Hillary Clinton appears to suggest Russians are 'grooming' Tulsi Gabbard for third-party run

[brandonbull]

No one here has tried to discount what Van Jones said.

That's not the point, and actually fits in what is happening here.

The entire alt-right echo-sphere has promoted her, even though her entire platform (outside of isolationism) is contrary to theirs.

At the same time, Russian bots have promoted her as well.

There is no rational reason for this coordinated effort other than trying to create a third party candidate by making her believe she has bipartisan support and her support is higher than it actually is, thus a viable third party candidate.

You keep thinking this Van Jones thing debunks this. No, it reinforces it. It makes her a prime target for the right-wing and Russians to use to disrupt the election and tip it in their favor.

Was it these "Russian bots" or some other ones?

An election hacked — by Democrats

It seems like a blatant case of election trolling: a deceptive stealth campaign using social media and bots to discredit one candidate and even siphon votes from him to a randomly chosen third-part…

nypost.com

 

[Victorian Gray]

Support for Hillary for what? What exactly does she need support for? Her non presidential run?

I hear that the primaries for that are tougher than when actually running.

 

[Victorian Gray]

I thought Hillary's comments were brought to us by a SNL parody. The same person that paid for Russian disinformation during the 2016 elections is the one that accuses others of working with or being an asset of the Russians. Now the morons on The View are parroting the Tulsi is a Russian asset crap. The Dems want Warren to run against Trump and are putting out the nonsense of "If Tulsi runs as a third-party candidate, then she is a Russian asset". The DNC is effectively calling anyone that runs as a third-party candidate a Russian asset. I guess we should give them credit for recognizing that the field of Democrat candidates is a train wreck and perceive that a third-party candidate will hurt them more. The DNC also knows that moderate Dems want to split off from the current pool of radicals and using the Russian boogeyman is a way to plug the leaks in that sinking ship and stop any defections.

Enlightenment provided by, wait for it, the Ministry of Culture and Public Enlightenment.

 

[ivwshane]

I thought Hillary's comments were brought to us by a SNL parody. The same person that paid for Russian disinformation during the 2016 elections is the one that accuses others of working with or being an asset of the Russians. Now the morons on The View are parroting the Tulsi is a Russian asset crap. The Dems want Warren to run against Trump and are putting out the nonsense of "If Tulsi runs as a third-party candidate, then she is a Russian asset". The DNC is effectively calling anyone that runs as a third-party candidate a Russian asset. I guess we should give them credit for recognizing that the field of Democrat candidates is a train wreck and perceive that a third-party candidate will hurt them more. The DNC also knows that moderate Dems want to split off from the current pool of radicals and using the Russian boogeyman is a way to plug the leaks in that sinking ship and stop any defections.

Ah yes, the good ol’, “I’m not a Russian stooge you are a Russian stooge” tactic.

Why comment on reality when you can make up your own reality!

 

[cirrrocco]

Support for Hillary for what? What exactly does she need support for? Her non presidential run?

Support for what Tulsi said in her response to HC. I thought we were talking about that in this thread.

A organization funded by the USG and run a Hillary Crony tells the NYT and other news orgs that Russian bots are working for TG, implying that she is bought for. Like TG said the rot in the democratic party has to be cauterized

Clinton has supported and pushed for the last seven US foreign interventions . She is the queen of warmongering and main street non backer.

 

[fskimospy]

Yeah keep on lying about it. Buy into an Alex Jones level evidence free conspiracy theory.

Dumbass statement 577 on your part.

_________

You’re arguing that Russian support for Gabbard is a conspiracy theory? You can go watch the Russian state media segments yourself.

 

[fskimospy]

Support for what Tulsi said in her response to HC. I thought we were talking about that in this thread.

A organization funded by the USG and run a Hillary Crony tells the NYT and other news orgs that Russian bots are working for TG, implying that she is bought for. Like TG said the rot in the democratic party has to be cauterized

That’s not implying she is bought, it’s simply stating the fact that the Russian government appears to be promoting her. If you think the Russians are doing that out of a genuine desire to help the United States I have a bridge to sell you.

