Policy Discussion: College Tuition

Policy Discussion: College Tuition

49 Comments
I'm starting with this one because I'm most familiar with both candidates platforms. There are pros and cons to both. Before we get into the actual policy, here are both candidates positions from their Issues page: Bernie Sanders Issues - College Tuition Hillary Clinton Issues - College Tuition FYI: I am sticking with the candidates' issue page, because these are their policies in their own words and not from a biased source or publication. Fair? First, I'll point out that both candidates only address tuition, not room and board which can cost close to the actual tuition. The schools we looked into, the cost for room and board ran from 18,000.00 - 28,000.00 a year. Yikes!
Monday Open Thread [4.18.16]

Monday Open Thread [4.18.16]

69 Comments
Brian Beutler at The New Republic says Bernie Sanders Won’t Go Quietly Into the Night and Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, should be grateful that he's sticking around.
The ninth Democratic primary debate revealed almost no new daylight between Clinton and Sanders. It mainly just revealed that Sanders won’t go quietly into the night. Sanders was withering in his criticisms, but the criticisms were almost all familiar. Occam’s razor suggests his strategy is intended to avoid a blowout defeat in New York’s presidential primary on Tuesday, which would probably constitute a fatal blow to his candidacy. And yet despite the campaign’s bitter turn, despite the fact that Sanders’s Hail Mary tack is much more likely to damage Clinton in the general election than to secure the nomination for himself, supporters should maintain a fondness for him as a fundamentally decent rival who has left Clinton, the Democratic Party, and the country better off. At the stage where all kindness has drained out of a campaign, most candidates find themselves tempted to sacrifice their remaining integrity to win. Sanders, by contrast, reminded skeptics why his supporters have been so loyal: With everything on the line, given the opportunity to obfuscate at Clinton’s expense, Sanders held firm even to views that promise to damage him in the state that could seal his fate.
Beutler was talking about Sanders' Israel answer. I am convinced that the answer neither helped him nor hurt him. Those turned off by his answer were likely already with Hillary and those who would like his answer were likely already with Bernie. Like Beutler says, if Bernie tried to go all hawkish and pro-Israel, he would have likely damaged himself with his own supporters.