I wish you all could have heard Bernie Sanders today

[KC21304]

at Fighting Bobfest in Baraboo Wisconsin.

He said that we are the majority, the middle, and Bush is the fringe candidate.

He said if you went out on a street corner and asked 100 people if they wanted to give big corporations and the wealthy giant tax breaks and take money from schools and health care at least 99 would say no.

The Repugs know this so the way they win is to pit this great majority one against the other. They pit black against white, pro-choice against pro-life, Jews, Christians, and evangelicals against another etc.

It made me realize that we can easily beat this fraud in the white house if we can stay united against him.


One very odd thing I saw. As we were going up to the grandstand at one point there was a guy in a Nader 2000 shirt with a bucket of tomatoes trying to get people to take them. I don't know if he hoped that someone would throw them at a specific target. I just said no thanks, but I appreciated his help in the past.

[JohnKleeb]

1. Bernie is a great man

One of the few, one of the great, and one of the most respectable men in congress. Vermont you are lucky to have him.

[JohnKleeb]

2. Bernie is a great man

One of the few, one of the great, and one of the most respectable men in congress. Vermont you are lucky to have him.

[JanMichael]

3. I wish Bernie would run as a Dem.

Even though he's DSA, he'd win.

Why? Because he speak the language of the majority of Americans regardless of income (Up to about 200k I suppose).

He won't though. We all know why too, don't we?

[JI7]

8. what ?

you wish he would run for what as a democrat ? he already wins as an independent. do you mean for president ? because his views are very much like dennis kucinich who is already running as a democrat.

[JanMichael]

10. Yes. I mean in the Dem primary.

I think he would make a fine President.

I hope I don't piss off too many DK people but I like Bernie's demeanor and delivery much better, sorry.

And while similar to DK he is significantly more to the Left.

[Mairead]

18. "he is significantly more to the Left"

Right. He's a socialist--which, I'm sure, is why he wouldn't touch a Dem label with the proverbial bargepole. Dennis and Al are the best we're going to get with a Dem label.

The most I think we can hope for is that at some point he'll endorse DK.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. bernie sanders >>>>>>sage man

[Dudley_DUright]

5. Wish I could have been there

You will probably enjoy this column by John Nichols in the Madison Capital Times that has much praise for Bernie Sanders.

<snip>

But with Wellstone gone, organizers were left with the question of whom to invite to join Wisconsin representatives who serve in the progressive tradition - such as Tammy Baldwin and Russ Feingold - in telling of the struggles to preserve and advance social and economic justice in George Bush's Washington. The obvious choice was Bernie Sanders, the Independent representative from Vermont.

Like Wellstone, Sanders is one of the few members of Congress who got his start not as a legislative aide or a campaign staffer but as a grass-roots activist. And, like Wellstone, Sanders has never forgotten that the point of being in Congress is not to learn the corrupt practices of the established order, but rather to carry the activist message into the corridors of power.

For the past several years, Sanders has been the congressional leader of efforts to prevent corporate media from eliminating controls on monopolies in communications. No one in Congress gets the issue better, and no one has fought harder to block the Federal Communications Commission's efforts to lift limits on media consolidation. As part of the struggle, Sanders has invited Bob McChesney and myself to speak at a House hearing on the issues and to appear at a number of town hall meetings on media and democracy in Vermont. On the most recent visit, we talked to Sanders about Bob Fest. Like Wellstone, he instantly got it.

To a greater extent than just about any member of Congress, Sanders sees his role as that of an educator. His Web site is packed with news articles, background information and other activist tools. And he uses his congressional franking privileges not to send out self-serving newsletters, but to distribute detailed pamphlets about such issues as free trade and globalization. And the theme of this year's Bob Fest - tackling corporate abuses of the body politic - is close to his heart. Even though it required rearranging his own schedule, Sanders jumped at the chance to be a part of Bob Fest.

<snip>

more...

http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols/56117.php

[KC21304]

9. Thanks for the column. John Nichols

and Ed Garvey were super, as was Bert Grover. My daugher who was with me is a school teacher and so we were very interested in what Bert had to say.

[blm]

13. Wow...

I always thought you were in your twenties with a wise head on your shoulders. Hard to believe you have a grown daughter.

;)))))))))))))))))

[KC21304]

14. You mean because sometime I act like a smartass ?

Can't help it sometimes. I come by it naturally. I am actually an old broad of 60. And proud to say I (we) have 3 daughters. Two are attorneys and one is a teacher. She is the one who brought me to DU. Also have a son who is an engineer. Unemployed at the moment thanks to King George the W, as Jim Hightower called him today.

Bought Greg Palast book. It has much more in than the original version.

I can't believe that we can't make something of his findings. It is really criminal.

[blm]

19. Nah...not a smartass...

VERVE

[beanball]

6. A man of honor

there are so few good men and women in congress,Bernie is one of the few.

[David Zephyr]

7. Bernie Sanders is One Rightous Dude.

Number One in Congress!

[Bushknew]

11. Bernie Sanders is my kind of democrat

Independent in name only? He he

[prolesunited]

12. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak

in Toronto over the summer. He was discussing the Patriot Act and the lies that have been told about it. He is sponsoring legislation to repeal the portion that allows feds to access your library records and bookstore purchases.

Lucky you. I would have loved to hear him again.

[JI7]

15. love bernie sanders

saw him on cspan thing on students and leaders speaking to a classroom of young kids in dc. he did a great job, and said the reason dc doesn't have their own congressional representation is because dc is very democratic. and not just democratic but pretty liberal also. and the republicans would not allow 2 liberal senators and that's why they are blocking this.

[eyesroll]

16. I was there too, Kerryfan...

If you were in the grassroots-organizing breakout session, I was the one who spoke about how to do opposition research.

Sanders was great. We had to go before Palast and Hightower came on, which is too bad, but I think I'll be bringing their books with me on my trip next week.

It was kind of weird and actually quite refreshing to be in the same place as 2,000 people and actually be one of the less-left people there. There was a Dean table, a Kucinich table, a Kerry table, as well as tables from the area Democrats, Greens and Socialists, but guess what? No other political candidates bothered to even have flyers...

[snyttri]

20. There were Clark flyers. See the Bobfest thread,

[buddhamama]

17. Bernie is the Man.

the Best there is, hands down.

[punpirate]

21. If every state had just one rep like Bernie...

... this would be a _much_ different country. A much better one for everyone.

Cheers.