It’s frankly weird that acknowledging reality is now some sort of evidence of corruption or whatever.

 

[VRAMdemon]

The phrase "antiwar" and "wants peace" needs a mountain-sized grain of salt :

As for Gabbard's own "antiwar" credentials on Syria, she isn't. She advocated the US pulling out of Syria so that Assad and Russia could continue their one-sided slaughter of the Syrian population. She’s not opposed to war; she’s opposed to U.S. involvement in some wars - even if that means doing nothing to help civilians who are being slaughtered by war criminals. Expressed support for increasing the use of drone strikes. And like Trump, she believes in putting “America first,” regardless of the global consequences.

Gabbard parroted the Russian propaganda lines that Assad didn't use chemical weapons, and the "white hat" aid workers were actually terrorists. In a 2016 interview, Gabbard told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that “when it comes to the war against terrorists, I’m a hawk.”

In addition to direct military involvement, the Kremlin has also backed the Assad regime by selling and delivering arms, withholding humanitarian aid from civilians, blocking international efforts to sanction Assad for crimes against humanity, and perhaps most influentially, carrying out a propaganda blitz aimed at changing the way the world sees the conflict in Syria.

She followed up the next day with a tweet condemning President Obama and praising Putin: “Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. Obama won’t bomb them in Syria. Putin did.”

Also the fact that Gabbard took money from the top 5 defense contractors and did not return it.
Gabbard has accepted hefty donations from arms dealers like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, both of which ranked among the congresswoman’s top donors in the 2016 cycle. The defense industry was her third-largest source of funding during the same cycle, accounting for nearly 14 percent of total contributions to her campaign. In May 2017, Gabbard announced on her website that she had recently stopped accepting money from several industries, including the defense sector - but by that point, she had already pocketed over $115,000 from arms dealers in just her first four years in Congress.

‘Anti-War’ Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard Accepted More Than $100,000 From Major Defense Contractors

Hawaii congressional rep Tulsi Gabbard has become a star among progressives for her anti-war stance, but she has not been shy about taking campaign money from the defense industry. Hawaii Democrat ...

www.inquisitr.com

Gabbard served as a military police officer in the Iraq war. She's still in the NG and will cheerfully remind folks of her service record when it suits her. Gabbard is not anti-war. She’s a nationalist, - opportunist hiding behind a mask of anti-interventionism.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Some of you are pissing in the wind. Many people on the right and the left will not believe how the Russians did and continue to attempt to subvert and interfere with our system. They clearly are and there is fairly good evidence that they are indeed supporting Gabbard as part of that subversion campaign, perhaps with hopes of pushing her into an independent run.

Many people are confusedly thinking the definition of "agent", and "asset"

Marina Butina was a Russian agent. Her job as an agent was to develop assets. Those in the NRA who she befriended (not only by sleeping with, but also by other means) were used to get her access to GOP lawmakers in high positions and to have that marginal impact on narratives. The NRA officials who did that, and who visited Russia in 2015, were not Russian agents like she was. They were assets.

Russia's program of trying to develop assets in the United States, their program of attempting as much as possible to fuck up our democracy, to undermine confidence in it and in all of our country's institutions, is established fact at this point.

The evidence that they are taking advantage of the big debate stage and supporting a fringe candidate who will say things close to what they want said, trying to keep her with as big a megaphone as possible for as long as possible seems likely. That is indirectly an asset. I would like to see her condemn in the most harsh terms ANY Russian support and meddling, but she comes out with a statement along the lines of The Russians? I can't control what they do or say". Sounds a little to familiar to someone else...

 

[Ichinisan]

Why shouldn’t a Democrat candidate try to appeal to Republican voters? Dogmatic purity tests are not how you win national elections. Gabbard is on the DNC sh!tlist because of her prior support for Bernie and take down of Harris, also known as Hillary 2.0.

