In April, The Economist ran a cover with the words, "What does Hillary stand for?" Essentially, that's why Bernie Sanders will win the Democratic nomination; Democrats no longer want a moderate Republican on issues like war, trade, and Wall Street. After 9/11, when Hillary Clinton's "mistake" helped the Bush administration merge patriotism with counterinsurgency conflicts, Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War. Long before Clinton evolved on gay marriage "just in time" for the presidential elections (the former Secretary of State had the same views on gay marriage as Kim Davis until 2013), Sanders voted against Bill Clinton's Defense of Marriage Act and supported same-sex marriage. Sanders never had to wait until gay marriage was acceptable according to polls and never viewed his Iraq vote as a stepping stone to the presidency.
I'm voting for Bernie in large part because he is able to communicate his thoughts without consulting a team of advisers and without apologizing for his value system. Most importantly, Sanders never had to contradict himself because of political pressure, especially since the Vermont Senator has been on the right side of history.
For example, I analyzed Jeb Bush's bizarre claim that he'd still invade Iraq and subsequent reversal in viewpoint during one of my appearances on Ring of Fire. As for Dick Cheney and his role in destabilizing the Middle East, I explain in another Ring of Fire appearance that Cheney continues to defend his advocacy of the war even though he argued against invading Iraq during the Gulf War.
Unlike Jeb Bush and Dick Cheney, Bernie Sanders recently won the Congressional Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars because he's always defended our nation's veterans. In contrast, George W. Bush charged a veterans groups $100,000 for a speaking appearance.
Similar to Bush and Cheney, Hillary Clinton not only circumvents direct responsibility for a decision with semantics("Like with a cloth or something?"), but she continually "breaks her silence" on a number of key topics. With Bernie Sanders, you know exactly where he stands because he has nothing to hide. He's proud of his progressive value system and he's "catching up to the Clinton fundraising juggernaut" by sticking to his principles. In fact, his ability to fund a grass roots campaign with record donations is a "major problem for Hillary Clinton" according to The Washington Post.
He's a genuine human being, not a politician who craves power, and he once drove a busload of breast cancer patients to Canada so they could buy more affordable medication.
Can you imagine Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton driving a busload of cancer patients to Canada for cheaper medication?
On Keystone XL, Sanders has always been against the pipeline and clearly states it's "totally crazy" for Congress to approve the potential environmental disaster. Bernie Sanders wrote a brilliant piece in The Huffington Post titled The TPP Must Be Defeated, so we know where he stands and he's always been against the TPP. On America's war with ISIS, he's against sending American ground troops back to counterinsurgency wars (he believes others in the region should send their own troops) and says "I'll be damned" if America leads the fight against ISIS.
Sanders doesn't take time deliberating on how his donors might view a certain position, or whether or not his viewpoint is supported by opinion polls. While others would never dare use the words "Democratic-Socialist," he views the term as improving education, healthcare, infrastructure, addressing wealth inequality, and other mainstream American sentiments. Sanders isn't a "Fox News socialist" or "communist," and states clearly in an interview with Bill O'Reilly that, "No, I do not believe government should control everything."
He does however, believe that Theodore Roosevelt would have tackled today's "malefactors of great wealth", which is why Bernie Sanders (unlike Clinton) wants to break up the banks and reinstating a Glass-Steagall Act.
In contrast, Hillary Clinton rarely states a distinct viewpoint on controversial topics, opting instead to keep the media and the public waiting for a carefully crafted response. After Ferguson and Michael Brown's death, a U.S. News & World Report article titled Clinton Breaks Her Silence on Ferguson is a prime example:
Hillary Clinton's silence on the death of an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, wasn't sitting well with the left.
Rev. Al Sharpton had called on her directly to weigh in. MSNBC's Chris Hayes tweeted his own incredulity just this week over Clinton's avoidance of the thorny issue dominating the news.
Yet, the former secretary of state continued to play to her cautious type, choosing against issuing a statement and ignoring questions about the controversy at a recent book signing. She seemed content at avoiding the debate over race, police force and free speech that roiled America in August; that is, until she couldn't anymore.
Clinton's lead in the polls over Sanders is bolstered primarily by an advantage in popularity with "non-white Democrats." However, things could change quickly. Clinton's 3 AM ad (it had a "racist sub-message" according to Harvard's Orlando Patterson) against Barack Obama, her "abysmal" racial justice record according to Daunasia Yancey, and waiting almost three weeks to address Ferguson might affect a great number of votes in the Democratic primaries.
Nobody knows why Clinton waited almost three weeks before addressing Ferguson.
On Keystone XL, Hillary Clinton has dodged questions. According to a Reuters article titled Clinton breaks silence on Keystone pipeline, opposes it, the former Secretary of State needed to take a stand before the debates:
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has long avoided a firm position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, broke her silence on Tuesday and said she opposed it...
Keystone watchers have been eager to learn Clinton's opinion about the pipeline since 2010. Then, as secretary of state, she said she was inclined to approve it. Asked repeatedly about the project since she entered the race in April, she has declined to state her stance.
Considering Clinton hired a major Keystone lobbyist as an advisor and waited to take a specific stance, one can't be certain that she'd veto Keystone legislation as president; like Obama earlier this year.
On the TPP, Clinton has followed the same recipe for remaining silent, even though she supported the trade deal 45 separate times as Secretary of State. In a Guardian piece titled Hillary Clinton ducks questions on trade deal during New Hampshire visit, Clinton refrained from taking a bold stance on TPP:
Democrat frontrunner ends month long media drought but declines to weigh in on 'process issue' of Trans-Pacific Partnership after campaign rally at orchard...
Despite being asked point-blank if she supports giving Obama so-called fast-track authority to negotiate the landmark 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Clinton declined to weigh in on what she called "a process issue".
While possessing the ability to weigh in on various other issues, apparently being Secretary of State was one reason Clinton refrained from taking a stance on TPP.
As for the email issue some people believe is insignificant, a POLITICO article titled Hillary Clinton breaks silence on email controversy highlights Clinton's reaction after the press learned of a private email server:
After two days of silence, Hillary Clinton weighed in on the controversy surrounding her use of a personal email address during her tenure as secretary of state late on Wednesday night, saying she had asked the State Department to release her emails...
The former first lady and senator did not address the swirling questions at a gala in Washington on Tuesday, despite the hopes of some of her allies as the news made headlines and led cable news segments.
This email issue isn't necessarily linked to legal consequences. The saga instead is a prime example of poor judgement that already warranted a Facebook apology.
While Trump unfortunately has no problem spewing out nativist comments, and other Republicans enjoy cramming the airwaves with hyperbole, Bernie Sanders speaks his mind in a sober and rational manner. While Hillary Clinton weighs every option available and once stated, "When I become president I'll answer your question," Sanders enjoys answering questions honestly and in a direct manner. You'll never hear the words, "Bernie breaks his silence" on issues important to the American people. It's his ability to communicate mainstream viewpoints on contentious topics that will enable Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination and the presidency.