Bernie Sanders Agrees to debate Donald Trump Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders independently agreed Wednesday night to debate each other. On ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Trump was asked if he would consider holding a debate with Sanders. Trump agreed to the idea. "If he paid a sum toward charity I would love to do that," said the business mogul, noting that a Sanders vs. Trump debate "would have such high ratings." http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/26/bernie-sanders-agrees-to-debate-donald-trump.html
Maybe Hillary should have debated Bernie before the California primary. California Up for Grabs, Poll Finds, as Clinton and Sanders Battle LOS ANGELES — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are locked in a tight race in California, the nation’s most populous state and one that until recently seemed strongly in Mrs. Clinton’s corner, a new statewide poll has found. The poll, released Wednesday night by the Public Policy Institute of California, showed Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Sanders among likely voters, 46 percent to 44 percent — within the margin of error. A survey by the organization in March found Mrs. Clinton with a lead of 48 percent to 41 percent over Mr. Sanders. The survey came as both Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton have stepped up their campaign appearances here in anticipation of the June 7 primary. Mr. Sanders, after initially saying he would not advertise on television here — California is one of the most expensive states for television advertising, given its size and the number of media markets — took to the airwaves this week. And Mrs. Clinton has quickly responded, with ads set to begin running on Friday in the Los Angeles, Fresno and Sacramento markets: one narrated by the actor Morgan Freeman, another highlighting Mrs. Clinton’s endorsement by the civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. The Clinton campaign will also run Spanish-language ads aimed at Latino voters, and translated commercials in Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Korean. For Mrs. Clinton in particular, the ad buy is a significant reversal: Her campaign had halted its advertising after her decisive victories in the mid-Atlantic states on April 26, aside from a brief return to television in Kentucky. Mr. Sanders’s aides said he intended to spend nearly all his time in California until the June 7 primary, a signal of how much importance he has attached to a victory here as he tries to keep his campaign going through the convention. His rallies have drawn big, enthusiastic crowds in many parts of the state. Even with a loss in the primary, Mrs. Clinton would almost certainly win enough delegates to capture her party’s nomination. That said, a loss to Mr. Sanders in this state — which she won in 2008 and which Bill Clinton won in the 1992 primaries — would provide a sour and deflating end to her primary campaign. It could also encourage Mr. Sanders to stay in the race through theDemocratic National Convention in July, at a time when many Democrats would be asking him to step aside and join with Mrs. Clinton in turning the party’s attention to defeating the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. The new poll takes into account both Democrats and independent voters who said they would vote in the Democratic primary. Among Democrats alone, Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Sanders by 49 percent to 41 percent, according to the institute. But there has been a surge of people registering as independents, which Democrats say could be aiding Mr. Sanders. The poll showed that both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders would defeat Mr. Trump in a hypothetical November contest, though Mr. Sanders appears to have the stronger position at the moment. Mrs. Clinton is leading Mr. Trump among likely voters by 49 percent to 39 percent; Mr. Sanders would beat him 53 percent to 36 percent. The poll was based on a telephone survey of 1,704 California adults taken from May 13 through Sunday. Of those, 996 were identified as likely voters. The margin of sampling error among that group was plus or minus 4 percentage points. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/us/politics/clinton-sanders-california-poll.html
I find it interesting that I am starting to quote old school liberals more and more. http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presi...rofessional-israel-hater-democratic-platform/ Dershowitz: Sanders Is Dangerous Ignoramus, Picked ‘Professional Israel-Hater’ For Democratic Platform 41 1 ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images by DEBORAH DANAN26 May 201652 SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER Algemeiner on Tuesday.[/paste:font] Dershowitz, a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party and the author of The Case for Israel, slammed Sander’s selection of Arab-American Institute (AAI) president and BDS activist extraordinaire James Zogby to fill one of his five slots. But, Dershowitz says, the move doesn’t surprise him in the least. “Bernie Sanders is an ignoramus when it comes to the Middle East, and he is very strongly biased against Israel. He gets his information from hard-Left, anti-Israel sources, and he doesn’t think for himself,” he said. Sanders also appointed philosopher and fellow Israel boycotter Cornell West, who has said that the crimes of terror group Hamas “pale in the face of the U.S.