SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Clinton Ally Refuses to Apologize for Super PAC Attack on Bernie Sanders
Email from the Correct the Record super PAC attempted to couple Sanders with more "extreme" positions taken by newly-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
Sep 16, 2015
The pro-Hillary Clinton political operative responsible for an attempted smear on Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said he will not apologize for a negative message sent Monday to the Huffington Post detailing "similarities" between Sanders's positions and those of leftist leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Hugo Chavez.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, the email from the pro-Clinton Correct the Record super PAC attempted to couple Sanders with what it said were the more "extreme" positions taken by the newly-elected UK Labour Party leader Corbyn, noting the mutual affection shared between the two populist lawmakers.
Correct the Record, led by Clinton ally David Brock, also highlighted how Sanders helped negotiate a program with Venezuela's national oil company in 2006 that provided discounted heating oil assistance to low-income Vermonters.
Sanders seized on the tactic by saying in a Tuesday fundraising e-mail that "one of Hillary Clinton's most prominent super-PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously."
"It was the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson, and it's the second time a billionaire super-PAC has tried to stop the momentum of the political revolution we're building together," the Vermont senator added.
However, when asked by Bloomberg's With All Due Respect co-host Mark Halperin if he would apologize to Sanders, Brock was defiant.
"Gosh, no, no. This is just standard opposition research, Mark," Brock said, before implying that such negative attacks were sure to continue. "You've seen it before, you'll see it again."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
The pro-Hillary Clinton political operative responsible for an attempted smear on Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said he will not apologize for a negative message sent Monday to the Huffington Post detailing "similarities" between Sanders's positions and those of leftist leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Hugo Chavez.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, the email from the pro-Clinton Correct the Record super PAC attempted to couple Sanders with what it said were the more "extreme" positions taken by the newly-elected UK Labour Party leader Corbyn, noting the mutual affection shared between the two populist lawmakers.
Correct the Record, led by Clinton ally David Brock, also highlighted how Sanders helped negotiate a program with Venezuela's national oil company in 2006 that provided discounted heating oil assistance to low-income Vermonters.
Sanders seized on the tactic by saying in a Tuesday fundraising e-mail that "one of Hillary Clinton's most prominent super-PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously."
"It was the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson, and it's the second time a billionaire super-PAC has tried to stop the momentum of the political revolution we're building together," the Vermont senator added.
However, when asked by Bloomberg's With All Due Respect co-host Mark Halperin if he would apologize to Sanders, Brock was defiant.
"Gosh, no, no. This is just standard opposition research, Mark," Brock said, before implying that such negative attacks were sure to continue. "You've seen it before, you'll see it again."
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
The pro-Hillary Clinton political operative responsible for an attempted smear on Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said he will not apologize for a negative message sent Monday to the Huffington Post detailing "similarities" between Sanders's positions and those of leftist leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Hugo Chavez.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, the email from the pro-Clinton Correct the Record super PAC attempted to couple Sanders with what it said were the more "extreme" positions taken by the newly-elected UK Labour Party leader Corbyn, noting the mutual affection shared between the two populist lawmakers.
Correct the Record, led by Clinton ally David Brock, also highlighted how Sanders helped negotiate a program with Venezuela's national oil company in 2006 that provided discounted heating oil assistance to low-income Vermonters.
Sanders seized on the tactic by saying in a Tuesday fundraising e-mail that "one of Hillary Clinton's most prominent super-PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously."
"It was the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson, and it's the second time a billionaire super-PAC has tried to stop the momentum of the political revolution we're building together," the Vermont senator added.
However, when asked by Bloomberg's With All Due Respect co-host Mark Halperin if he would apologize to Sanders, Brock was defiant.
"Gosh, no, no. This is just standard opposition research, Mark," Brock said, before implying that such negative attacks were sure to continue. "You've seen it before, you'll see it again."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.