Tr🍩ll Smear #8: “Bernie is a grifter who ‘stole’ and misused his supporters’ money, etc.”

This is a particularly egregious attack because it reeks so openly of anti-semitism.

The main attack line here is that Bernie “played” his supporters, treated them as suckers, kept his campaign going longer than he should have, just so he could fleece his unwitting, starry-eyed idealistic supporters for more of their $27 donations. This is disgusting.

Roy Delfino particularly takes aim at Bernie for his supposed mendacity.

“Let me remind you that Bernie has a history of funneling campaign money to his wife, and that Tad Devine was cashing in to the tune of $810,000 a month. Does dragging a lost cause on for four pointless months, using false promises of victory to extract money from “struggling students”, “seniors on Social Security” and “workers earning starvation wages”, seem like something an honest man would do?”

As I said, you can almost smell the anti-semitism in this one. Anyway — let’s debunk this piece of garbage as follows:

• Bernie has a history of funneling campaign money to his wife.

Lets see what the truth is, from that same article:

in 2005, Vermont Republicans accused Sanders of having steered campaign contracts to members of his family during his 2002 and 2004 House campaigns. According to a 2006 article in Roll Call, Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane Sanders, and stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, were paid $95,000 for ad-buy placement, database administration, and miscellaneous consulting services during those campaigns. Such arrangements are legal, but … when it became an issue in 2006, Jane Sanders stopped taking commissions.

Full disclosure: I had a friend who ran for Senate in 1990, and he “funneled” money to me in return for writing press releases and handling his PR. So string me up as well.

• Tad Devine was cashing in to the tune of $810,000 a month

When Delfino says “Tad Devine” he really means “Devine, Mulvey, Longabaugh Inc.” (that is what is on the FEC records). DML is a media production and design house. They were the ones who produced Bernie’s amazing commercials, including the famous “America” campaign ad, which became so famous it even has its own Wikipedia page. Indeed, a study showed that the commercial that Tad Devine‘s company produced “moved people the most” and “made viewers feel happiest” according to a study by Vanderbilt U.

Best of all, according to an email published by WikiLeaks, the America ad made Jennifer Palmieri, Hillary Clinton’s Communications Director, break down and cry. She then watched it repeatedly, and each time it gave her “chills”.

Hell, I’d say that makes Devine’s company worth the money all by itself.

https://youtu.be/2nwRiuh1Cug