Four years ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders made headlines with a passionate, 8-hour speech on the Senate floor lambasting the Bush-era tax cuts and bemoaning the growing gap between rich and poor.Now Sanders, one of the Senate's two Independents, is taking that message on the road. On his itinerary: The early presidential primary states of Iowa and South Carolina.
On Wednesday Sanders was in Charlotte to accept an award from the American Legion during its national convention. Sanders, who chairs the Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee, was honored with the Legion's Patriot Award.
"The cost of war doesn't end when the last shots are fired or the last missiles are launched," he told the Legion audience. "The cost of war continues until the vet receives all of the benefits that he or she has earned."
But when Sanders' met with me, it wasn't veterans that he wanted to talk about. It was the same subject he talked about four years ago and one he's cared about for a long time.
"The main issue that I have is that in America today the middle-class is disappearing while the gap between rich and poor is growing wider," he said. "...We need more people in politics working for ordinary people and not just the top 1 percent."
Sanders, who turns 73 in two weeks, says he hasn't made up his mond about 2016. And he's under no illusions about the prospect for a Democratic Socialist from Vermont getting the nomination, particularly in a field that could include a well-funded Hillary Clinton.
"I realize I'm not a household name," says Sanders, who refuses corporate donations though he has taken money from organized labor.
But he thinks there might be an opening for somebody with the right message. And he's going around the country seeing if audiences agree.
"I think the average American is a lot more frustrated with the establishment than a lot of people perceive," he says. "I think there's receptivity for voices that are going to speak for a working class that is being battered."
6 comments:
What a shocker. The Observer is talking up the only Socialist in the Senate as the next President.
Hillary is certainly a water carrier for the 1%.
If Democrats had any integrity they'd have nominated Dennis Kucinich or Mike Gravel in 2008.
It will be interesting to see HRC fellate the military-industrial complex whilst Rand Paul captures the majority of Americans who are tired of dying for this or that sultan or sheik in the Middle East.
Of course. How brilliant. The ignorance of calling Independent Bernie Sanders a Socialist. Can't you guys come up with anything better? The ignorant schtick is getting tired.
That's a stupid post. They are simply reporting it because this guy was in Charlotte, receiving an award from Veterans I might add. The people who served don't mind what label his party is, they judge by his deeds..you should try it moron.
Actually calling him a socialist is being extremely generous as this rouge is a full fledged Marxist Fascist to the max
almost as bad as Karl Adolph Obama.
They all read out of their cherished Manifesto Bible.
Maybe Mel Watt could come home and run for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
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