Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Clinton Campaign Considered Bill Gates, Tim Cook For Vice President (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the presidential-candidates dept.

WikiLeaks has been releasing thousands of emails over the past couple of weeks belonging to Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta. One of the more interesting tidbits revealed from the email dump was the list of potential running mates considered by Clinton's campaign. The Verge reports: Clinton's vice presidential candidates, while not altogether surprising, include some vaguely interesting choices like Bill and Melinda Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and General Motors CEO Mary Barra. In the mail, Podesta says he has organized the list into "rough food groups," one of which includes all the people mentioned above. Xerox CEO Ursula Burns and Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz are also in this "food group," along with Michael Bloomberg. With just under 40 names on the list, it's not immediately obvious how close any of these people came to actually being asked to take on the role (Tim Kaine is on the list).

19 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Why go for fluff instead of meat? by Xenographic · · Score: 5, Informative

    Everyone else is covering that story to death. The "food groups" the nominees are in are their race, gender & wealth if you're wondering. Sanders is their very last choice, all by himself. So why not release this story instead, which almost nobody is covering right now?

    https://slashdot.org/submissio...

    1. Re:Why go for fluff instead of meat? by Xenographic · · Score: 2

      You mean her lying to the cops while blocking the road and faking being sick? Now look at the other protest she claims credit for. It's one where cops were injured.

    2. Re:Why go for fluff instead of meat? by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Especially since its bullshit as the Wikileaks email drop shows Tim Kaine getting the VP was a quid pro quo for him stepping down as DNC chair so she could put her pal Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the seat which helped her control the primary.

      That is one thing I have to give HRC redit for, she is an evil manipulated power hungry greedy bitch but she does think ahead and play the long game, reminds me of Francis Underwood in HOC.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Could be worse... by Penguinisto · · Score: 2

    Larry Ellison could have been on that list (shudder!)

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:Could be worse... by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      Larry Ellison wouldn't take the job because he knows his own company would bilk his administration.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  3. Quite a step down... by Galaga88 · · Score: 5, Informative

    For people like Bill Gates and Tim Cook, vice president would be a very real step down from what they do presently.

    Yes, I'm saying the CEO of Apple and a retired billionaire turned philanthropist have more power than the second highest ranking elected official in the United States. Because the position isn't worth a warm bucket of piss.

    1. Re:Quite a step down... by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 2

      That reminds me of a quote by Lex Luthor: "You thought I really wanted to become President? This campaign was just a smoke screen! Do you have any idea how much power I'd have to give up to be President?" (quote from memory, may not be entirely accurate)

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    2. Re:Quite a step down... by unixisc · · Score: 2

      Not necessarily a step down, but a VP job is very different from a president. A president is an executive leader, while a VP is a cross b/w an executive and legislative leader. The main job of the VP is to be the interface b/w the president and the senate, or the speaker of the house. Which is why a senator is usually the best choice for the role. Even Trump noted that he didn't want another outsider there, but an insider who knew the goings on in congress.

  4. Some more nominations by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 2, Informative

    Everyone else is covering that story to death. The "food groups" the nominees are in are their race, gender & wealth if you're wondering. Sanders is their very last choice, all by himself. So why not release this story instead, which almost nobody is covering right now?

    https://slashdot.org/submissio...

    An excellent choice, monseur.

    Might I also recommend https://slashdot.org/submissio...

    or perhaps https://twitter.com/wikileaks/...

    1. Re:Some more nominations by Xenographic · · Score: 5, Informative

      There's actually a much less thoroughly linked or explained version of the story that beat mine. I wonder which one they'll post, if any? I guess I should've quoted the full story, though so it doesn't get burred.

      Democrat Operatives Caused Violence at Trump Rallies, Framed Sanders Supporters

      A new video has come out detailing how Democratic operatives created violence at Trump rallies. You may remember that they then framed Sanders supporters for those protests. This video is notable because one of the operatives, Zulema Rodriguez, can be identified in videos of the Arizona protests at 17:35 in this independent video as well as at 10:30 in the first video link. Furthermore, you look at the FEC records of disbursements to her and see that she was paid by MoveOn.org. Finally, this again can be corroborated with the Wikileaks dump, specifically this email. For those too lazy to browse all the links, you can see Zulema's appearance in both videos in this image and note that it's the same person down to the tiny mole on her chest.

      Sources:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... - Confession caught on video for Zulema and others.
      http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/san... - Old news report showing the 'split' between real & fake Sanders supporters.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... - Old video showing this lady at the AZ protests (and lying, etc.)
      https://beta.fec.gov/data/disb... - FED disbursement data showing her payments from MoveOn.org
      https://wikileaks.org/podesta-... - Wikileaks email regarding the strategy they were using.
      https://i.sli.mg/dNBRek.png - A handy image to help you compare her appearance in the confession & the AZ protest videos. Note the same mole on her chest.

    2. Re:Some more nominations by Xenographic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > In short, the "story" here is that MoveOn was staging anti-Trump protests. OMG, you don't say? I never knew that ;)

      They took credit for creating violence on camera. Exactly how do you think that was faked when they have the person and voice on camera, as well as contemporaneous evidence both that they were there and that they lied to the cops? And their pay stub from the FEC.

      Also, if it's fake, why did they fire one of them just the other day?