Hillary certainly raised Tulsi’s profile with her bizarre accusations. Does that make her a stooge too?

Indeed. If it comes to Trump VS Dem candidate VS independent Tulsi, I'm voting Tulsi.

Ideally it would be (R)Trump vs (D)Tulsi. I'd vote Tulsi.

 

[soundforbjt]

Indeed. If it comes to Trump VS Dem candidate VS independent Tulsi, I'm voting Tulsi.

Ideally it would be (R)Trump vs (D)Tulsi. I'd vote Tulsi.

Trump appreciates your support.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Indeed. If it comes to Trump VS Dem candidate VS independent Tulsi, I'm voting Tulsi.

Ideally it would be (R)Trump vs (D)Tulsi. I'd vote Tulsi.

Almost every conservative, Independent, Libertarian, Republican and even some Democrats have been labeled a "Russian!!" or a "Russian asset" in this forum over the last 3 years, it's nothing new. While it used to be lackeys, lickspittles and losers doing the labeling, now it's Hillary. Same old song.

 

[soundforbjt]

Almost every conservative, Independent, Libertarian, Republican and even some Democrats have been labeled a "Russian!!" or a "Russian asset" in this forum over the last 3 years, it's nothing new. While it used to be lackeys, lickspittles and losers doing the labeling, now it's Hillary. Same old song.

Yes, the Right and the President has never accused Dems of all being for open borders, socialists, anti-capitalists, etc.

 

[Amused]

Was it these "Russian bots" or some other ones?

An election hacked — by Democrats

It seems like a blatant case of election trolling: a deceptive stealth campaign using social media and bots to discredit one candidate and even siphon votes from him to a randomly chosen third-part…

nypost.com

First, whataboutism.

Second, why does one mean the other can't be happening too?

This is not addressing the subject, this is changing the subject.

Question for you:

Did (and are) Russian bots heavily promoting Gabbard?

Yes. Demonstrably so.

So why the need to change the subject?

 

[Jhhnn]

Why shouldn’t a Democrat candidate try to appeal to Republican voters? Dogmatic purity tests are not how you win national elections. Gabbard is on the DNC sh!tlist because of her prior support for Bernie and take down of Harris, also known as Hillary 2.0.

Hillary certainly raised Tulsi’s profile with her bizarre accusations. Does that make her a stooge too?

That's not the point & you know it. The point is that she's being advanced by insincere people intent on splintering the Dems. If they can convince her to run third party they will achieve their goal

 

[Amused]

If you really think that Russian bots are why Hillary lost the electoral college then your slavish pushing of Hillary's Alex Jones level conspiracy theory is sorry as AF on the level of trying force others carry a sack of human feces without any gloves.

________

Irrelevant. For some reason, you cannot bring yourself to just include the Russian social media influence here.

Why? The fact that Russian Social media bots had a heavy influence in the 2016 election is well established. So much so our own government and intelligence agencies raised an alarm.

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent Elections | Federal Bureau of Investigation

Statement by Assistant Director Bill Priestap, Counterintelligence Division, before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

www.fbi.gov

But yeah, total tin foil hat stuff, right?

Did Russia Affect the 2016 Election? It’s Now Undeniable

In the wake of the Mueller indictment of a Russian troll farm, any attempt to claim that the 2016 election wasn’t affected by Russian meddling is laughable.

www.wired.com

How Russian Twitter Bots Pumped Out Fake News During The 2016 Election

Clint Watts, a former FBI agent, describes a diffuse network of Russian hackers and propagandists conducting a misinformation campaign that didn't stop with the election of President Trump.

www.npr.org

Twitter admits far more Russian bots posted on election than it had disclosed

Company says it removed more than 50,000 accounts and reported them to investigators, marking latest upward revision of figures

www.theguardian.com

How Russia used social media to divide Americans

Russian trolls and bots focused on controversial topics in an effort to stoke political division on an enormous scale – and it hasn’t stopped, experts say

www.theguardian.com

Study suggests Russian social media trolls had impact on 2016 election

For every 25,000 retweets that a known Russian troll account received, Trump's poll numbers jumped 1%.

