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Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
https://amp.detroitnews.com/amp/899333002
Craig Mauger, a watchdog with the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, has noted that spending could break the record $79 million in 2006's campaign.

The increasingly combative Democratic primary was punctuated Thursday by El-Sayed's explosive tweet alleging "money laundering" by Whitmer, which he quickly back tracked by noting she'd done nothing illegal.

El-Sayed battled accusations of hypocrisy Friday morning when The Detroit News first highlighted new state reports showing he appeared to benefit from a contribution shift the Whitmer campaign alleged could be illegal instead.

Four separate donors who had already given El-Sayed's campaign $6,800 contributions, the maximum allowed by law, this week gave a combined $80,000 to a PAC run by state Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, D-Dearborn.
I prefer to keep threads concise.

"Progressive" candidate accused his "centrist" opponent of illegality. Now progressive candidate finds himself in potential hot water over campaign-finance laws and potentially illegal donations from a Super PAC.
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
This same progressive darling has also been implying that Hillary lost because she just wasn't progressive enough for those crypto-socialists who voted for Trump because economic anxiety, honest:
First of all, Bernie Sanders won his primary in Michigan. Then Hillary Clinton lost the general. All that shows is that our voters are interested in progressives and are done with the centrist moderate Democrat. The economic downturn hit Michigan hard—almost everyone here has the experience of having gone without health care—or knows someone who did—because they lost their job in an economy that is dominated by big corporations. So when I sit down and say, we have start building a small-business-oriented economy; we have to fight for a $15-dollar minimum wage; we've got to secure everybody's access to single-payer health care—that speaks to the visceral lived experience of people in our state.

The notion that we're aligned on a left-right divide, and that people in Michigan are in the middle, is just ridiculous. It's not the law of averages. Ideas like Medicare for All—if you sit down and have conversations with people—there's engagement and understanding. Even if you talk to people who voted for Trump
 
Oct 28, 2017
2,180
England


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Looking forward to seeing how his campaign spins this!

EDIT:

To be clear, I don't believe that @gretchenwhitmer or Build a Better Michigan have done anything illegal - nor did I intend that, or am I accusing them of it.

But they used a legal loophole to subvert transparency. Over $550,000 used to sway voters in this race are untraceable.

Legal doesn't mean right. And this money - a la Citizens United - is what corrupts our democracy.

It's why I don't take corporate money.
 

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
Actually still support him after reading the article.

I like his message more and the financing thing doesn't bother me.
 

Jabronium

Member
Oct 26, 2017
295
Got called out for an emergency work trip next week so going to miss the primary. Very interested in the outcome .
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
Actually still support him after reading the article.

I like his message more and the financing thing doesn't bother me.
You don't mind the hypocrisy of falsely accusing an opponent of wrongdoing and then being caught doing something potentially worse and actually illegal?
 

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
I like how your tagline and the content of the article you quote have nothing in common.

Yeah my eyeballs rolled out of their sockets reading that post.

You don't mind the hypocrisy of falsely accusing an opponent of wrongdoing and then being caught doing something potentially worse and actually illegal?

A 61k donation is not going to make me lose sleep with all the bullshit going on in the state.
 

PhoenixDark

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,089
White House
Let me guess: when he loses on Tuesday he will refuse to endorse Whitmer and spend the next few months sniping at her. Not sure who I'm going to vote for but it won't be him.
 

Powdered Egg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
17,070
I don't care and he'd still have my vote if I were a MI citizen. Let the boy cook and if he can't vote him out.
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
I like how your tagline and the content of the article you quote have nothing in common.

Yeah my eyeballs rolled out of their sockets reading that post.
Kindly examine the juxtaposition of these two sentences: "Then Hillary Clinton lost the general. All that shows is that our voters are interested in progressives and are done with the centrist moderate Democrat."

Saying "All [Hillary's loss] shows is that our voters are interested in progressives" implies a causal connection between Hillary's loss and her supposedly not being progressive.

