From an email sent by DFA: http://democracyforamerica.com/
When 87.9% of DFA members endorsed Bernie Sanders, Democracy for America committed to waging a 100% positive campaign focused on the issues in support of Bernie. This commitment to campaigning on the issues includes defending Sen. Sanders against unfair and inaccurate attacks by his opponents.
Unfortunately, over the past few days, the Clinton campaign has launched extremely dishonest attacks against Bernie Sanders on an issue that defines what it means to be a Democrat — universal health care.
In those spurious attacks, the Clinton campaign has completely distorted and misled voters about Bernie’s universal health care plan.
They said Bernie is in favor of “ripping up Obamacare” and that he would “dismantle Medicare” and “send health insurance to the states, turning over your and my health insurance to governors.” The implication is that his plan would somehow mean seniors would lose access to the benefits they get from Medicare, or that right-wing governors would be able to block it from coming into their states.
That’s ridiculous. It’s time to correct the record:
Bernie’s universal health care plan would make access to health care a right for every single American — and no state government would ever be allowed to stop it.
Why are these attacks on Bernie happening now? Because several new polls in the last few days have proven that the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is up for grabs in Iowa and New Hampshire.
If the Clinton campaign manages to win by scaring voters into believing that Bernie’s plan would hurt them, not only would it be bad for Bernie, it would be a crushing blow to the movement for universal health care and the ability of Democrats to advocate for it in the future.
Here’s why the attacks by the Clinton campaign are so dangerous:
Regardless of who wins the presidential primary, Democrats need to hold on to the White House in 2016. This is something that all Democrats agree on because we all know just how much is at stake in this election.
In a contested primary, it makes sense for the candidates to draw contrasts with their opponents on the issues. But there is simply no excuse for the Clinton campaign’s dishonesty about Bernie Sanders’s policies — the same kinds of lies we would expect to hear from Republicans in a general election.
Every single second the Clinton campaign continues engaging in false attacks, they make it more and more difficult to bring the party together and achieve victory for our nominee — whomever that might be — in November.
We need to put an end to this kind of dishonesty in the Democratic presidential primary — and the best way to do it is to prove that campaigns that engage in it don’t win.
Thanks for getting Bernie’s back at this critical moment in the campaign.
– Charles
Charles Chamberlain, Executive Director
Democracy for America
