What Bernie Sanders won today.

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.

:applause:

:patriot:

Unbelievable feelings of joy! However this turns out.

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:

Vermont is wonderful!

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

Thank you Sen. Sanders for giving us a voice!

:patriot:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yes, and he is inspiring a whole country.

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.

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.

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

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.

Runs the WH!

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

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.

things that are unknown to the corrupt fucks in Washington

educated and informed a lot of people - everyone stayed glued

:kick:

:hi:

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

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.

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

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.

...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.

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

Go Bernie!

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.




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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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".

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.