\5. ... and laughs off everything she doesn't want to talk about in general 1
Look at the reddit post cited as evidence: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/42egnx/hillary_laughs_off_everything_she_doesnt_want_to/ It gives a list of four items.
One of the questions she laughed off was Christie’s claim that she could be prosecuted for using her personal email. Christie’s wrong. She can’t. What she did was legal. Why not laugh?
She also laughed off an interviewer’s question about the email scandal (this is the third item in the list). Ok, sure, so what if she did? Sanders himself said “we’re sick of hearing about your emails.” He knows it’s a smear campaign. Laughing it off wasn’t prudent or politically the smartest thing to do, given how big the issue has become, but why should that political miscalculation tarnish our view of her?
The second question she ‘laughed off’ concerned her health. Here’s what the linked article says:
The question drew laughter from the crowd of roughly 450 at a campaign event in Clinton, Iowa, and an eye roll from Clinton. "Oh my. Well, you know, they say nearly anything about me. I've got to tell you," Clinton, replied with a smile, referring to Fox News. "There are several themes they keep beating the drums on." Clinton, 68, then addressed her health. "I'll match my endurance against anybody," she said to loud applause. "And last spring, my doctor put out a letter and you know, said what great health."
I don’t see the problem. Do you?
As for laughing off a question about her Goldman Sachs speeches, yeah, I’d like to see those, too. But laughing off a question when she’s shaking hands during a meet-and-greet? Again, I may be in the minority, but I don’t see how that’s so utterly dreadful. Since I’ve already addressed whether she’s a shill for finance (tl;dr: she isn’t), I’ll pass over that point. See the very top of this post, the dailykos article.
(By the way, my resposn to \5. also covers the sixth item in the bullet-pointed list, viz. ... including when she was asked by a reporter whether she would release the transcript from her paid speeches at Goldman Sachs 1)
\7. Offered a Vermont newspapers off the record anti-Sanders tips 1 2
She didn’t. A super PAC connected to her did. Was she coordinating with them? Maybe. But that sounds like basic politics to me. Look, I like Sanders’ style. I like that he isn’t running a dirty campaign. I love that he doesn’t have a PAC. Contacting a newspaper and offering to help attack an opponent, again, just sounds like basic politics to me. I don’t think this makes her an irredeemable slimebag.
\ 8. Lies about her opponent's health care program 1
The linked article does insinuate that she lied, but that claim is never substantiated. I want Medicare for All. But you know what? Sanders’ single-payer plan has received criticism from people who know what they’re talking about, namely Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman:
http://www.vox.com/2016/1/17/10784528/bernie-sanders-single-payer-health-care http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/weakened-at-bernies/
If you think Klein’s just a party insider or that Krugman’s cynical and not progressive enough, fine. But if all Clinton did is ask where the money will come from, she’s asking a reasonable question that others have asked. Here’s what Krugman – who has been ahead of the curve on a lot of budgetary/economic issues (notably Ryan’s Orwellianly named “Plan for Prosperity”)-- said about the Sanders plan:
To be harsh but accurate: the Sanders health plan looks a little bit like a standard Republican tax-cut plan, which relies on fantasies about huge supply-side effects to make the numbers supposedly add up. Only a little bit: after all, this is a plan seeking to provide health care, not lavish windfalls on the rich — and single-payer really does save money, whereas there’s no evidence that tax cuts deliver growth. Still, it’s not the kind of brave truth-telling the Sanders campaign pitch might have led you to expect. And look: if the political theory behind supporting Sanders is that the American people will vote for radical change if you’re honest about what’s involved, the campaign’s evident unwillingness to fully confront the issues, its reliance on magic asterisks, very much weakens that claim.
\9. Is said, by an ex Wall Street trader with 20 years of experience, to have turned the Democratic Party "from a party against Wall Street to a party of Wall Street" 1
The linked article is about ‘the Clintons.’ But what it’s really about is Bill Clinton’s administration. Yeah, Hillary Clinton was on board at the time, but it wasn’t her administration.
This isn’t 1993 anymore. Clinton isn’t talking about “ending welfare as we know it,” as her husband did. Since the 90s half the country changed their minds about gay marriage. Clinton isn’t as progressive as I want, but this isn’t a charge she should have to answer for, and I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to change her mind.
\10. Sends her daughter to lie about her opponent's health care program 1
From the article:
Hitting the campaign trail on her mother’s behalf, Chelsea Clinton attacked Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ universal health care plan.
"Sen. Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance," Clinton said in New Hampshire Jan. 12. "I don't want to empower Republican governors to take away Medicaid, to take away health insurance for low-income and middle-income working Americans. And I think very much that's what Sen. Sanders' plan would do."
…
Given that Sanders’ proposed plan specifically calls health insurance an entitlement for all, we found that this is a mischaracterization at best.
Clinton has a point that enacting the law would disrupt health insurance as we know it, said Gerald Friedman, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who has analyzed similar proposals.
The bill, the American Health Security Act of 2013, specifically strips insurance benefits from the Affordable Care Act, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare and Medicaid. The bill also bans the sale of private health insurance that duplicates benefits provided by the government program.
And she is also right that states would be the primary administrators of the system. The bill calls it a "state-based American Health Security Program." However, the assertion that it would empower Republican governors to take away individual’s health insurance is misleading.
So, yeah, Chelsea Clinton’s daughter was wrong, but that doesn’t mean Clinton ‘sent her to lie.’
\11. ... and to speak to NYC fundraisers hosted by Wall Street bankers, where attendees can "pay $2700 for a picture" with her 1
Okay, so Chelsea went to an expensive Wall St. Fundraiser. I don’t like Wall St. either. But Obama did stuff like this too. Again, he signed Dodd-Frank.
\12. Voted for the invasion of Iraq 1
True. This isn’t okay. It was a lapse in judgment. I’m wary of her hawkishness.
\13. Voted for the PATRIOT Act 1
True. Also not okay. A lapse in judgment.
\14. Voted for the 2006 reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act 1
True. Again, not okay.
\15. Questions her older opponent's health while she was hospitalized for a concussion and a blood clot 3 years ago 1
The link, from 2012, doesn’t show that Clinton questioned sanders’ health. And guess what? She never did. David Brock, who slithers and leaves a trail, was the one who requested his records: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/clinton-surrogate-to-demand-sanders-release-medical-records-217880
\16. Voted for the 2001 Bankruptcy Legislation which would have made it harder for struggling Americans to declare bankruptcy, after expressing her opposition to the bill when she was First Lady 1
The dailykos pieces that I linked at the top of my post covers this. She worked to improve the bill in 2001, clearly wasn’t satisfied with it, and opposed it, when it was stripped protections and provisions, in 2005.
\17. Believed that marriage was defined as between a man and woman and reversed her position only in 2013 when it became politically convenient 1
True. Not great. Obama voiced public support only in 2012, by the way.