Focus: Sanders's chief strategist Tad Devine - Dec 3, 2015

I checked the Twitter account of Tad Devine, the chief strategist of Bernie Sanders. I was surprised by some of his tweets. 

On Dec 2 he tweets a Washington Post article which talks about the future of the Democratic Party without delving into the substance of the crucial issues affecting society. No distinction between the the Clinton and Sanders plans. Just a reference to the "progressive economic agenda that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have begun to talk about in their campaigns.” Why Sanders’s chief political strategist called attention to this article?

He Tweets: "Iowa (IA) Poll - November 25, 2015 - Clinton Leads Iowa Dem Caucus, | Quinnipiac University Connecticut https://t.co/jed8huwkRK”. In his tweet, Devine does not mention 42 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the same poll, compared with 51 percent for Clinton. Furthermore the poll shows that 47 percent of Democrats say Sanders can best handle the economy, while 42 percent say Clinton is best on this issue. 

On Nov 7 he retweeted: "Clinton proposes changing marijuana from a Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 drug so researchers can study impact of medical marijuana.” Why he did not reply that changing marijuana from a Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 is weak proposal compared to Bernie Sanders' support for repealing federal prohibition. Quoting Sanders, marijuana must be legalized “if we are serious about criminal justice reform and preventing many thousands of lives from being impacted because of criminal convictions for marijuana possession."

On Nov 15 he tweeted a New York Time article: As Mayor, Bernie Sanders Was More Pragmatist Than Socialist. I am not going to comment on this because I have no knowledge of Sanders mayorship. Maybe Sanders should take a look at it to see if it is truthful.

I checked the political work of Tad Devine on Wikipedia. He worked for Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis in the field of delegate tracking and selection in their nomination campaigns. Later he served as a senior strategist to the campaigns of Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Without entering into the merits of each presidential candidate, it is a long string of failed campaigns. Regarding the 2008 Democratic presidential primary he was noncommittal about Obama and Clinton supporting neither candidate.

Devine also advised foreign leaders which I will not mention except Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in 2002. Protesters, angry for his gas policy, sparked a rebellion which forced him to flee to the U.S. Reportedly more than 60 people died and hundreds were injured as the military cracked down on opposition protests. De Lozada was the architect of the energy sector privatization and an unpopular income tax recommended by the IMF. To date Devine defends the former Bolivian President.

To contact Bartolo email peaceloverblog[at]yahoo[dot]com (replacing [at] with @, [dot] with .)