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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn His First Appearance On Meet The Press, Bernie Sanders Terrifies The Koch Brothers
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/09/14/appearance-meet-press-bernie-sanders-terrifies-koch-brothers.htmlSanders continued, The Koch brothers are going to spend $400 million. Do you know what their agenda is? Do you know what they believe in? Let me tell you what they believe in. This is what they told us. They want to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. More tax breaks for the rich and large corporations. Nobody in America wants that except the billionaire class, and yet they are now able to put hundreds of billions of dollars into the political process. This is a real danger to American democracy.
Sen. Sanders talked about the profound anger in the country among Democrats and Republicans, and the fact that the candidate who can talk about middle-class issues will do pretty well....
The Koch agenda getting called out on the most mainstream of corporate media institutions was a big deal. It was also a sign the Citizens United is becoming a bigger issue. Sen. Sanders and others on the left have been good at connecting the dots. If voters want to know why their members of Congress arent listening to them and doing things that they oppose, the answer is Citizens United.
still_one
(92,061 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)It seems rather uninformed given that Bernie has exposed the Kochs on national tv as wanting to take away good government programs. Kochs are spending millions of dollars to get their way, and heretofore were flying under the radar.
Now comes Bernie. He has fired a missile into their flight path and any thing Kochs do will be seen as running scared, dripping political blood.
The US media are like sharks drawn to blood. So the Kochs will be relegated to scurrying back into the dark, only soon to have to face more missiles like those from Bernie and the rest of us looking for any angle to draw more blood from the Kochs via boycotts and standing up to them and their politics.
Of course, if one believe the Kochs can not be defeated, then they will sell Bernie short and claim the Kochs are too powerful to be contained?
still_one
(92,061 posts)defeated, and the 2008 election demonstrated that. I said I doubt the Koch brothers are terrified of Bernie or any Democrat for that matter.
The Koch brothers are quite ruthless, and ruthless people do not get "terrified"
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)You ever see a cornered rat? That would be the Koch's position.
still_one
(92,061 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Screw the Kochs. Reid has been on their asses, and now brave Bernie. Maybe the rest of the senate will get brave and help defeat Kochs? That Koch stuff is bad for you. Read it right here on DU and their products are now boycotted, whereas two years ago, whodathunkit?
Kochs are going down, man. And they know it, man. Gigs up. They probably have lost a few million already just due to DU. Everyone's onboard and were gonna get 'er dun.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)I doubt the KKKoch Brothers are terrified. They are too well insulated from the voices of us little people and hugely arrogant due to their wealth.
The only thing that is going to get their startled attention, is when their money-bought-and-paid-for-puppets...lose, all over the place. I say that is what will terrify them.
maindawg
(1,151 posts)Rethugs tied to Koch all lost huge. The teabaggers, remember them? Everyone knew they were the Koch stooges and they all lost.
Now people still know that the Kochs will run teabaggers again desquised as rethugs and they will lose. Hopefully.
still_one
(92,061 posts)mimi85
(1,805 posts)So GOTV - 2014!
progressoid
(49,951 posts)But for now, they have an open road.
still_one
(92,061 posts)"terrified" is not how I would describe the Koch brothers attitude toward Bernie or any Democrat
You are right also that a few billion would make it easier for Bernie to fight the lies and misinformation that I am sure the Koch brother's will spread if Bernie is the Democratic nominee
thesquanderer
(11,972 posts)grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)tridim
(45,358 posts)People who are content don't spend billions trying to change reality.
still_one
(92,061 posts)years.
BuelahWitch
(9,083 posts)in the New York Times, we'll know Bernie's hit a nerve.
The Kochs are like cockroaches, they don't like the light.
Uncle Joe
(58,297 posts)Thanks for the thread, KamaAina.
hopemountain
(3,919 posts)as he said the candidate who wins will speak to the middle class. i don't see any of the other potential democratic hopefuls able to do that as powerfully - except for joe biden - should he decide to run.
still_one
(92,061 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,297 posts)mimi85
(1,805 posts)No way on earth that Bernie will get the nomination. Love him, but he's too old and too polarizing.
still_one
(92,061 posts)happened, in spite of the big money behind Hillary at the time
Regardless, if Bernie was part of the debates it would at least keep the candidates focused, and actually could make Hillary not only a better candidate if she runs, but also more receptive to other points of view
Uncle Joe
(58,297 posts)awareness.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025542300
As for his age, that depends on his mental faculties remaining sharp, I believe they are now.
Regarding the issue of polarizing, 72% of Americans disapprove of the Republican Congress and Bernie is the least Republican.
azureblue
(2,145 posts)and he is - he will run as Hil's VP.
Raster
(20,998 posts)Gentlemen, please remove your hats.
riqster
(13,986 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)well, they're no friends of mine!
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... and if Bernie Sanders were to run and win, then "Pop goes the world!!!"
kairos12
(12,843 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)of folks who drop hundreds of millions of dollars without limit, in secrecy and protected by the mass media that relies on all those corporate and political ads.
The connections are actually pretty easy.
jillan
(39,451 posts)That is one of the things I love the most about Bernie.
When he speaks it is to speak out about issues that are important to him
If he speaks of another person it is to discuss facts about that person - quotes from their speeches, how they voted, where they put their money.
But to gossip? He won't go there.
Bernie is a class act and a fighter for democracy and fairness.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)Califa
(27 posts)behind his back. They laughed at him, put him down and dismissed Bernie as if a joke. For the most part I don't watch those shows but love Bernie so I watched but then changed the channel to the Alien conspiracy show on the history channel that has more truth than any Sunday morning political panel discussion.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)NBC and the rest have absolutely no interest in fairly debating the issues.
