Saturday, February 29, 2020
Friday, February 28, 2020
Medicare for All and Racial Equity briefing
LIVESTREAM: Medicare for All and Racial Equity briefing with Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Debbie Dingell, Ilhan Omar, and Sheila Jackson Lee
Watch our Facebook Live starting now! (After the event, video will be available.)
Then, chip in to help CPCC fight for Medicare for All!
1 year ago today, Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Debbie Dingell introduced her their Medicare for All bill.
Americans of color are more likely to be uninsured and face crushing medical debt. Black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth.
Right now, we’re livestreaming a briefing and panel from the U.S. Capitol on how Medicare for All advances the cause of racial equity.
Watch our speakers:
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI)
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Dr. Sanjeev Sriram, Founder of the All Means All Campaign
Liz Watson, Executive Director of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center
Amirah Sequeira, Lead Legislative Advocate, National Nurses United
Kymone Freeman, racial justice activist, who will share the story of his sister’s death due to racial inequities in health care
Tune in now on Facebook Live at 9:00 AM Eastern! (After the event, video will be available.)
Then, chip in to help CPCC fight for Medicare for All!
Thanks for tuning in!
-- Congressional Progressive Caucus Center
Pelosi & Senate Dems Boost Bernie's Electability Argument
BERN NOTICE: Pelosi & Senate Dems Boost Bernie's Electability Argument
David Sirota Feb 27
Bern Notice is a production of the Bernie 2020 campaign. Please forward this on to your friends and tell them to subscribe. The views expressed here are solely of the bylined author.
Polls show Bernie is the strongest general election candidate against Donald Trump, and show him winning key battleground states and demographics that often swing national elections. And now, more and more congressional Democrats are rightly laughing off last-minute attempts to erase this data and pretend Bernie would harm down-ballot Democrats in a general election.
WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE SAYING
• WASHPOST — PELOSI SAYS DEMS WILL WIN HOUSE WITH SANDERS: The Washington Post reports that “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back on a warning from Buttigieg during Tuesday night’s debate that making Sanders the Democratic nominee could lead to a Republican takeover of the House…Asked about the prospect of McCarthy taking the gavel if Sanders is on top of the Democratic ticket, Pelosi responded, ‘I think whoever our nominee is, we will enthusiastically embrace, and we will win the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.’”
• POLITICO — “SENATE DEMS AREN’T FREAKING OUT ABOUT BERNIE”: Politico reports that “Sanders is the clear frontrunner as the party heads into a potentially decisive March stretch for the Democratic primary. And that’s OK with many Senate Democrats.”
• CNN — SEN. MURPHY LAUDS “STRENGTH” OF BERNIE’S CANDIDACY: Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN: “Bernie’s base of support — the enthusiasm behind him — I think speaks to the strength of his candidacy both in the primary but as a general election candidate as well.”
POLLING DATA SHOWS BERNIE’S STRENGTH
• BERNIE IS PARTICULARLY STRONG AMONG SWING VOTERS: Reuters’ poll shows Bernie doing — by far — the best against Trump among independent swing voters. A recent USA Today/Ipsos poll found that “suburban women, a key voting block that helped Democrats flip the House of Representatives in 2018, also favored Sanders.” Summarizing the data, pollster Peter Hart told NBC News: "There is one clear and inescapable set of results: Bernie Sanders is the definitive front-runner, and the current numbers do not represent his ceiling, but instead his base with room to grow.”
• BERNIE IS STRONGEST VERS TRUMP IN BATTLEGROUND POLL: A new Wisconsin State Journal poll finds Bernie leading in the Democratic primaries and in the general election in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — the three previously Democratic states that helped deliver the election to Donald Trump. Bernie is leading Trump by the largest margins of any Democratic candidate in Michigan (+7) and Pennsylvania (+2), and also gets the largest amount of total support in Wisconsin (46%).
• BERNIE IS THE ONLY DEM AHEAD OF TRUMP IN PENNSYLVANIA: The Allentown Morning Call reports that “A new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll shows Trump doing better against potential Democratic rivals than he did in a similar poll three months earlier…Only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders maintained a slight lead over the president in hypothetical matchups.”
• BERNIE IS THE STRONGEST AGAINST TRUMP IN VIRGINIA: A new Roanoke College poll shows Bernie leading Trump by nine points in the swing state of Virginia — the largest margin of any Democratic candidate.
• BERNIE IS THE STRONGEST AGAINST TRUMP IN FLORIDA: A recent Florida Atlantic University poll found Bernie leading Trump in Florida by the widest margin of any Democratic candidate.
• BERNIE IS STRONGEST AGAINST TRUMP IN TEXAS: Vanity Fair reports “A Texas Lyceum poll just this week showed Sanders performing better against Trump in Texas than any Democrat, losing by just three points. That’s on top of a raft of polls showing Sanders beating Trump back those precious Upper Midwest states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. These polls aren’t totally hypothetical, either: Sanders boasts near universal Name ID. Most voters know who Sanders is and what he stands for—and they’re still choosing him.”
