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Sanders Pulls Clinton to Wrong Side of 50%, Right Side of Keystone XL!

Could Bernie Sanders be affecting Hillary Clinton’s campaigning? Asked whether she would back the Keystone XL pipeline, the Democratic frontrunner didn’t think she needed to answer that question until January 2017. Today, a slightly less inevitable-looking Clinton changed her mind and said what Bernie Sanders has been saying all along: No to Keystone XL!

But during a campaign stop in Des Moines, the Democratic presidential candidate said she thought the matter “would be decided by now.”

“But it hasn’t been decided and I feel now I’ve got a responsibility,” she said. Clinton went on to say the pipeline is a “distraction” from important work to be done on climate change, and “one that interferes with our ability to move forward with all the other issues — therefore I oppose it” [“Clinton Breaks Silence, Announces Opposition to Keystone XL Pipeline,” Fox News, 2015.09.22].

distraction? You know what I think has been distracting Clinton? This chart:

Real Clear Politics Polling Average, Democratic Presidential candidates, July 28–September 21, 2015.
Real Clear Politics Polling Average, Democratic Presidential candidates, July 28–September 21, 2015.

Since July, Clinton has reflected her support to the wrong side of the 50% line. Sanders voters plus Biden hopers exceed Clinton backers.

Vice-President may or may not have said he opposes Keystone XL. Senator Sanders has opposed Keystone XL since at least the last Preidential election. So hey, if Hillary Clinton wants to adopt more of Bernie Sanders’s positions, I say, rock on!

4 Comments

  1. Paul Seamans 2015-09-22 17:48

    Hillary Clinton coming out against the Keystone XL tells me that she knows an announcement by President Obama denying TransCanada’s permit is imminent. Hooray, hooray! Hooray for Hillary, hooray for Berne. Hooray for all the grassroots people that have fought the KXL for over seven years.

  2. jerry 2015-09-22 19:01

    I think you are correct Mr. Seamans on President Obama putting the hatchet into the head of this black snake. The fact that Bernie has been against it all along puts Hillary in the place she is in today, more of a follower than a leader. Now, what Bernie and all of the rest of the Democrats need to do is make sure that the Kochs do not get reimbursed for this travesty by filing a claim with NAFTA for damages.

  3. mike from iowa 2015-09-23 08:07

    Announcement of convenience for HRC. Still don’t like or trust her. Still won’t vote for her. I believe Mr Seamans is spot on,at least I hope Obama does the needful and wingnuts heads explode right on cue.

  4. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-09-23 22:19

    Mike, I have to agree, especially if Paul is right and she’s gotten a heads-up that the President is going to nix the pipeline. She gets on the right side, erases one reason to pick Bernie instead of her, and dismisses the issue as a “distraction” from the message she wants to get out.

    Paul, that’s a really interesting observation. Let’s revel in that optimism until proven wrong!

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