sees green when they work the fields or get their meager pay, the über-wealthy are worried about the lushness of their lawns.
Natch.
For reasons some may argue are not entirely fair, the Post article about those preposterous people helped crystallize a few things as I encompassed the rhetoric contained in Secretary Clinton's big campaign speech this past weekend. Despite her long history of association with these kinds of people, Mrs. Clinton on Saturday deployed the sort of populist bombast that one might have heard at an Occupy Wall Street rally not so long ago...
(snip)
The roll-call of Mrs. Clinton's top twenty campaign donors is topped by Citibank, and includes Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse Group ... basically, a cohort of the worst people in the United States, the ones who gamed the system by buying politicians like her and then proceeded to burn the economy down to dust and ash while making a financial killing in the process.
The hood ornament on President Obama's second term agenda, the positively nauseating Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and fast-track authority for same, has been much in the news of late. The deal was dealt a blow by Congress some days ago, but the argument is far from complete. Mrs. Clinton's silence on the topic is deeper than what one would hear in deep space. However, in her 2014 book Hard Choices, she positively waxed loquacious...
(snip)
Candidate Clinton's words over the weekend matched with chiseled precision the populist wave that has been washing over the country ever since those first few brave Occupy Wall Street souls sat down in Zuccotti Park, refused to budge, and re-introduced the nation to a dialogue which made them realize just how badly they've been getting screwed.
In my humble opinion, her actions, her history, and most importantly her friends in the financial industry, give glaring lie to this sudden eruption of populist fervor. She railed against all of the entities that are tearing the country to rags on Saturday, and then cashed their checks when her pals at the bank opened for business on Monday. That is the sharp truth of it, and all the YEAH BUT REPUBLICANS arguments can go pound sand. When Secretary Clinton and the most terrifying GOP candidates on the skin of the Earth share the same donor list, the (D) after her name doesn't matter a dime.
The rest: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/31397-don-t-believe-the-hype-candidate-clinton-s-sudden-populism
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
213 replies, 43580 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (207)
ReplyReply to this post
213 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
It's especially odd since so many here claim that her opinions as Sec. State were not her own
morningfog
Jun 2015
#27
Some of them positively relish the prospect of further regime changes and wars to come.
leveymg
Jun 2015
#29
She seems to be unaware that Israel has it's own nuclear umbrella, and hardly needs ours.
leveymg
Jun 2015
#182
So basically, your only concern is Hillary. Everything and everyone else can go to hell. /nt
Marr
Jun 2015
#111
Gloat if you must but there is a way of populism that won't be stopped. The billionaires
rhett o rick
Jun 2015
#144
this article says it all for me. You can mark the date she suddenly decided to care
roguevalley
Jun 2015
#148
Hillary's record is there for all to see. Her history can't be wiped out by some pretty words she
Autumn
Jun 2015
#5
True, but that's changing. The people are rising up against them now. See what just happened
sabrina 1
Jun 2015
#178
It is not so much what the president (Clinton or Obama) do on the social issues. It is what they do
jwirr
Jun 2015
#73
Traitors ...all. Dirty filthy money ...forcefully extracted from us with the help of _________!
L0oniX
Jun 2015
#166
First thing she needs to do to get that started is to refuse Corporate donations, as Bernie Sanders
sabrina 1
Jun 2015
#179
Janet, dear, could you please link to where these speeches are found? Thank you very much. nt.
hedda_foil
Jun 2015
#31
I see you're posting a lot of her words in this thread, but not her actions n/t
arcane1
Jun 2015
#93
You should attribute the source from which you are gleaning all these excerpts.
morningfog
Jun 2015
#30
I look forward to Pitt's dramatic, "Rally to Hillary's side" piece in November
LordGlenconner
Jun 2015
#33
My opinion is Hillary Clinton has always been in the main stream of the
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#47
He is our norther neighbor's H. L. Mencken and Will Rogers wrapped into one./NT
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#55
LoZoccolo was from Chicago and that's an incredibly mean thing to say about a poster here.
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#85
We have results from Pennsylvania where HRC is beating Walker by 2 while Sanders is trailing him...
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#80
With Clinton's almost unanimous name recognition I would say that being within the margin
totodeinhere
Jun 2015
#133
They are just showing their ignorance. I wonder how many of them have even heard about
totodeinhere
Jun 2015
#149
The reliable Democratic states that give the Democrats an Electoral College edge...
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#150
how convenient to stop at April, right when she launched. Here's her latest favorability:
magical thyme
Jun 2015
#101
Last time I looked she is polling much better against them than her Democratic rivals:
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#113
and back in April she was up +7 over Bush, +5 over Christie and Walker, +7 over Cruz
magical thyme
Jun 2015
#126
Which is substantially better than her Democratic primary rivals are doing...
DemocratSinceBirth
Jun 2015
#131
I Will No Longer Settle For The Lesser Of Two Corporate Evils - Go Bernie Go
cantbeserious
Jun 2015
#42
Attacked a week ago for not being populist enough, attacked this week for 'faking' populism?
Fred Sanders
Jun 2015
#59
fail. she's consistently been attacked for being a "weather vane" and for political expediency
cali
Jun 2015
#81
It's a replay of her "McCain and I have experience, Obama has a speech" gaffe
rocktivity
Jun 2015
#62
My Goodnish graces, By Golly!..We're going to take back 10 percent of what the Bankers stole!!
BlueJazz
Jun 2015
#63
I believe you are mistaken. The Heritage Foundation Plan was formed to counter Clinton's plan...
Nitram
Jun 2015
#145
Heritage foundation plans 1989 AND 1994. Obviously, the 1989 plan, with its individual mandate,
merrily
Jun 2015
#175
Still wrong. Check out the facts. Hillarycare was not Obamacare. And it was not for the 1%.
Nitram
Jun 2015
#188
It was a precursor of both Romneycare and Obamacare. I never said they were all identical.
merrily
Jun 2015
#190
Pointing out that Hillary's health care plan was not based on the Heritage Foundation proposal...
Nitram
Jun 2015
#193
Poster, please. You're the one who's been proven wrong. And I"ve already LOL'd at
merrily
Jun 2015
#204
Translation: the Hillary-hate is personal and irrational. It doesn't matter what she actually
DanTex
Jun 2015
#67
Heritage Foundation plan--and the Clintons couldn't get it passed. The way she had gone about it
merrily
Jun 2015
#77
Whether I do or not is totally irrelevant to anything I posted and, really, none of your business.
merrily
Jun 2015
#176
That's why no one should listen to those who call any criticism of her "hate"
BrotherIvan
Jun 2015
#84
Thanks. I would disagree that Dimon, Blankfein are just as dangerous as Koch and Adelson.
DanTex
Jun 2015
#212
IMO you should stop waisting your time on the "hate criers", they want you to do that.
Rex
Jun 2015
#116
+1 This country is struggling and declining from 30 years of neoliberal strangulation.
appalachiablue
Jun 2015
#206
Blatant hypocrisy of the highest order. A complete pandering sham of monumental inconsistency...
mother earth
Jun 2015
#106
You got two factors to look at now and you may want to think twice.
Wash. state Desk Jet
Jun 2015
#123