Such a claim contradicts reality because Hillary ran a progressive campaign. She lost because of voter suppression, especially in heavily black areas of Michigan, foreign interference, the FBI director interfering, etc. Even then, she lost by an infinitesimal margin. El Sayed cites none of those factors and instead focuses on her ideology... and he gets that wrong.

Later, he says, "Even if you talk to Trump voters" they'll be in favor of Medicare for All. Again, he builds upon his previous comments to imply that Hillary and the Democrats could've reached these voters with progressive policy. This assertion can be easily disproved by all the studies that have shown that Trump voters chose him based on racism and white (supremacist) identity, not because Hillary failed to offer them Medicare for All. In fact, they rejected the progressive policies she proposed in favor of supporting a bigot.

So yes, I resent his slandering the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and Gretchen Whitmer by suggesting they might not be progressive enough.

Rather curious how these types always seem to throw the "centrist, corporatist, shady" claims at women, isn't it? Almost as though they mean something else.
 

daegan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,899
so the decision is now between someone who has $500k that nobody will say where it came from (because they don't have to) and someone who has $60k that may violate a finance law, but whose sources are known

not a good look for either one
 
Oct 27, 2017
371
Cmon I wanted to support Calley in the primary to stick it to Schuette but now I have to vote Gretchen because of all this 2016 baloney. Whatever happens, focus on the GOP after Tuesday please
 

JustinP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,343
First time I heard of this guy was when my grandmother forwarded me some chain email about him being pro muslim brotherhood "Obama #2" groomed by soros.
 

Copper

Banned
Nov 13, 2017
666
User warned: inflammatory accusations
Wait, what do you mean? Maybe I'm missing it, but I can't figure it out

You don't see the irony of a muslim dude accused of being sexist (with no receipt), and not noticing how tone-deaf is accusing a muslim of sexism is and how it reek of prejudice (especially with 0 receipts)?

Not only that, but the title and the links the OP is posting are deceptive at best, and downright toxic and racist at worst.

[mod edit: reverted post to pre-edit version for full context]
 
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Oct 31, 2017
570
Its 80 grand, who gives a fuck. I hope he wins and enacts his policy agenda. He's also right that accepting corporate donations is legalized corruption and is a stain on democracy.
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
Its 80 grand, who gives a fuck. I hope he wins and enacts his policy agenda. He's also right that accepting corporate donations is legalized corruption and is a stain on democracy.
So it's okay for him to hurl a false accusation at his opponent that she may not be able to shake fully because what she allegedly did should be illegal, in your opinion, but what he allegedly did is illegal but is only small potatoes.

What moral consistency.
 

Fruit&Nut

Using an alt account to circumvent a ban
Banned
Mar 16, 2018
520
User warned: inflammatory accusations
Identify one. Put up or shut up.

If anything, I'm saying he's like Bernard, who used similar claims against a female opponent, as I recall.

Honestly, you seem a bit unhinged.

OP is disingenuous. Doesn't seem like much.

Fully support this guy and his policies. No offense but attacking a Muslim politician like this really is bad look on you. And he is right, we do need progressive policies.

El Sayed clarified exactly what he meant. Your hysteria is very suspect.
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729

Deleted member 14459

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,874
What a shitshow... Whitmer's use of the 527 is not a good look at the state of politics either. Fighting against corporate donations should be at the core of dem politics going forward...

I don't know how it relates to the OP, but El-Sayed's platform is progressive, it is laughable to try to imply otherwise. To imply that his corporatist critique is a strategy geared towards women by leftist candidates is based on nothing, as far as I have seen this critique is used by candidates who try to fight corporate interference and has been used by AOC, Salazar and Nixon against their opponents. They have something in common with El Sayed and it ain't gender
 
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Fruit&Nut

Using an alt account to circumvent a ban
Banned
Mar 16, 2018
520
Um... I have a receipt for the claim about Bernard.

