Wow! Biden Agrees With Bernie WRT to the Corrupting Effects of Money on Politics

[sabrina 1]

I was about to post on OP about this subject after reading some comments today defending money in politics, which I found to be pretty surprising especially coming from Democrats.

Most surprising to me is how unaware some people seem to be of the fact that the Corrosive effects of the obscene amount of money spent on Political Campaigns is going to be the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE in this campaign.

Thanks to Bernie Sanders, we are finally going to have a National Debate about this for the first time.

And then I read about Biden's Speech on this subject and since he said pretty much everything Bernie has said, and I was about to repeat, I will simply let Biden say it all instead:

Joe Biden on Money in Politics: “A Hell of a Way to Run a Democracy”

Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the Generation Progress summit yesterday and said if the country is going to address any number of pressing issues, we have to “get private money out of the political process” and he encouraged Democrats to take on the issue head-on.

Exactly Bernie's Point, and WHY he is running a campaign that REFUSES to take these huge donations from Private Donors, even worse now due to Citizens United!

–

He said on a variety of issues, nothing is going to happen until we address the broken system. “If you could do only one single thing, only one, to increase fairness, equity, opportunity to middle class, pass rational gun control, deal with immigration, etc. What would it be? I can tell you one thing I would do. It would be get private money out of political process.”

– He specifically called out the argument that candidates can’t “disarm” because their opponents won’t. “The first place you’ve got to start is the Democratic party. No matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand of us that we demonstrate we understand. We can do something about the corrosive impact of massive amounts of money.”

– He said addressing the problem will restore trust in politicians: “Folks, don’t underestimate your ability to influence all of us who are tempted to yield to temptation to go ahead and do the same thing and, again, rationalize. If I don’t, I’m not going to be able to win and all the good I can do will be gone. Even though the way I have to do it, even if it doesn’t compromise me, convince average middle class people that I don’t care about them and they therefore won’t trust me.”

It's hard to know what to highlight, because Joe Biden is saying EVERYTHING that Bernie has been saying, and it sounds like he's CHALLENGING DEMOCRATS, as Bernie supporters have been doing, to follow Bernie's example and simply REFUSE what are essentially bribes.

Does this mean Joe Biden, IF he runs, will emulate Bernie Sanders and refuse Corporate Money also?

Is this a challenge to Hillary to join Bernie in refusing Corporate Funding? Because that IS the ONLY WAY to neutralize Citizens United as Bernie and his supporters have been saying 'DON'T TAKE THEIR MONEY'!

I'm going to repeat and highlight this from Joe Biden's speech because like Bernie, he does NOT agree with the argument that Dems can't refuse money because Repubs are taking it:

– He specifically called out the argument that candidates can’t “disarm” because their opponents won’t. “The first place you’ve got to start is the Democratic party. No matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand of us that we demonstrate we understand. We can do something about the corrosive impact of massive amounts of money.”

And from Bernie Sanders:

Bernie Sanders Is Fed Up With Money In Politics, And He's Running For President To Do Something About It

The self-described "democratic socialist," who is the first candidate to challenge Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, called for reform to the U.S. electoral system, which he described as beholden to wealthy interests and the top 1 percent of Americans.

.....

As a result of the wealthy Koch brothers and the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United, which unleashed unlimited outside money into elections, Sanders said, "We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let's not kid ourselves. That is the reality right now."

Joe Biden GETS it! The most important issue in this campaign is going to be the corrupting, corrosive effects of money on our entire electoral system. Bernie has courageously not just talked about it, but is running his campaign based on that most important issue.

Thank you Joe for backing Backing Bernie Sanders on this most important issue!

[Jefferson23]

1. Happy to recommend. n/t

[azmom]

2. K&R

[Skwmom]

3. "Even if it doesn't compromise me..."

Biden knows better, it does compromise. What's the game? Do they plan to have him enter the race and copy what Bernie is saying in hopes that people will buy it better from him then Clinton (thus pulling votes from Sanders). And then if Clinton did falter, at least the financial crooks would have another ally in the Whitehouse.

Biden is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[sabrina 1]

4. I was very puzzled by this to be honest. He SOUNDS just like Bernie, but doesn't

credit Bernie, who if he means what he says, should be his choice of candidate, with doing what he SAYS Democrats need to do.

It also came right after we got the info on donations. IF he is sincere, then he needs to be forthcoming and name names, talk about who is actually DOING what he says needs to be done.

They are all so afraid to just come out and tell the truth. Bernie is the ONLY one FREE to do that because he is not beholden to Big Money.

I don't really know what Biden's position is re Hillary, but taken at face value, he seems to be criticizing her.

And if he does get into the race, after THIS speech, he cannot accept Corporate donations and expect to be taken seriously.

[Skwmom]

5. He was not criticizing her. He was offering a phony excuse.

".....If I don’t, I’m not going to be able to win and all the good I can do will be gone. Even though the way I have to do it, even if it doesn’t compromise me, convince average middle class people that I don’t care about them and they therefore won’t trust me.”

It's the same phony excuse the Clinton hacks keep repeating - just slightly repackaged. These people would not be funneling all that money to Clinton if there was a snowballs chance in h*** that she wouldn't deliver (which there isn't).

Believing otherwise, would be akin to believing in unicorns and pink ponies.

[sabrina 1]

7. Maybe but he admitting that it is a big problem and he does say that

Democrats have to stand up against it. I take that to mean they should not accept it and since Bernie is the only one in the race doing that, he could have said that. He says people should think it's impossible to fight it, so give credit to the person who is fighting it, imo.

[kenn3d]

6. He certainly sounds sincere sabrina 1

If anyone missed the direct video link from CSPAN here it is again:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4544897/vice-president-biden-money-politics

This is undoubtedly an endorsement of Sen. Sanders, and an unmistakable warning to voters against HRC and all candidates who sell out to the big money donors.

A very powerful argument I say.

Kenn

[sabrina 1]

8. That is how I took it and especially coming right after the release of the

numbers regarding donations for the campaigns.