Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stands with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, at a Clinton Grassroots Organizing Event in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.
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Her comments were met with laughter from voters here, many of them University of Iowa students taking a break from studying for finals in order to attend her town hall.
Mr Buffett, a long-time critic of America’s uneven taxation of rich and poor, listed statistics showing the widening income gap as he introduced Mrs Clinton at her first event in Nebraska. “Campaigning with the third richest person on the planet is an odd way to communicate that she understands and cares about the needs of millions of Americans”. Last year, he gave $25,000 to the pro-Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary, which signaled to some Democrats that he might be willing to change his mind – but he then told CNN he did not know the group was a super PAC when he donated to it.
“I’m going to fight hard to implement the Buffett rule”, she said.
Hillary Clinton threw her support behind the “Buffett Rule”, a proposal which would require millionaires to pay 30 percent in taxes, but pledged to go “even further” to ensure that the wealthiest Americans are shouldering more of the tax burden at a rally here Wednesday. The married couple who shot 14 people to death in the San Bernardino rampage earlier this month have been described by authorities as self-radicalized.
Buffett was the namesake for a push by the Obama administration to seek higher taxes on those earning $1 million or more.
Still, only 22 percent of Democrats surveyed said they would be “enthusiastic” over a Clinton candidacy, with a majority, 58 percent, saying they’d be “satisfied”. “Clinton is Clinton. She does bring the baggage of wealth and the old Clinton regime, which did a lot of good things but also a lot of bad things”.
Buffett “has tremendous credibility in the left and really reassures the left about her economic orientation”, said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster.
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Which is what makes Buffett’s endorsement and support of Clinton so exceptional. Though the fractures within the Democratic Party get less press, a sizable faction of Bernie Sanders supporters are still wondering if they can hold their nose and vote for the woman presumed to be the party’s inevitable nominee. I hope you can see I don’t have horns.