-supported Israeli slaughter of innocent civilians” and accused President Barack Obama of being “most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy, and very effective in getting what they want.” A third appointee picked by Sanders is Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn), the first Muslim elected to Congress. Dershowitz is fearful that Sanders’ choices will jeopardize the Democratic Party’s future relations with Israel. “Putting two Israel-bashers on the committee risks dividing the Democratic Party over an issue on which they’ve always been united,” he said. According to the lawyer, Sanders, who trails Hillary Clinton by only six percentage points, “poses a tremendous threat to Clinton’s election, and she should fight tooth and nail to keep the Democratic platform supportive of Israel.” However, this is not out of concern that Sanders might have a shot at the presidency – which in Dershowitz’s view, he doesn’t. It’s because the alternative is worse. According to Dershowitz, Sanders is “more dangerous as a losing candidate than he would be if he were to win the nomination, since if he did, he would be overwhelmingly defeated in November. As a loser, on the other hand, he threatens to push Clinton into positions that will make it much harder for her to win the general election.” “I’m not worried about Sanders as a winner; I’m worried about him as a loser. And I will do everything in my power to see that he is marginalized in the Democratic Party, particularly on foreign policy, about which he knows nothing,” he added. Zogby has lambasted American support for Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “shameful,” claiming that “Israeli society is on a slippery slope — becoming increasingly tolerant of racist violence.” The AAI president also equated the “plight of the Palestinians” to that of the Jews during the Holocaust. The party’s current platform policy seeks “a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord, producing two states for two peoples, [which] would contribute to regional stability and help sustain Israel’s identity.” However, reports emerged over the weekend that Sanders intends to use the DNC to revise the party’s stance on Israel to be more favorable towards the Palestinians, and will includeexplicit references to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. Zogby reaffirmed that he sought change in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine in which he promised that the Democratic Platform will “toughen” up its stance towards Israel and include the word “occupation.”
Unprecedented Trump-Bernie Bout Would Be Tremendous For Every Candidate Left (But One) by Joe Concha In the words of Will Ferrellin multiple Will Ferrell movies: That. Just. Happened. Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders. One debate stage. This dream scenario in terms of unprecedented entertainment for, well, anyone remotely following this election may actually be coming to fruition after Trump (more or less with plenty of wiggle room to spare) agreed to the ideaon Jimmy Kimmel‘s show last night and Sanders accepted shortly thereafter on Twitter. And if this somehow does happen, and Trump sources tell CBS’ Major Garrett it may very well not (more here from Mediaite’s Josh Feldman), the one candidate not participating will be looking quite foolish after breaking her word — practice makes perfect, after all — and backing out of a debate she once promised to do before the California primary. So does this debate really happen? Let’s put it the odds at 27.3 percent for giggles. Regardless, let’s explore the possibilities if it actually does… Multiple books will be written about this election. Communication and PR courses will be added too. Included should be how Hillary Clintonhas conducted herself from a media perspective throughout this campaign. Does she do press conferences? None in 173 days outside of a quickie 4-minute gaggle in a Minnesota diner a few months ago. Will she appear on Fox, where a Pew study found one-third of its audienceto be moderate or liberal? Just once in three (correction: two) years (a Town Hall setting with Bret Baier in March). This as that peskysecurity review FBI investigation into her home-brewed email server just won’t go away as it controls even more news cycles this week. Clinton’s poll numbers are dropping at an alarming rate. A double-digit lead in the Real Clear Politics poll average has been erased in a matter of weeks with the two locked in a dead heat. She debates quite well, however, which makes her decision to duck Bernie here even more ill-advised. Those who say she’s already won and doesn’t need to acknowledge her Democratic opponent — the one who may end up winning more states than her when it’s all said and done — simply don’t get it: Clinton needs to debate to show off her command of the