Team Hillary Conspired to Label Bernie ‘Sexist’

Hillary Clinton’s campaign discussed how to use opposition research to paint Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as a “sexist” with “extreme views on women” during the Democratic primary season, according to the latest WikiLeaks dump Friday.

Among the 2,050 emails tied to John Podesta, Clinton campaign chair, was a chain in which Democratic political consultant Mandy Grunwald detailed plans for how to smear Sanders as a “sexist.” Grunwald emailed in response to a thread seemingly begun by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. In the thread, Grunwald included some “possible negatives” that the campaign could use in attacking Clinton’s then-primary opponent.

“Bernie Sanders says he supports women’s rights, but has a pattern of expressing and tolerating extreme views on women.”

“Jim Andrews and I have been pouring through the oppo and have a couple new possible negatives to suggest we test in the poll, since most of our attacks haven’t been working,” Grunwald wrote. “We also proposed language for a split-message test between where we’ve been (ideas that sound good on paper/can’t wait) versus the new no barriers message — stacked up against Sanders. Hope these are helpful.”

Among the topics raised, Grunwald included, “You pay for socialism,” “Extreme on national security,” and “Troubling pattern on women,” among others. Under the “Troubling patter on women” topic, the email divulged some strategic smears that could be used to highlight Clinton’s appeal to women while painting Sanders as a sexist alternative who undermines women’s rights.

“Bernie Sanders says he supports women’s rights, but has a pattern of expressing and tolerating extreme views on women,” the email read. “Sanders once wrote that men fantasize about women being on their knees and women fantasize about being raped by three men simultaneously.”

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The email went on to refer to an article that Sanders wrote decades before that connected “women’s sexual behavior to breast cancer and said the way parents teach their daughter about sex — quote —  ‘very well [might] determine whether or not she will develop breast cancer.'”

In addition, the email condemned Sanders’ supporters for crudely “flooding the internet with troubling comments about women” voting for Clinton merely because they share the same sex.

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Since she clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in July, Clinton and Sanders have formed an uneasy alliance and Sanders has hit the campaign trail for Clinton.

But this is the second time in the past two weeks that Clinton has run into trouble over Sanders. When a leaked audio recording of Clinton speaking at a February fundraiser showed her belittling Sanders’ younger supporters as people who are “living in their parents’ basements” and knew little of politics, Sanders came to Clinton’s defense. Even though Sanders admitted that “of course” it bothered him that Clinton spoke of his “false promises” to the basement-dwellers, he stood by Clinton.

After the Podesta emails dump, which included partial transcripts of Clinton speeches pandering to Wall Street bankers, Sanders issued a shot across the bow.

“Whatever Secretary Clinton may or may not have said behind closed doors on Wall Street, I am determined to implement the agenda of the Democratic Party platform which was agreed to by her campaign,” Sanders said in a statement Saturday to NBC News.