Bernie Sanders Support Limited To ‘Young White Liberals,’ Hillary Clinton’s Almost-VP Reportedly Claimed
According to WikiLeaks, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez allegedly appeared to dismiss former Hillary Clinton rival Bernie Sanders as only polling well at the time with “young white liberals” if she were to win the narrative-changing state of Nevada in the primary contest.
Perez, who was on Hillary Clinton’s short list for vice president, made this observation in a leaked email with subject “observations from the road” upon his return from campaigning for Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada in February 2016.
Assuming it is legitimate, the email on Perez’s personal account was addressed to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.
Perez, who was an assistant U.S. attorney general before going over to the Labor Department, wrote, in part, in the context of Nevada being Hillary Clinton’s “firewall.”
“Nevada is an opportunity to fight back on so many levels. First, the current storyline is that [Hillary Clinton] does not connect well with young voters. Given that Nevada is far more demographically representative of America, I am confident that HRC can do well with all African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans (dont forget the sizeable population of Asian Americans in Nevada, including Filipinos.). Emmy and the team have a good plan to attract all minority voters. When we do well there, then the narrative changes from Bernie kicks ass among young voters to Bernie does well only among young white liberals– that is a different story and a perfect lead in to South Carolina, where once again, we can work to attract young voters of color. So I think Nevada is a real opportunity, and I would strongly urge HRC to get out there within a couple days of NH.”
JUST IN: U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez will be in PHX Saturday to campaign for Hillary Clinton. #abc15 https://t.co/44iEZp43JX pic.twitter.com/2daE1LSU68
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) September 29, 2016
Fraud allegations emerged in the controversial Nevada Democratic Caucus where Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders by 53 percent to 47 percent on February 20, 2016.
During a private Virginia fundraiser, Hillary Clinton reportedly dissed Sanders voters, The Intercept noted, as living in their parents’ basement and said that Bernie Sanders was offering them what amounts to false promises, particularly in the context of student loan debt relief. At the same event, Clinton also described her political views as “center-left to center-right.” The revelations caused the hashtag #basementdwellers to trend on Twitter in early October.
According to a March 2016 Politico report, there was a lot of buzz around Thomas Perez for vice president because he enjoyed “more credibility with committed progressives…than anyone else around.” Clinton wound up picking U.S. Senator Tim Kaine instead, however.
Politico continued on to explain the following.
“To Perez’s fans, he’s the under-the-radar choice who checks every box Clinton’s going to need if she is the nominee: progressives, unions, African-Americans, Obama loyalists, Latinos. Even some senior Democrats who think the idea is a long shot acknowledge it’s a unique marriage of message and moment…the unions love him so much that they campaigned against his nomination to replace Eric Holder as attorney general in late 2014 because they didn’t want to lose him at the Labor Department.”
Clinton's possible VP pick Thomas Perez tied to DOJ cover-up https://t.co/KKLhwUGVNA
— Layne Sacharin (@layne8797) July 12, 2016
“Conservative policy experts who have followed his work in the Justice and Labor Departments consider him perhaps the Obama administration’s most radical and relentless ideologue,” National Review asserted about Thomas Perez.
Apart from the substance of the Perez email, the Washington Free Beacon claims that allegedly using a personal email account to communicate with Podesta “could also violate federal law if he was on the clock at the time.”
“Perez previously coordinated with Podesta using his government email account on the eve of his official endorsement and debut on the campaign trail, a potential violation of the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from using government resources for partisan activities,” the Beacon also noted.
Do you think it is a fair reading of the Perez email that he was suggesting that the Bernie Sanders cohort was limited to young white liberals?
[Featured Image by Andrew Harnik/AP Images]
