Sanders team wanted use of plane in exchange for backing Clinton

[jillnothill]

PHILADELPHIA — The Bernie Sanders campaign considered demanding a private plane staffed and funded by the Democratic National Committee as part of negotiations with Hillary Clinton heading into this week’s convention, according to a Sanders memo obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The plane was to be used “for a series of fall rallies in battleground states,” according to the “Bernie 2016” memo, which was drafted in the days before Sanders’ sound defeat in the June 7 California primary, the contest that effectively ended his insurgent bid.
“This plane would be paid for by the DNC,” it reads.
The document reveals a campaign in its final days, considering whether to fight on with a “divisive critique” of Clinton, yet attuned to diminished influence inside the party.

Aides believed a tour of the battleground states would help keep Sanders center stage. The memo, titled “End Game,” also suggests that the Vermont senator’s campaign for Senate Democrats to “help deliver a majority and take credit for it” — one of several references throughout the four-page document showing the extent to which aides remained aware of opportunities to take “credit” amid decreasing “leverage.”

“As time goes on our leverage will diminish,” the memo reads.
“The more Sen. Sanders campaigns the more credit he can take for a Democratic victory and continue to keep his movement energized and in place.”

A copy of the memo was shared with BuzzFeed News after it was found on June 5 in a Los Angeles hotel, a DoubleTree where Sanders and his aides stayed that night. The document details the ways the campaign hoped to keep their candidate relevant and further his “political revolution” ahead of the convention kicking off here Monday.
Senior officials from the Sanders campaign declined to comment. The Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The memo begins with a pressing question: Should Sanders concede defeat and endorse Clinton, appeasing the Democratic establishment? Or should he fight through the convention and “force a roll-call vote for the nomination,” reopening “a divisive critique of Clinton” and casting the party’s controversial superdelegate system in a negative light?

The campaign concedes that the latter scheme would require a robust plan “beyond the scope of this memo,” but acknowledges that regardless of a delegate strategy or convention floor operation, Sanders would face “two difficult challenges”: attacking Clinton “on viability and substance,” and engaging “in divisive committee and floor battle over rules and credentials.”

In the end, of course, Sanders chose not to fight on much longer after California, conceding the nomination and endorsing Clinton several weeks after being defeated in the state’s primary.


Many Sanders supporters wanted the senator to fight on until the bitter end, but the document suggests the campaign never devoted much effort to planning for a process like that.

“Leaders who have remained neutral will likely start to endorse Clinton. The AFL-CIO and Senator Warren being the most prominent,” the memo reads. (The major union and the progressive senator both held off on endorsing Clinton until the end of the primary.)
“Some Sanders supporters/endorsers will also begin to call for a concession and some may goes as far as moving their support to Clinton.”

The memo is devoted largely to plans for a Sanders concession.
On the list: holding sway over powerful convention committees, crafting a “progressive platform” for the party, and the question of whether to remove chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Sanders is cast in the memo repeatedly as a kind of youth-whisperer for the Democratic Party and for Clinton, who struggled in the primary to win over young progressive voters.

On July 12, Sanders formally ended his campaign and endorsed Clinton at a carefully staged rally in New Hampshire, designed to showcase unity between two at times embittered campaigns. Some die-hard supporters refused to go quietly, and security guards reportedly stepped in to take away “Still Bernie” signs. For the most part, though, the crowd stood and cheered as Sanders and Clinton put aside their differences and joined forces.

The event was far different than the one proposed in June.

The memo describes a unity rally to be held “on or before June 27” — a month before the start of the Democratic convention, and two weeks before the eventual New Hampshire event. The Sanders team suggested sites for the rally aimed at showcasing Sanders’ strengths with younger voters in college towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan; Bloomington, Indiana; or Madison, Wisconsin.

Even before the end of the California primary, the campaign was taken up with planning for what Sanders wanted to accomplish at the convention. Pro-Sanders forces succeeded this month in crafting a party platform that Sanders has praised as a victory. But the campaign was not able to unseat many of the convention leaders it wanted to remove, according to the memo, such as Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.

On Sunday, however, under fire from last week’s DNC email leak, longtime Sanders campaign enemy Wasserman Schultz stepped down as the party’s chair.

The rest of the memo is devoted to planning how to use Sanders in the fall campaign.
Sanders commanded large numbers of voters that Clinton strategists desperately want to turn out in the fall in the campaign against Donald Trump, such as active progressives and younger voters. In the “End Game” document, Sanders aides hoped to use his connection with those voters to leverage a special role on the surrogate circuit for Clinton and Democratic candidates.

The memo notes that a plane would allow Sanders to keep up a robust campaign schedule.