    3. Re:Some more nominations by Xenographic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Did you even watch the videos? They also discuss election fraud in the second one, as well as how to keep things off the record.

      It's all on camera and there's corroborating evidence to tie them to the acts claimed in the video.

      Should I ask how much CTR pays you? I mean, you spin things full time on every single political story as far as I can see. Go check my history, I have better things to do and I was for Obama originally. Should be able to see that assuming Slashdot hasn't completely horked all the old story comments. Guess you might not remember it with that UID, though.

    4. Re:Some more nominations by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is another bogus scandal that'll backfire badly. It tries to link Clinton with something she had no involvement in, and it raises more opportunities to (correctly and responsibly) link Trump's own words to violent behavior by his supporters.

      Leaving aside the source, O'Keefe's is a stupid story that has no connection with Clinton herself. Even taken at face value, it's actually not even a sign that low level Clinton campaigners are bad per se: I mean, these guys are willing to risk injury and possible death exposing behavior they consider easily displayed by their opponents. They're morons, not evil.

      Here's, FWIW, a video of a highly placed Trump activist who is promising to pay the legal fees for anyone who attacks anti-Trump protestors:

      Video

      Now, do you notice anything different about these two stories? In one, O'Keefe's, you have allegations that some Clinton supporters, unbeknownst to any Presidential candidate, might have tried to demonstrate that Trump supporters are actually violent.

      In the other, you have a Presidential Candidate announcing, in public, he'll help out any violent supporter of his and prevent them from suffering the consequences of their violent actions.

      O'Keefe has raised another opportunity for Trump's opponents to point out he is a bona fide fascist - in this case, demonstrating that he is willing to support violence against his political rivals, one of the attributes of fascism Trump displays.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  5. Here's the full menu by Xenographic · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'll spare you all a click because there's nothing to see here unless you're interested in their "food groups" and which they thought they needed. Here's the full list of VP ideas put forth listed by the category they all appear to fit into (which is not, in fact, listed in the email, just to be clear about that):

    Hispanic Men
    Rep. Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

    Women
    Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Claire McKaskill, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

    White Men
    Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Martin Heinrich, Sen. Tim Kaine, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Sen. Chris Murphy and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

    Black Men
    Columbia, S.C., Mayor Stephen Benjamin, Sen. Cory Booker, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former Gov. Deval Patrick, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.

    Military Leaders
    Gen. John Allen, Adm. William McCraven and Adm. Michael Mullen

    Rich Businesspeople
    GM CEO Mary Barra, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, philanthropist Melinda Gates, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz

    Other
    Sen. Bernie Sanders

  6. other options in the emails by nimbius · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. former stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier Bernie Madoff
    2. owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Charles Montgomery Burns
    3. elderly Scottish anthropomorphic Pekin Scrooge McDuck
    4. A large slightly moist burlap sack of cash marked "campaign finance reform or whatever"

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  7. Re:My original reply deleted...interesting. by Xenographic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't worry, I actually covered that in a comment to my own submission, which is the first post on this story.

    Also, let's linkify that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  8. Attacking the source by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because the evidence is junk.

    First the "investigative" video is by James O'Keefe, who is infamous for dishonestly editing and framing videos to create the false appearance of criminal behaviour. And yes, you're allowed to shoot the messenger when the messenger is lying.

    As for the woman Zulema, even if she was a Clinton supporter or even worked some aspect of the Clinton campaign (they must have thousands of paid staffers) that doesn't mean she was part of a Clinton conspiracy to frame Sanders supporters for violent protests. People who work in politics sometimes care about politics too, and they're more than capable of attending a protest on their own.

    Oh, and I don't know what she has to do with the violent protests anyway, the video is of her at a peaceful (though disruptive) protest on a highway!

    Huh.

    Scott Adams has a blog post on attacking the source, and claims it's almost always a "tell" for being guilty.

    I don't know about those sorts of things, maybe this is the statistically improbably case where a non-guilty person attacks the messenger.

    Then again, you don't cite any sources, show independent reviews of the evidence, or even any rationalization. Just "the evidence is junk".

    Was that on purpose?

  9. Tim Cook for VP! by fyngyrz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Tim on the campaign trail:

    We're going to get you new, way, way thinner voting machines with hermetically sealed cases! They'll run ALL DAY on the lithium battery (claim based on "average voter" use in our testing laboratories.) You can pick any vote you like (available from our snazzy new "vote store.") Plus, look at the courageous new cylindrical design! Cylindrical and thin! Isn't that cool?

    Oh, and one more thing...

    If you have trouble, you can take your issues to our "Genius Bar", where certified "vote experts" will solve all your problems; they'll even submit your vote for you!

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  10. Interesting, but not suprising. Identity politics by raymorris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not *suprised* the Dems lumped candidates into buckets based solely on race and gender, rather than perhaps QUALIFICATIONS FOR JOB, but I do find it interesting and illustrative.

    Exactly how does one use their genitals to perform the job of vice president? Whether or not a potential candidate has a penis is apparently the #1 most important consideration; does the SIZE of their penis matter?

    I would hope that if someone like Paul Ryan was making the list his categories would be something like:

    Legistlative Experience
    Executive Experience (govt)
    Executive Experience (private sector)
    Foreign Policy Experience