Nearly the same damn strategy.

And I'm still waiting to hear the Islamophobic dog whistle in saying that men in general have a problem with women running for office and try to slander them, or in pointing out that El Sayed falsely accused Whitmer and then retracted on his own damn Twitter account.

He clarified exactly what he meant on twitter. Your hysteria is very suspect and very bizarre.

Saying he is not a progressive like you did on your OP is just flat out ignorant. You don't seem like you know what you are talking about.
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
He clarified exactly what he meant on twitter. Your hysteria is very suspect and very bizarre.

Saying he is not a progressive like you did on your OP is just flat out ignorant. You don't seem like you know what you are talking about.
You can't unring the bell. He knows that. Any politician knows that.

And please read my posts more closely. I said "progressive" because a lot of ostensibly liberal men, politicians or otherwise, seem to have problems with female candidates. It had nothing to do with his economic positions, most of which I agree with, besides single payer. (I prefer a public option, cost controls, and increased subsidies.)
 

daegan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,899
I hope he wins and enacts his policy agenda.

To me this is the toughest part of voting for any statewide office when the state legislature is gerrymandered to hell and back. This shit is not getting done. Whereas a GOP governor can see a signature piece of anti-democratic legislation defeated at the ballot box only to be hammered through in a way that makes it invincible to referendum (bill in question: the right for him to appoint "emergency managers" to run the entire government of cities in financial crisis above the heads of all their elected officials) due to their chokehold on the state legislature.

It didn't get a lot of attention, but El-Sayed was asked on twitter if he'd accept an offer of Lt Gov on a Whitmer ticket; he said no, but that he would do everything in his power to ensure a Dem governor. That's good enough for me and no matter how shit gets right now the attitude everyone needs to have. Well, unless Shri somehow wins lol
 
Oct 31, 2017
570
So it's okay for him to hurl a false accusation at his opponent that she may not be able to shake fully because what she allegedly did should be illegal, in your opinion, but what he allegedly did is illegal but is only small potatoes.

What moral consistency.
Yes exactly. Now if he was taking money from private prisons while preaching about criminal justice reform that would be a problem, but if it's individual donors who also care about enacting the policies he champions, then more power to him.
 

Deleted member 14459

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
1,874
El-Sayed's tweet is a continuation of his 'dark money' critique of Whitmer... which Truth Squad rates as "mostly accurate"... but yeah he should have used that term not 'money laundering' ..

Build a Better Michigan is not in itself a dark-money group because it is required under federal law to disclose its finances. Yet its recent public disclosures show it has taken money from at least two organizations whose donors remain veiled.

El-Sayed has criticized Build a Better Michigan for "creating an open door" for taking "corporate dark money," though it can't be determined whether donors to Progressive Advocacy Trust or the Philip A. Hart Democratic Club include corporations. Build a Better Michigan did disclose receiving donations from labor groups, corporations and individuals.

A 527 that accepts money from a donor that won't disclose its funding is less transparent and raises questions about who might, through their checkbooks, be influencing the election ads we see on TV.

Truth Squad now boosts El-Sayed's claim to mostly accurate.

https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-t...-rival-gretchen-whitmer-opens-door-dark-money
 
OP
OP
Autodidact

Autodidact

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,729
El-Sayed's tweet is a continuation of his 'dark money' critique of Whitmer... which Truth Squad rates as "mostly accurate"... but yeah he should have used that term not 'money laundering' ..
That's the thing. "Dark money" would've been a more accurate, if still loaded, criticism. "Money laundering" conjures very specific images and is actually a crime. Whether he chose that term deliberately, I know not, but the effect is the same: it implies illegality on Whitmer's part where technically none exists. You can't shake those accusations easily.

Is the dark money shady? Sure. But so is what El Sayed allegedly did, and what's more, what he did is actually illegal. No one's cheerleading Gretchen Whitmer's actions. It's the hypocrisy.