The arrangement would have allowed a lifestyle similar to the one he became accustomed to during the latter months of his candidacy, when a large private jet, motorcade, and retinue of security and traveling staff were a part of his everyday routine.

It would also be a break with Sanders’ pre-campaign persona, when he was best known by his supporters and those in Washington as the guy who flew the middle seat in coach.

https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...Game-2016.html

https://www.rt.com/usa/353124-sander...private-plane/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/b...LWA#.uaXzO3on2

Very Interesting

[BuckSparkles]

Bernie Sanders: A man who said the system was rigged, was correct the system was rigged, and now is endorsing the person who rigged it.

Yep; he has no self-respect and is a doormat.

Would have made an excellent president!

[jillnothill]

Bernie Sanders: A man who said the system was rigged, was correct the system was rigged, and now is endorsing the person who rigged it.

Yep; he has no self-respect and is a doormat.

Would have made an excellent president!

Well the memo was drafted on June 5. Looks like he planed on endorsing her for a while

[TwoNineMarine]

My respect for him wasn't super high to begin with but it's all but gone now that he is backing that woman and more importantly backing the very system that fucked him.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Wait, people other than Clinton do horse trading!?!?!? REVOLUTION!

[Reeve]

Seems reasonable to me. "If you want me to campaign for you, that's fine, but you get to pay my expenses and I'm not flying coach." I don't really see the problem.

[araine]

My respect for him wasn't super high to begin with but it's all but gone now that he is backing that woman and more importantly backing the very system that fucked him.

The alternative is a Trump presidency and that will be a total disaster for the world

[Deleted]

Whereas other people want personal glory and power in exchange, such as Hillary in 2008, Bernie asked for a tool to help keep fighting for the people?

Now there's a contrast between the greed of Hillary and altruism of Sanders.

[Reeve]

Bernie Sanders: A man who said the system was rigged, was correct the system was rigged, and now is endorsing the person who rigged it.

Yep; he has no self-respect and is a doormat.

Would have made an excellent president!

It's more of a commentary on how dangerous he thinks Donald Trump is that he's willing to team up with Hillary Clinton to stop him.

[TwoNineMarine]

The alternative is a Trump presidency and that will be a total disaster for the world

I disagree. Trump's an ass but better than her.

Also he could run as independent. He certainly had enough of a following.

[BuckSparkles]

It's more of a commentary on how dangerous he thinks Donald Trump is that he's willing to team up with Hillary Clinton to stop him.

You should be a DJ with that much spin.

[Lenonis]

Well the memo was drafted on June 5. Looks like he planed on endorsing her for a while

Sanders was always planning on endorsing her. From the very start. He just waited to do so until everyone had their voice heard at the ballot box.

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You should be a DJ with that much spin.

How is that spin? Sanders has been saying for a while now Trump must be defeated.

[BuckSparkles]

I disagree. Trump's an ass but better than her.

Also he could run as independent. He certainly had enough of a following.

Actually you got it wrong.

Using Team America Logic, Trump is a dick, Obama is a Pussy, and Clinton is an asshole.

[Bathory]

Well the memo was drafted on June 5. Looks like he planed on endorsing her for a while

Uh yeah. Sanders said he would endorse the nominee, even if it wasn't him, at the very start of this race. This isn't really news if you've been paying attention.

[BuckSparkles]

How is that spin? Sanders has been saying for a while now Trump must be defeated.

It shows he is a fraud. He never wanted a "revolution." And he never was against the "elite."

[akris15]

I disagree. Trump's an ass but better than her.

Also he could run as independent. He certainly had enough of a following.

Remember he's technically a democrat when they caucus in the Senate. If he does that his career is over the Democrats would ensure that.

[Alvito]

My respect for him wasn't super high to begin with but it's all but gone now that he is backing that woman and more importantly backing the very system that fucked him.

That just shows how much he doesn't want Trump in office. He would rather have the person that either cheated or benefited from cheating to win over Trump.

- - - Updated - - -

I disagree. Trump's an ass but better than her.

Also he could run as independent. He certainly had enough of a following.

He could, he wouldn't win anything. More over running as a 3rd party means the electors in the state would just pick who they wanted even if he won the state.

[TZucchini]

How is this interesting at all? He wanted a plane that he could use to campaign for Hillary (read against Trump). What's the big deal?

[Alvito]

It shows he is a fraud. He never wanted a "revolution." And he never was against the "elite."

He is just more against Trump the Hillary. When facing 2 awful choices you sometimes have to pick the lesser of two evils.

[jillnothill]

It shows he is a fraud. He never wanted a "revolution." And he never was against the "elite."

Yea after reading the memo is really made me see what I was hoping was not true old sell out sanders was a wolf in sheeps clothing aka the youth-whisperer to get votes for Hillary.