They have an agenda. That agenda is to promote the interests of the ultra wealthy and corporations at the expense of the American people.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)FlatStanley
(327 posts)Mock strong progressive legislators and provide gravitas for teabagging bozos.
Sanders will be Kuciniched and, sadly, Dems will participate in this exercise.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)Both the Prospect and Post recite the trite case demonstrating Kucinichs supposed weirdness. Hes friends with Shirley McLaine, who believes in reincarnation, and he once (according to McLaine) claimed to have an encounter with a UFO. Is any of that really any more strange than the litany of beliefs which the worlds major religions require? Is Barack Obama wacky because he claims to believe that Jesus turned water into wine, rose from the dead and will soon welcome him to heaven? Is Chuck Schumer bizarre because he seems to believe that theres some big fatherly figure sitting in the sky who spewed fire and brimstone at those who broke the laws he sent down on some stones and now hovers over him judging his every move? Is Harry Reid a weirdo because he apparently venerates as divine the visions of a man who had dozens of wives, including some already married to other men?
Neither the Prospect nor the Post would ever dare mock as wacky the belief in invisible judgmental father-figures in the sky or that rendition of life-after-death gospel because those belief systems have been deemed acceptable by establishment circles. Wacky, like its close cousin crazy, is a term of establishment derision exclusively reserved for those who deviate from such conventions. And thats the point worth making here: the real reason anyone with D.C. Seriousness, including many establishment liberals, relished mocking Kucinich is because he dissented from the orthodoxies of the two political parties. That, by definition, makes one wacky and weird, even when as is true for the Obama assassination powers and so many other bipartisan pieties the actual wacky and crazy beliefs are those orthodoxies themselves (weve seen this repeatedly with those who stray from two-party normalcy). In reality, the actual crazies are those who fit comfortably within that two-party mentality and rarely challenge or deviate from it, while those who are sane, by definition, dissent from it (just today, the Super Serious Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, a prime co-sponsor of the indefinite detention bill passed late last year, called for a naval blockade of Iran).
I find Sanders a lot less wacky than the majority of Democrats inside the Beltway.
radiclib
(1,811 posts)..Oh, wait. Asshat Libertarian messenger! Never mind..
roody
(10,849 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,494 posts)"Well you should have booked her on your show instead of me!" Bernie is too classy for that, but to sit there and try to use Bernie to create a controversy for Hillary instead of asking questions about Bernie running was the ultimate disrespect.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)If Hillary wants to run against Bernie Sanders the person, she can.
But Bernie will be running against bad ideas, bad policies, and bad government.
Nay
(12,051 posts)going on in this country and short-circuit the damned gossip and blather that has been passing for serious discussion.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Bernie needs to run! What's he got to loose? Nothing! Let's put it this way: It's now or never. And I hope he announces soon, as no one else has announced yet.
He could have the limelight until Hillary and others come out in January.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Give 'me hell Harry Reid is taking the Kochs behind the wood shed too.
GO Bernie, GO!
Initech
(100,041 posts)Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)I'd really like to hear what she has to say.
Kilgore
(1,733 posts)Why should she bite the hand that gives her cash?
Go see for yourself at,
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/obama-biden-schumer-and-hillary-clinton-took-koch-brothers-money
Notice Bernie IS NOT on the list!!
Go Bernie!!
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)I'm not sure how many people were heads-up about the Koch bros on those days.
Not to defend Clinton.....I can't stand her..... but I really don't think that 3500 dollars is going to sway her much.
Interestingly... only two senate DEMs took Koch money in 2014. ( Pryor was one; can't remember the other.)
Almost all their DC donations go to GOPers now.
I'd still like to hear her respond to Sanders, though. What COULD she say?
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)K and R
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Cha
(296,862 posts)Mahalo KamaAina
ladjf
(17,320 posts)of the Presidential campaign by distorted TV clips that claimed to show that he was some how irrational.
Within days, the public found out that the noise of the screaming crowd at his press conference was filtered out making it seem as though Dr. Dean was talking very loud for no logical reason. In fact, he was enthusiastically talking to his supporters in a crowed hotel ball room. But, by that time they had already sabotaged his campaign.,
Sen. Sanders has gone much further in attacking the oligarchs than Gov. Dean did. Somehow, the American people will need to recognize if and when Sen. Sanders is assailed by those who fear the power of his message.
America desperately needs an honest, knowledgeable and courageous person to lead us out of the worst political mess in our history. Many of us feel that the Senator meets those requirements. I suggest that we fight for him, support him and vote for him.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)voters and keep them informed of the lengths the PTB will go to, to eliminate Bernies rationality, we may stand a chance. God I hope so. IMO, Bernie is the catalyst that this nation desperately needs.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)of the crooks on the money side. They can and do anything to thwart obstacles to the complete control of power.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)If the Koch Brothers stand in our way the American people will be forced to boycott their products, their corporations.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)EEO
(1,620 posts)NorthCarolina
(11,197 posts)establishment in DC. Trading votes for gold to benefit the 1% has become the ideal in American little "d" democracy, and it makes our elected officials amongst the wealthiest in the world. Bernie directly, and more importantly Verbally, threatens that establishment. Those in power are not going to give up their cushy meal ticket willingly.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)There is no indication that Sanders is terrifying the Koch brothers.
Autumn
(44,984 posts)that's the actual title of the dang article.
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)It's annoying. I can usually tell it's a politicsusa link just by the thread title.
tartan2
(314 posts)when I saw the political tv ad exposing Teri Lynn Land and her connection to the Koch Industries. The ad goes after the Koch Brother/Industries and shows their ties to Teri Lynn Land.
samsingh
(17,593 posts)i would expect such a decision by a dictatorship