Bernie Sanders Campaign Raises Over A Million From Pro-Clinton Group Email
A Clinton-PAC (political action committee) attack on Bernie Sanders has resulted in unpredictable consequences in favor of Sanders, with hundreds of thousands of dollars pouring into the Vermont senator’s campaign.
It all started with an anti-Sanders email from pro-Clinton PAC Correct the Record that compares Bernie Sanders, whose current and ongoing surge in Democratic polls has been threatening the former first lady’s bid for the White House, to the UK socialist and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The email, which was sent to the Huffington Post, pinpointed major controversial comments made by the British socialist and suggested that there were some sort of “similarities” between the views of Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn.
The Corbyn comments and statements the anti-Sanders email stressed on included a time in which Corbyn said the assassination of Osama bin Laden was “a tragedy,” as, according to Corbyn, he should have been arrested and put on trial. The email also cited a time when Corbyn said he wouldn’t mind inviting his “friends” for Middle East discussions in the UK.
The email compared those, and other comments made by Jeremy Corbyn, to some Bernie Sanders comments and actions, including the proposal of a bill to end the American nuclear weapons program. It also shed more light on the similar views both Corbyn and Bernie Sanders have regarding NATO and its tense relations with Russia.
Bernie Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs emailed the Huffington Post and said Correct the Record was “distorting the record.”
“It is disappointing that Secretary Clinton’s super PAC is spreading disinformation about Bernie,” he said in an email to the Huffington Post.
“This is exactly the kind of politics Bernie is trying to change.”
In response to the anti-Sanders email, the Bernie Sanders campaign decided to hijack the purpose of the email and launched a fundraising campaign in light of it. Bernie Sanders sent out an email to supporters to raise funds in response to the Hillary Clinton PAC attack.
“Yesterday, one of Hillary Clinton’s most prominent Super PACs attacked our campaign viciously […] Make the Super PACs pay for attacking us by making a $3 contribution to our campaign today.”
I don’t take corporate PAC money, and if, by some accident, some company sent us money, we would send it back—absolutely.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 18, 2015
Surprisingly and ironically, the Hillary Clinton PAC attack ended up becoming a fundraising booster for the Bernie Sanders campaign, according to the Huffington Post, as hundreds of contributors donated over $1.2 million in just two days since the email was publicized.
The Huffington Post mentioned that Correct the Record initially requested that the email be kept off the record. Unfortunately for the Hillary Clinton campaign, the reporter never agreed to that request.
The Hillary Clinton campaign has so far taken an official stance refusing to attack Bernie Sanders, her major and currently only competitor for the Democratic nomination. It seems that pro-Clinton groups might be ruining that stance, and her chances, in light of the Huffington Post email.
What is your stance on the political leanings and policies of Bernie Sanders, and what do you think of the Correct the Record email and its aftermath?
[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
