1. During his 10 years in the Senate, Bernie Sanders has been a regular presence at luxurious Democratic fundraising retreats, according to more than a half-dozen lobbyists, donors and former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff members with whom he attended the events. Sanders most recently appeared at one last July, shortly after he announced his presidential run.
2. During his 2006 Senate race, Sanders received at least $7,500 directly from lobbyists with ties to the financial industry, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Visa, as well some energy companies like the American Petroleum Institute.
3. Nearly two-dozen federally registered lobbyists have given money to Sanders’ presidential campaign.
4. Even though Sanders lobbyist haul is relatively small it is not because he has set any official limit for what he will accept from them. He could have refused lobbyists as a rule. He chose not to.
5. Sanders has been helpful in raising money for the DSCC in the past and availed himself of those same funds. But in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders has done nothing. In fact, he has disparaged Clinton at every opportunity for doing so. This reveals how hollow the revolution talk really is.
6. In his 26 years in Congress, he has failed to build even a small political coalition that back his campaign. 40 Senate Democrats back Hillary and not one backs Bernie. Not even the most liberal members, like Sherrod Brown. Most members of the House Progressive Caucus back Hillary.
7. In 2006, he won the primary elections in Vermont for a seat in the Senate as a write-in candidate having refused the Democratic Party nomination. He insisted then that he was not a Democrat and even said that he would become “a hypocrite if he ran as a Democrat.”
8. “He plays it both ways,” said former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin, a Democrat who once successfully fended off Sanders from the left in a reelection bid. “He wants to be different, and yet he wants to belong—for political purposes.”
9. Sanders’ bid for the White House also has super PACs supporting it. There has been more super PAC money spent thus far in express support of the Sanders campaign than for either one of his Democratic rivals.
10. The Sanders campaign is now relying on flipping Super Delegates if he doesn’t reach the pledged delegate total despite spending months criticizing the existence of Super Delegates and warning that they should honor “the Party’s primary results”.
Sunday, Apr 3, 2016 · 8:05:10 PM +00:00 · etatauri
Update: As some commenters are assuming that I am saying he is corrupt, let me clarify. Pure vs. corrupt is an either-or fallacy. Bernie is not corrupt if he is not as pure as he has led people to believe. He is a politician that has played the game. He has achieved a great campaign with unprecedented grassroots fundraising. There is much to be admired. Hillary Clinton is not the enemy and does not deserve to be maligned or misrepresented. We have common goals.