world stage and tout her experience not to defeat Sanders, but to control the airwaves for a few news cycles while reminding those on the fence or leaving her why she’s a better choice than the inexperienced, temperament-challenged Trump. And in the process, would least demonstrate some measure of respect for Bernie supporters, who she seems to believe will automatically forget everything that has transpired during this primary season and fall lockstep behind her. This Tweet basically sums up sentiment on that front: View image on Twitter Follow Eric Wolfson @EricWolfson #BernieTrumpDebate Shorter --> 4:19 AM - 26 May 2016 309309 Retweets 542542 likes The big winner here is whichever network lands a Trump-Bernie bout. That appears to be Fox News since the latter already agreed to appear on the network. From a ratings perspective — given this sort of matchup has never occurred in a primary season — this will beat Fox’s record 24 million set last August. The curiosity factor alone, the passion of #FeeltheBern supporters, the equal passion of those backing Trump, and Hillary voters tuning in to watch it all unfold… combined with the casual political viewer being sucked in, will push this unprecedented event to unprecedented heights. For Trump, it’s his chance to entice Bernie supporters given their similar stances on what each dubs bad trade deals. He can also take potshots at Clinton without her being able to respond (outside of live Tweets likely written for her). It’s also somewhat risk-free in that Bernie isn’t exactly a pitbull in these situations when it comes to attacking his opponent. And guaranteed… this soundbite will be played over and over again leading up to said debate that will be quite difficult for any Clinton surrogate to defend: Clinton: “Honestly, I just believe this is the most important job in the world. It’s the toughest job in the world. You should be willing to campaign for every vote. You should be willing to debate anytime, anywhere,” For Sanders, he get to show superdelegates who pledged to Hillary before any votes were even cast that he’s the better candidate to take on Trump. This kind of event only legitimizes that claim. He also gets to show that Clinton simply can’t be trusted to keep her word, which is her biggest weakness and will only be amplified in front of a record audience. The free advertising here is far too good to pass up, and besides… what does he really have to lose? Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders. One night. One network. One stage. All while Hillary Clinton watches helplessly from the sidelines thanks to yet another unforced error. America wants this so badly you can taste it. Whether or not it actually happens is still very much in question. Trump has been known to dodge a few debates himself. But one can dream, right? http://www.mediaite.com/online/unpr...-tremendous-for-every-candidate-left-but-one/
Unfortunately Dershowitz is the one out of step with modern democrat values. He's an old school liberal who still even values freedom of speech, religion and thought, all of which show him to be embarrassingly anachronistic. Obama has intentionally had the worst relations with Israel of any modern president, even Jimmy Carter. Sanders would take it a notch beyond that, but Hillary isn't far behind.
This Trump/Bernie debate is such genius I have to suspect that Trump cooked it up and fed it to Kimmel. Basically Trump is generating more free media (a lot more) and cutting Bernie in on it. As for Bernie, it's a massive windfall. If he does remotely well, he can go into the California primary as the guy who wasn't afraid to take big bad Trump down. You can't buy that kind of publicity. What's possibly in it for Trump? Well, he gets more free media during a dead spot in the calendar for him. He gets a spring training game against a democrat rival. He gets to make an appeal to Bernie voters, both on substance and as the guy who gave Bernie a shot when Hillary wouldn't. More importantly, by pushing Bernie up, he makes life exceedingly unpleasant for Hillary. This could easily propel Bernie to a win in California, which would be disastrous for Hillary. What kind of legitimacy will she have as the nominee if she can't even carry the most important democrat state?
This will be billed as Frazier-Ali. Fischer-Spassky, etc. They should do it in a boxing ring or in the Octagon. And in between rounds, have those really good looking girls with almost nothing on and high heels walk around display the round number over their head. It should be held in Madison Square Garden, or maybe in Caesar's Palace. That's the way to get a billion viewers. 40,000,000? That is for kids.
I think Trump might turn into a love fest. As AAA was alluding... Bernie and Trump and their supporters agree the establishment has been fed like pigs at the trough and extracted wealth from Americans that Americans in major part built up in part by turning out incredible manufacturing to win world war 2 and by respecting the rule of law that allowed business to flourish. Trump could say we agree on the problems. But I would get govt out of the way, lower taxers, support small business and export businesses. etc.