2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: ABC News: How Bernie Sanders Got the Biggest Twitter Bump From the GOP Debate [View all]Samantha
(9,314 posts)One of the reasons I believe both of these candidates are being ignored is that both are against the TPP. Hillary Clinton has given several speeches supporting it, although she now says she cannot say if she will support it until she has a chance to read the finalized version. President Obama himself did not want the content of this so-called trade agreement -- there is something like 26 chapters only three of which cover trade -- made public until absolutely necessary because he knew many Americans would be outraged at the content.
Corporation lobbyists wrote much of this document. Among those are companies such as Comcast, and it, for example, absolutely doesn't want even simple constructive criticism on the proposed legislation aired. Many people believe this is why Ed Schultz was dismissed from MSNBC -- because he constantly covered extremely controversial (and that is an understatement) aspects of this legislation on air, and he even had political opponents such as Bernie Sanders often contributing anti-TPP commentary.
Martin O'Malley has publicly said opposing the TPP is just common sense. So I believe this is one of the reasons we see the debates aired at extremely usually odd times, times when obviously not too many Americans will be watching, and opponents of the TPP will be muzzled (again an understatement).
Free speech is one of the liberties of which most Americans are very protective. To protect major legislation from critical scrutiny and public comment before it is essentially finalized in form and close to an up or down vote by Congress is not what this Country is about.
Perhaps this topic is one Iowans should discuss along with the candidates when they caucus. It certainly would be in their best interests (IMHO).
Sam