What Bernie Sanders won today.

[JDPriestly]

Bernie Sanders' filibuster today is just brilliant. It is the first time I can remember that a senator spoke so sincerely about the plights of his constituents, about the dominance of lobbyists in D.C. and about the wrongs that our government does when it fails to put the interests of ordinary Americans first -- and all in the context of the Obama "compromise" and the threat to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest among us in addition to ordinary Americans.

We do not know whether Bernie Sanders' filibuster will change the minds of any of the senators to whom he is speaking. It's Friday afternoon, and the Senate chambers are probably nearly empty. Most of our employees in the Senate have probably gone home to continue their fundraising and meet with lobbyists about their votes.

So what had Bernie Sanders accomplished.

First, he has established a record and created a video that all Americans can watch. I hope this goes on YouTube right away.

Second, he has established that he is willing to filibuster -- to slow the work of the Senate when necessary to protect the interests of the ordinary American people.

And is this second accomplishment that is the most important result of his work today. The value of Bernie Sanders' vote and opinions has just risen. He is willing to stand up and be counted. He has proved his integrity. If there is one thing that the weak, the quick-to-compromisers, those who have sold out to big business fear -- it is a person of integrity standing up for what is right regardless of that person's personal loss or pain.

I have to salute Bernie Sanders. Other members of the Senate will not dismiss him or his opinions so quickly in the future.

[Individualist]

1. Bravo Bernie!

:applause:

[myrna minx]

2. Thank you Senator Sanders.

:patriot:

[FredStembottom]

3. Just to hear ALL the lies debunked FROM Washington.

Unbelievable feelings of joy! However this turns out.

[yellerpup]

4. Sen. Sanders represents prime example of integrity.

Good work, Senator! I don't know if his fellow senators were listening. Most don't listen to their constituents. This man is solid gold! :woohoo:

[upi402]

5. Bernie Sanders for President, no more voting for Colonel Sanders

Vermont is wonderful!

[Peregrine Took]

14. The bluest of blue states - I think we should all move there. n/t

[upi402]

16. and metastasize! n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. I have been listening since I got home from work ~45 minutes ago

He is on point!

The Senate + staff may not be listening, but many of us are, and we appreciate his tireless efforts on behalf of the American party (*cough* unlike our President who couldn't even bother to hang around for his own press conference tonight *cough*)

Bravo, bravo, bravo Senator. Thank you!! :loveya:

K&R

[Politicub]

7. Tears of joy right here

Thank you Sen. Sanders for giving us a voice!

:patriot:

[molly77]

49. Me too

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. I got MSNBC in the background

you know the "place for politics" and lean forward...

I have yet to hear ONE mention of this...

Yes I have Bernie on the feed.

[bwthor]

50. MSM Fail!

Yeah, I was scanning the MSM channels as well. Elizabeth Smart, unlicensed planes, Clinton working with Obama but nothing about Sanders. What a shame. Every American should have seen this display.

[frogmarch]

9. K&R

[wtbymark]

10. Go Bernie Go!! (from a former Vermonter)

love Bernie, met him a few times, did a little volunteer work for him on his 06' senate campaign.
This is one man that doesn't take shit from ANYBODY, and refuses all corperate donations. He is Vermont's hero.

[KT2000]

11. I think a lot of Americans

heard a voice they have not heard in a long long time - one that speaks for the people.
I bet some teabaggers (at least a few) had their heads turned today.

[AlinPA]

12. Good post JD. re:"He is willing to stand up and be counted. He has proved his integrity."

Yes, and he is inspiring a whole country.

[Peregrine Took]

13. My undying respect and admiration, for starters. Go Bernie!! n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

15. Sanders is not a Democrat, but many here at DU share his views on many issues.

I wish we could have a common means to identify each other. Each DUer that identifies as a "Sanders Democrat". We can all use pictures or avatars, but one slogan would work better to show a unity of vision and cause.

[JDPriestly]

31. I don't know why he calls himself Democratic Socialist

But his stances as far as I know are pretty standard old-fashioned Democratic. I haven't heard much from him that I would consider Socialist. I don't think he opposes private business or capitalism. I think he just favors regulation. Maybe he likes being independent in Congress. There is probably, as we have seen here, a lot of pressure on Democrats to vote with their Caucus and with the president. And generally, I think that is as it should be.

I'm very grateful to all the Democrats who are speaking out loud and clear on the Obama giveaway deal. The taxes for the super-rich are just unacceptable.

