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Bernie Sanders Campaign Reaps $1.4 Million As Clinton Attacks Backfire

By Reno Berkeley
Published on: 16:52 PST, Jan 13, 2016

Hillary Clinton is probably regretting letting her daughter, Chelsea, attack Bernie Sanders and his position on universal health care. In just one day since the news hit of Clinton’s attack, Sanders has reaped $1.4 million in donations, and his contributions are still coming in.

Clinton is also hemorrhaging supporters, many of whom have switched over to support Bernie’s campaign after learning just how heinous her claims are.

In an earlier story, Inquisitr reported that on Tuesday, Chelsea told a crowd in New Hampshire that Bernie Sander’s universal health proposal would “strip people” of needed coverage. She also claimed that, if implemented, it would give “Democratic permission to Republicans” to essentially throw little children and senior citizens off of their existing medical coverage.

This most recent attack was so vicious and so blatantly untrue that even David Axelrod called her out on it. During an appearance on CNN after President Obama’s State of the Union Address, Axelrod expressed his disappointment to Anderson Cooper.

“I really regret that the Clinton campaign sent Chelsea out to make the attack that she made today…Bernie Sanders is proposing single-payer, universal healthcare. You can hardly say he is trying to take health care away from anyone or retreat from Obamacare. He’s trying to exceed it. And so, it’s not really an honest attack.”

Potential voters are paying close attention to the Clinton campaign’s shenanigans, and they are not happy with what they see. People who had once been willing to “hold their nose and vote for Hillary” if they must have changed their minds. Even Hillary supporters have crossed over and are feelin’ the bern, so to speak, and are now planning to vote for Bernie Sanders.

On Reddit, /u/codgerX expressed a sentiment many Sanders campaign supporters share.

“If Clinton gets the Dem nomination, I’ll be coming here and coordinating with some of you good folks to throw our bloc over to Green and Jill Stein. If Trump/Cruz/Bozo-the-clown wins, so be it.”

Bernie’s supporters feel this way because Clinton has a history of changing opinions for political expediency. The attack against Bernie and universal health care have spurred his supporters to open their wallets to the tune of more than $1.4 million generated from 47,000 individual contributions. Bernie Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs gave a tongue-in-cheek message to Hillary’s campaign.

“Thanks, Team Clinton…We’ve gotten 47,000 contributions. We’re projecting 60,000 donations. Even for our people-powered campaign, this is pretty darn impressive.”

Give or take a few dollars, that’s an average of $29 per donation. If the Sanders campaign does get 60,000 contributions, then Bernie will top $1.7 million, all thanks to Hillary and her gross misinformation about his health care proposal.

For her part, Clinton is standing by her daughter’s attack and went so far as to double down on it.

“You know, I adore my daughter and I know what she was saying. Because if you look at Senator Sanders’ proposals going back nine times in the Congress, that’s exactly what he’s proposed. To take everything we currently know as health care, Medicare, Medicaid, the CHIP Program, private insurance, now of the Affordable Care Act, and roll it together.”

But combining it all is just want Hillary previously supported. On Wednesday the Sanders campaign released a photo of Bernie and Hillary together, with the then-First Lady’s note thanking him for his commitment to universal health care.

David Axelrod is not alone in his criticism of the gross mischaracterization of Bernie’s health care proposals. The National Nurses United accused her of purposefully distorting the facts. And Democracy for America called the attack against the Sanders campaign “bald-faced lies.”

DFA’s executive director Charles Chamberlain didn’t mince words.

“While there is room for candidates in the 2016 race to draw contrasts on the issues, the bald-faced lies about Bernie Sanders’s strong record against gun violence and the right-wing attacks on his support for single-payer health care coming from the Clinton campaign have no place in a Democratic primary.”

Chamberlain also called Hillary out for potentially causing the Democrats to lose the White House.

“…the goal of Democrats holding on to the White House in 2016 is being made more difficult every second the Clinton campaign continues to distort the facts on Bernie Sanders’ strong record against gun violence and attack a core progressive idea like universal health care.”

Chamberlain’s statement reflects the urgency associated with the 2016 primaries because many Bernie Sanders supporters will never vote for Hillary. So it is beneficial for her and for all Democrats to stop smearing Bernie’s campaign proposals on universal health care and gun control.

In addition to raising a huge amount of money in just one day, Bernie’s campaign has received more endorsements. The Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI), MoveOn.org, and Political People Blog have all thrown their support behind the man who believes universal health care is a right.

As the Clinton campaign falters, Bernie Sanders is gaining momentum. Celebrity and activist Mark Ruffalo of The Avengers fame is headed to Iowa to stump for the Sanders campaign. No doubt, he’ll give potential voters the truth about Bernie’s universal health care proposal.

Watch Hillary circa 2007 discuss why universal health care in the United States is important. It’s a similar message to one Bernie Sanders has been saying for decades.

[Photo: Adam Bettcher/Getty]

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