I see that one of the diaries on the rec list is about something Jimmy Carter said a few years back, so since we’re reviewing history, I wanted to talk about this. It is my first diary after over a decade of just commenting.
In regard to the 1994 Crime Bill that is back in the news this week, Bernie Sanders is saying we all knew what Hillary meant when she said "super predators" and Bill Clinton should apologize for defending the indefensible. I don't disagree, however...
1) Bernie Sanders voted for that 1994 crime bill himself.
2) Bernie Sanders has said that he voted for the bill, even though he didn’t like it, because it contained an assault weapons ban and a violence against women act.
3) That seems a bit unusual for Bernie that he would vote for a bill that contained anything he didn't agree with in it, because he is known for not voting for bills, even when they are popular, because he disagrees with something they may contain.
4) Turns out, Bernie did have some reservations about the bill, which he brought up at the time, but there were some parts of it he agreed with and while he didn't use the term "super predators" he did use some other terms, including "sick" and "sociopathic." www.huffingtonpost.com/…
4) BUT even though he had reservations about the bill he voted for, a little bit down the road, in his 2006 run for Senate, he CAMPAIGNED on having voted for the crime bill in 1994. He wanted folks to know he was "tough on crime legistlation." time.com/…
5) Here's an archive of his web site from then: web.archive.org/...
In a campaign where Hillary Clinton has been criticized for changing her tune to serve her when it is politically expedient, I thought this was an interesting example of politically expedient tune-changing I hadn't heard much about.