Bern after reading,
Sirota
P.S. Check out this CBS story reporting that “Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina believes that among the field of Democratic presidential hopefuls, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is the one who poses the ‘biggest threat’ to President Trump in November.”
NEW STUDY: Evo Morales Won Bolivia’s October Elections in the First Round
New Study Finds No Evidence of OAS Fraud Claims, “Very Likely” Evo Morales Won Bolivia’s October Elections in the First Round
MIT Statisticians Confirm Main Findings of Earlier CEPR Analysis
For Immediate Release: February 27, 2020
Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460, beeton@cepr.net
Washington, DC ― A new study, which analyzes the results of Bolivia’s October election, concludes “we cannot find results that would lead […] to the same conclusion as the OAS” that there was an “inexplicable” and drastic change in the trend of the vote. The analysis, by Jack Williams and John Curiel of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, determines: “it is very likely that Morales won the required 10 percentage point margin to win in the first round of the election on October 20, 2019.” In an article for The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage today, Williams and Curiel write: “as specialists in election integrity, we find that the statistical evidence does not support the claim of fraud in Bolivia’s October election.”
The study, commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) to independently verify its November 2019 study, reaches many of the same conclusions as that earlier statistical analysis, and replicates some of the most significant statistical findings showing consistent voting trends in favor of Morales, before and after the interruption of the preliminary vote count [trep]. Repeated Organization of American States (OAS) claims of an “inexplicable” change in the vote count trend of the TREP were the basis for allegations of fraud shortly after the elections took place.
But “The OAS’s claim that the stopping of the trep during the Bolivian election produced an oddity in the voting trend is contradicted by the data,” the MIT researchers conclude. “While there was a break in the reporting of votes, the substance of those later-reporting votes could be determined prior to the break.”
“The OAS seems to have made statements regarding the preliminary election results without basis in fact,” Jack Williams, coauthor of the study, said. “Morales appears to have been heading toward a first-round victory prior to the interruption of the preliminary count. The results once the count resumed are in line with the prior trend.”
Bolivia’s electoral authority suspended the processing of tally sheets in the preliminary count on election night with 83.85 percent of tally sheets verified and Morales ahead by a difference of 7.87 percentage points over runner-up candidate Carlos Mesa. When results from the preliminary count were next reported with additional tally sheets verified, they showed Morales above the 10 percentage point margin of victory that would give him a first-round win.
But, contrary to OAS statements that fueled violent protests opposition rejection of the election results, these results are entirely consistent, and there was no “inexplicable change in trend” in the preliminary count as the OAS had claimed.
“The OAS greatly misled the media and the public about what happened in Bolivia’s elections, and helped to foster a great deal of mistrust in the electoral process and the results,” CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said. “This important analysis from MIT election researchers is the latest to show that the OAS’s statements were without basis, and that simple arithmetic shows that there is no evidence that fraud or irregularities affected the preliminary results, or the official results ― the ones that actually matter. The OAS needs to explain why it made these statements and why anyone should trust it when it comes to elections.”
We can't trust MSNBC
MSNBC's coverage of the 2020 presidential primary just gets worse and worse.
After Tuesday night's debate, James Carville called Bernie Sanders supporters “stupid,” and claimed that “only a fool” would think Bernie can beat Trump.
Chris Matthews tore into Elizabeth Warren, insisting that women who had been harassed and bullied by Michael Bloomberg were lying.
Common Dreams is the one news outlet covering this election for the 99%, but if we don't meet our Winter Campaign fundraising goal, we might be forced to cut back, leaving coverage of the 2020 election to Comcast-owned MSNBC and the rest of the corporate media.
We can only bring you the nonprofit, independent news we're known for because of the support of you, our readers. And we're still $27,000 short of what we need to keep that coverage going.
Make no mistake: our democracy is at risk. The corporate media is failing the 99% at a time when we can least afford it. But Common Dreams is different.
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Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg’s efforts to cut Social Security
ICYMI: Bernie Co-Chair Contrasts Sanders & Biden/Bloomberg On Social Security
David Sirota Feb 27
Bernie 2020 national co-chair Nina Turner published a new CNBC oped reviewing Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg’s efforts to cut Social Security — the latter of which was explored in a new CNN report. Turner compares Biden and Bloomberg’s record with Bernie’s successful work blocking those cuts.
Turner notes that Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly said he wants to work with the next Democratic president to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Here is an excerpt:
Trump, however, is not the only reason we should be concerned about the future of Social Security: Bloomberg News’ congressional correspondent recently reported that Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell “told me he hopes to work with the next Democratic president to trim Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.”
All of this underscores an important reality: to both defeat Trump in this election and strengthen Social Security, we must choose Bernie Sanders as our Democratic nominee, because he has an unwavering record fighting against Social Security cuts -- and fighting for an expansion of the program.
Unfortunately, not every candidate in this race has such a track record.
Click here to read the entire oped.
Bern after reading,
Sirota
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