Tom Fiegen is doing an AMA on r/SandersForPresident where he discusses his life AB, After Bernie. He had some interesting comments on the election and the nastiness of the Clinton Machine:
The "machine" prefers Clinton. Why? Because of promises of money and political favors. There are also women of a certain age who want to see a woman president during their lifetime and they are willing to overlook all of Hillary's gross "friends" like Monsanto, Wall Street, military contractors, etc. We need to outnumber them at the caucus. There are far more people who are sick of being sold out by corporate Democrats than there are Hillary supporters. We just need to show up at the caucus.
I see some signs of that.
There is a "civil war" going on in both parties between the machine politicians and the people, like us, who have been marginalized. We are the majority. We need to stay in the fight. As Bernie says, do not despair.
Insiders aka Hillary supporters are livid. It is okay for Iowa politicians to endorse Hillary, but when I endorsed Bernie, they went bananas.
Get out and meet people where they are at. I'm going to farm meetings, organic meetings, etc.
The Clinton mafia is shaking people down, just like they did in 2008. Our strategy has to be to get the disenfranchised and disengaged to turnout. If we do, we will overwhelm the Democratic machine, and the "super delegates" will start to defect, just like they did in 2008.
I attended the Bernie rally before the JJ, and walked with him across the bridge to the hall where the JJ was going to be held. It felt like a civil rights march. People were arm in arm, chanting, holding up signs.
When we got to HyVee Hall, where the JJ dinner was held, there were 3,500 - 3,600 of us. They had seven metal detectors. I kept track and they were screening four people per minute. That meant 900 minutes between seven detectors, or 160 minutes. I was in the middle of the crowd, and it took me two hours to get through security. Young people behind me were sitting down and laying on the floor because they were getting tired after standing for so long. I heard some of them gave up and went home. I hope not. But the incompetence of the people organizing the JJ Dinner in having so few metal detectors/screeners made me angry.
Then when I got into the hall, I saw that the Democratic Party had erected barricades between the people at the tables who paid $120 - $1,000 for their meal, and the people on the bleachers who paid $50. It sent the message that the Democratic Party did not want the people on the bleachers mingling with the people at the tables. It also made it seem like the people on the bleachers were second class citizens.
So when it was time for me to be introduced, I took the sign with me. Prior to the event, all of the candidates were required to submit a 150 word introduction. Mine included an endorsement of Bernie Sanders. When I got on stage, I saw the Teleprompter. It had my endorsement edited out. When I saw that, I held the sign above my head. The place just exploded. The cheers from 2/3 of the crowd shook the hall. Other people told me that it was like a bomb went off. The only place completely silent? The $1,000 a plate tables at the edge of the stage. They sat there frozen like they were made of concrete. I think they knew or sensed at that moment that the people power can and will overwhelm their money.
Totally dissatisfied.
The debate schedule, timing, access are all horrible. They are clearly intended to favor Mrs. Clinton. They simply prove what most working people already believe - that the system is rigged.
The good news about the Republican debates and cycle is that the more venom their candidates spew in the national spotlight, the fewer people who want to be identified as a Republican.
I'm looking to work with Senator Warren on Wall Street issues. Senator Brown too. I think we can build a progressive coalition issue by issue. The career "machine" Democrats endorsed Hillary early in 2008 too. Then as Obama started to build momentum, a number of them backtracked. The "machine" Democratic Party is dying. In most meetings, I am the youngest person in the room (except for paid staff) and I'm 57. Why? Because too many times in the last 20 -25 years, the Democratic Party has betrayed working people. Democrats passed NAFTA. Democrats repealed Glass Steagall.
It has opened up a broader argument about the war in Iraq and how our current policies are creating more terrorists rather than fewer.
I was at a major event on Sunday in Ames following the Saturday night debate in Des Moines. Hillary flew Bill out to Iowa on Sunday morning to introduce her and sit by her during her speech. It told me that she knew that without the Iraq war, there would be no ISIS. During the first part of her speech, she doubled down on more military action by the US in the Middle East if she is elected President. There were a lot of Hillary supporters in the room, up to half of the 500 - 600 people present. The room was eerily silent, no applause, no anything. Nobody wanted more war, more death, more refugees. Iowans truly get it that our past actions directly caused the Paris tragedy.
The Clintons have intimidated and paid off many in the party, just like they did in 2008.
We need to help Bernie win Iowa and a couple other places, and then they will start to defect, just like they did in 2008.
Its also interesting to note that there was a bit of a dustup because Hillary wanted Barack’s email list and he and the DNC said it was only for use in the general not the primary. Good on him.