It would seem to me that Republicans would have been ashamed to vote against Schumer's proposal to continue the tax cuts for all income up to one million and then raise the marginal tax on income above that. That was more than enough of a giveaway to the Waltons and their ilk.

[glowing]

45. He served in the house for many years as a Socialist. When he ran for Senate

for the first time, he changed to Independant... Not sure exactly why? I'm sure that there is a reason.

[PufPuf23]

17. Bernie Sanders is awesome and correct in everything he has said today.

POTUS Obama and ex POTUS Clinton are pathetic and dishonest.

They have no regard for the interests of 98% or more of Americans.

Whatever happens on this issue and the remainder of POTUS Obama's time in office, Sanders is speaking the truth to America like no other politician I have seen in my nearly 60 years of life. Bravo.

If Obama is a decent human being, he will announce that he will not run in 2012 ASAP. Otherwise Obama will continue to damage the good of the American people and brand of the Democratic Party.

A vast majority of our political and military leaders and the very wealthy that control them do not give a flying fuck for the USA and the rest of us.

[Bozita]

18. "America's Senator" didn't get that nickname without good reason

[jwirr]

19. He just yielded the floor - what happens now?

[truedelphi]

65. Obama goes on an extensive round of Christmas Parties, while Bill Clinton

Runs the WH!

(Any truth to the reports that Monica is back in town?)

[laughingliberal]

20. K & R nt

[Cleita]

21. I called one of my senators and told her that I am

with Senator Sanders. I have yet to get through to my other senator, but I will let her know the same. Anyone who is dismayed with the dismantling of our country's economy in favor of corporations and the very rich should let their senators know what they think about it today or at least this weekend. If nothing else, it might make them feel more guilty about what they will do on Monday.

[somone]

22. Bernie represents integrity and decency

things that are unknown to the corrupt fucks in Washington

[xchrom]

23. I'm both sad and glad he's not a democrat. Nt

[2Design]

24. got over 5000 new twitter followers - the technological people

educated and informed a lot of people - everyone stayed glued

[Individualist]

25. K&R

[amborin]

26. K&R

[WillyT]

27. Exactly !!! - K & R !!!

:kick:

:hi:

[treestar]

28. Why isn't this "just words?"

It's not going to convince the Senate to vote on anything.

[JDPriestly]

32. Because Sanders has shown that one honest man stood for something.

That can change everything. First it gives courage to other honest men and women. At least they won't be alone when they speak the truth. It breaks that barrier of silence that has held liberals back in the Senate.

Most important, Sanders has shown that a filibuster is possible. I think we can now expect first, that Sanders will get a little more respect in the Senate since other senators will not want him to do this again, and second, other senators may join in future filibusters once the Republicans have more votes.

[Smashcut]

36. Because his words didn't begin and end at "kumbaya"

[Hannah Bell]

40. because he spoke honestly and angrily, in detail, with facts & figures, about

the fact that money is concentrated into too few hands & those hands have corrupted the entire political process.

[NeoConsSuck]

41. Your Biden avatar is quite telling.

[Frank Cannon]

42. He also showed America what a real filibuster is, not this "threatening" bullshit...

that the Republicans have been pulling for years.

I'd just love to see Mitch McConnell get up there and spend ten hours defending tax cuts for billionaires.

[tomp]

47. the is educational aspect you mention is perhaps the most important aspect...

...of what sanders did. now if we can educate the american people by actual demonstration that filibusters can actually work to their benefit, we'll be getting somewhere.

[ProudDad]

52. Because the Biden/McConnel deal must not pass! (n/t)

[Poboy]

29. recommend.

[pa28]

30. Sure, he won't change anything in the Senate but he won ground.

Sanders' filibuster created a surprising amount buzz and you can't help but think he swayed some opinions in the house.

Go Bernie!

[Senator]

33. K&+R

[Bryn]

34. I wrote a letter to Bernie Sanders via his website

about my mother and my brothers. About how the US government swooped in and swiped my brother's joined account with my mother right after his unexpected death at age of 51.

To make a story short here's part of it.

My brother, David was injured in Army which caused him to suffer epilepsy. He applied for Disabled Veteran Benefits and was denied twice. On his 3rd tried, they finally approved it. But before he could get a check that was mailed to him he died unexpectedly of heart attack at age of 51 in December 2005. The checks that arrived at his address were a little over $400,000 to make up that he didn't get over many years. So it should have gone to my Mother as his next kin. They had an account at Bank of America together. So his checks were deposited there, but Mom didn't touch it because she was unsure and wanted to get an okay first. But as soon as David's death was reported the government swooped in his account at Bank of America and wiped it all! So Mom got a lawyer to fight on her behalf. She wrote to Congress and had a video conference with her congress in Little Rock but was denied.

