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Sanders Steps Up

The representative for the rest of us sets his sights on the Senate

By Joel Bleifuss

Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has said that he plans to seek the Vermont Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) in 2006. Judging from his popularity, Sanders’ election is all but assured. If he takes office, he will become the Senate’s most progressive member. In These Times has been following Sanders for 24 years. In March 1981, when… return to article

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    I certainly hope Sanders is elected to the Senate. His progressive voice is sorely needed there. He understands and addresses the real issues facing this nation as well as anyone I know of. If we could get some others like him in there they might well be able to stiffen the spines of some democrats who would like to take more authenticly progressive positions.

    United States Posted by Louis Rue on May 24, 2005 at 8:14 AM

    Bernie will get viciously attacked for being a socialist, but remember this: they are actually afraid of him because he is hitting on grassroots, kitchen table issues that the right wingers know they are vulnerable on.

    If he really was just a fruitcake (that’s how they’ll try to protray him) they wouldn’t pay any attention to him. The level of vitriol will correlate directly his popularity.

    United States Posted by scott on May 24, 2005 at 1:07 PM

    Bernie is running for the Senate in Vermont.  What are you talking about? They LOVE Bernie in Vermont.  Vermont may well be the last vestiges of what California used to be. (At least that is true for the time being.  A lot can change with panicked YUPPIE migration of New York following Sept. 11.  The gentrification of the Green Mountain State.  Sad spectacle to witness.)

    United States Posted by hoping Bremmer will leave Chester on May 24, 2005 at 2:16 PM

    I will be definitely sending Bernie some money to help in his campaign!

    United States Posted by Richard Clark on May 24, 2005 at 6:30 PM

    Bernie is going to kick ass b/c of one simple reason- Socialism works! If the USA hadn’t crippled Cuba (oops, sorry - still does) we could see how the best health care system on the planet could operate.  Everybody equal. Sanity. Check Canada.

    Middle- but obviosly pushing for the sane---

    ps - NO BLOOD FOR OIL! BUSHIE WE KNOW WHAT YOUR RANCH RUNS ON!

    United States Posted by iphopper on May 24, 2005 at 9:37 PM

    I’ll be proud to support Bernie in any way I can. It was like fresh air to read his comments. We desperately need to get this man into the U.S. Senate and finally have someone with the balls to call it just the way it is and fight for how it should be.

    United States Posted by njgap on May 25, 2005 at 9:35 AM

    What is extraordinary about Bernie Sanders is his honesty and the directness of his unabashed democratic socialist appeal. As he stated in the interview, he has always stressed taking a strong, unequivocal class-based economic message directly to the poor and working families of Vermont and the US. While the NRA may be strong in rural and small-town Vermont, it has been Bernie Sanders’ strong messages on issues like outsourcing and economic polarization that have become the lightning-rod in Vermont politics. Bernie Sanders is exactly what the US Senate needs.

    United States Posted by Roger Bybee on May 25, 2005 at 1:34 PM

    Great guide for progressive politicans around the country! Strategists, realists and wonks take note…

    What he said about working people questioning their very existence because the media doesn’t reflect their reality - and the realities of so many of us - is absolutely correct.

    Great going Bernie. You have support from Vermont to California. Keep yourself a quality bodyguard and for God’s sakes check out your plane every time before takeoff. They will start playing a whole new game when you’re saying those things as a Senator.

    Thank you for all of your hard work.

    Best Regards,
    Ed

    P.S. - For information on how elements of our media very closely resemble effective PSYOPs programs:

    http://www.psywarrior.com/

    United States Posted by Edward Mellon on May 25, 2005 at 3:12 PM

    God/dess bless Bernie Sanders! And the “Communist China” frame is *exactly* the right frame for him to use to counter the threat of any “red-baiting” he might encounter. Consider Southern textile workers, for example - they remain very upset at how so-called “free traders” like Senator Jim DeMint of SC have betrayed the American people by allowing those jobs to be sent to China.

    United States Posted by Beata on May 25, 2005 at 5:05 PM

    If you like what Bernie Sanders says, pay him for it!  Money is the mother’s milk of politics - duplicate Howard Dean’s (and what is it about the air in Vermont, eh?) fundraising success through the internet by sending him some cash HOWEVER SMALL out of each of our paychecks, and the message will get out.  Also, good bodyguards are expensive, and as Harry Truman told us long ago, “The Republican Party will stop at nothing...”

    United States Posted by Marty Bakken on May 26, 2005 at 7:02 AM

    Edward,
    Do you believe Wellstone’s plane was sabotaged? Is there much evidence to suggest that?

    United States Posted by Louis Rue on May 26, 2005 at 7:38 AM

    Bernie has GREAT ideas ; I hope he can share some of them with Casey running for senator against slimeball Santorum in the 06 PA race.

    United States Posted by gene on May 26, 2005 at 2:27 PM

    I love The Republican Party!

    United States Posted by Keith Sanders on May 26, 2005 at 8:49 PM

    And some people like to spread animal excrement on their toast, Keith.  Hope you’re happy with that taste in your mouth.

    United States Posted by Margaret on Jun 3, 2005 at 4:37 PM

    Good work Bernie. Keep following my principles and the whole world will go straight down the sewer. That’s all for now comrades.

    United States Posted by Karl Marx on Jun 9, 2005 at 10:26 AM

    Now, uh, wait a minute there, uh, Karly boy.  That’s, uh, my job, I mean, uh, flushing the world, ya know, the round blue thing in space--no, no, wait, that’s science--no, I mean FLAT thing in space down the toilet!  And I’m doin’ a great job, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove tells me so!

    United States Posted by GWB on Jun 10, 2005 at 3:57 PM

    Goddess bless indeed, Beata!

    Viva Bernie Sanders!

    United Kingdom Posted by Liz on Jun 19, 2005 at 10:54 PM

    Bernie will do wonders for the Senate, and hopefully will get more publicity abroad so that British liberals like me who love the USA but hate the dominant Bush approach can see what caring, principled politicians there are in America.

    United Kingdom Posted by John Hite on Jun 29, 2005 at 7:37 AM

    I would surely vote for Bernie, as I vote for the Socialist Party in Spain. Public health for everyone is out of discussion. There is something wrong with the Democrats when someone like Bernie isn’t one of them. He is completely in line with what F. D. Roosevelt did.
    By the way, we approved gay marriages today. Nice week for liberty. Go on, Bernie!

    Spain Posted by Dani on Jun 30, 2005 at 2:29 PM
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