www.axios.com

A Russian troll factory had a $1.25 million monthly budget to interfere in the 2016 US election

By September 2016, the Internet Research Agency in Russia had a monthly budget of more than $1.25 million to carry out an influence campaign in the US.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Starbuck1975]

That's not the point & you know it. The point is that she's being advanced by insincere people intent on splintering the Dems. If they can convince her to run third party they will achieve their goal

The Democrats are a loose confederation of various tribes, and some will inevitably split off as the party shifts further left. A moderate veteran would have made for a great Republican candidate at one time. I see nothing wrong with a viable third party candidate.

 

[Jaskalas]

The Democrats are a loose confederation of various tribes, and some will inevitably split off as the party shifts further left. A moderate veteran would have made for a great Republican candidate at one time. I see nothing wrong with a viable third party candidate.

There is plenty wrong, with our razor thin election margins and lack of run off elections.

A moderate Democrat would likely siphon off more votes from Democrats and help Trump remain President. That would be your intent, is it not?

 

[ivwshane]

There is plenty wrong, with our razor thin election margins and lack of run off elections.

A moderate Democrat would likely siphon off more votes from Democrats and help Trump remain President. That would be your intent, is it not?

He sees nothing wrong with it because he is a closet trump supporter. He’s got enough shame and smarts to know not to admit to it. However, his history is all about defending trump by way of whataboutism, or more specifically, “both sides”. If you look at his post history prior to the election he laid out what issues were important to him and how he wanted them solved and guess which candidate they lined up with perfectly? Trump.

 

[mect]

This really demonstrates how we need to fix the whole voting process for elections. When you can screw up an election just by getting third party candidates on the ballot, that signifies a problem. Yes, we need campaign finance reform. Yes, we need to do away with the electoral college. But we also need some form of runoff election or something beyond our current single plurality vote system.

 

[brandonbull]

Enlightenment provided by, wait for it, the Ministry of Culture and Public Enlightenment.

That response wasn't great the first time around.

 

[brandonbull]

First, whataboutism.

Second, why does one mean the other can't be happening too?

This is not addressing the subject, this is changing the subject.

Question for you:

Did (and are) Russian bots heavily promoting Gabbard?

Yes. Demonstrably so.

So why the need to change the subject?

What whataboutism? We have more than one documented case of "Russian bots and Russian assets" being false flags perpetrated by the Democrats and their operatives. So to question the Queen of Russian Conspiracies and the sources of some forms of "Russian election interference" is not changing the subject.

 

[compuwiz1]

A Russian asset is anyone with different political leanings than the liberals / socialists. It's getting about as meaningless as BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI!! It's time to find something new, for this is worn out. Good luck in 2020 with that!

 

[Amused]

What whataboutism? We have more than one documented case of "Russian bots and Russian assets" being false flags perpetrated by the Democrats and their operatives. So to question the Queen of Russian Conspiracies and the sources of some forms of "Russian election interference" is not changing the subject.

So it's your claim that there are no Russian bots, and Russian meddling is a Democrat false flag?

Seriously?

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent Elections | Federal Bureau of Investigation

Statement by Assistant Director Bill Priestap, Counterintelligence Division, before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

www.fbi.gov

Plus all the other links I posted.

Yeah... what next? Sandy Hook?

You're accusing others of being Alex Jones and you;re screaming "false flag" at a thing the FBI has verified happened and is ongoing. And you don't see the irony of that?

 

[Ichinisan]

That's not the point & you know it. The point is that she's being advanced by insincere people intent on splintering the Dems. If they can convince her to run third party they will achieve their goal

Stop it. You're barking up the wrong tree.

If Tulsi is the Democratic nominee, Dems beat Trump. Period.