Mom has already given two sons to US Government. She lost her first born son to Viet Nam War.

I asked him if I should keep on fighting on Mom's behalf and that she now has advanced dementia, that we both are struggling with just her SS and my SSDI plus her reaching donut hole that she now has to pay out of her pocket over 400 dollars for her meds.

[madmax]

38. Sorry for your loss

My heart goes out to you and your Mom. Stay strong :hug:

[pam4water]

35. Is it gettign any play? I can't watch the MSM. I start hitting my head on any available desk.

[aquart]

51. Play? Number one trending topic on Twitter.

That's how high it went. The world watched. The Senate server crashed. The United States watched.

And our politicians have begun to respect the force of Twitter.

[democrank]

37. One fine man right there

[Hannah Bell]

39. first part is on you tube & was getting comments last i checked over 1650 views.

so was a different speech of his on similar topics labeled "amazing speech by bernie sanders" that he made at the start of this week.

and it was an amazing speech, brief & meaty.

[B Calm]

43. Great post!

[DailyGrind51]

44. along with the gratitude and respect of every Progressive!

[tomp]

46. i agree, standing up for what is right is commendable.

what i want is results. i'm fed up with political theater.

i predict we will end up with a sightly watered down "compromise" of the "compromise." .

i'll be happy to be wrong.

[OneGrassRoot]

48. K&R n/t

[AllyCat]

53. And there are people here saying he and those who stood with him are naive

He did a job and did it well. That is the action. Now we have to keep fighting.

[AdHocSolver]

54. K and R. Go, Bernie! nt

[mdmc]

55. r

[bongbong]

56. Another benefit

Bernie has single-handedly resurrected the label "Socialist". The more people that see his statements and understand that he is a socialist, the better for the de-demonization of the word "socialism".

[Odin2005]

57. BERNIE FOR PRESIDENT!

[aggiesal]

58. The third thing that Sen. Sanders has done is ...

given President Obama and the Democratic party cover.

Since Sen. Sanders is an Independent, the republican'ts can blame
the Dems for Obama for not following through on his agreement.

[bulloney]

59. ABC News summarizes Sanders filibuster: He doesn't think billionaires and millionaires deserve

tax cuts.

That's a good representation of how simplistic and inaccurate our "news" media have become. Anyone who listened to Sanders' filibuster (now that would be a first for the MSM news gerbils) know that the address went way beyond "not wanting billionaires and millionaires to have tax cuts."

[killbotfactory]

60. The blurb on MSNBC was even worse.

They made a point to emphasize that he was talking, by himself, for several hours in opposition to the tax deal. That he was a socialist from Vermont.

They did not report what he was actually saying.

That's what progressives are up against. We can riot and protest and write op-eds and spam blogs, but the MSM will only report what we are doing, not why we are doing it, leading viewers to think that we are just a bunch of whining nutters.

[sabrina 1]

61. The media get their instructions from Corporate America.

That is why we need more Wikileaks, and that is why they are freaking out over it because they cannot control it.

The more elected leaders realize that they cannot keep secrets from the public, the better they will behave. They will live in fear of making back-room deals knowing that the public could find out what they are up to.

If we had had a free press back in 2001, there would have been no War in Iraq. The facts would have been made public, Cheney and his gang of liars would not have been able to go on Meet the Press and lie without being seriously challenged.

Until a free press is restored to this country, people will be thrown in jail if they dare to tell the truth and the treatment of Julian Assange proves why journalists cannot risk telling the truth. They will be branded as traitors, maybe prosecuted under the Espionage Act. I honestly didn't think it was this bad and have been angry at our media for not reporting the truth, but watching the deranged and utterly insane reaction to Wikileaks, the smearing of Julian Assange, the threats of death and charges of espionage, I now understand why they will not risk telling the truth.

[ibegurpard]

62. He is MAKING THE FUCKING CASE!!!!

succeed or fail he's trying to change the conversation we are having.
How many Democrats have been willing to go out on a limb to do that in recent memory?
not many.

[digidigido]

63. Bravo, Bravissimo

[Jeffersons Ghost]

64. K&R