What will happen if mainstream media tries to take down Bernie like it did Howard Dean...

[yurbud]

with the "Dean Scream" and it doesn't work?

I have suspected that a day will come when the mainstream media and its manufactured conventional wisdom would not influence enough people to change the course of events.

With Bernie's poll numbers in spite of being a dreaded "socialist," it looks like that day is getting a lot nearer.

How will the financial and political elite control the game then?

[clydefrand]

1. As far as Bernie goes, the 'elite' aren't

going to 'control the game'. I sure hope this is the beginning of the 'people' TAKING back
their government. Woopeeeee!!!

[hootinholler]

2. IF?

When is more like it. I don't think Bernie is relying on the press for publicity. But it does mean that we will have to work harder to get his message out there.

[cprise]

16. Yes, they will have an idiotic media frenzy moment

...shocked, SHOCKED I SAY, at his behavior!

The Fox people will be consciously looking for the 'faux faux-pas', many of the other infotainment creeps will go along with it out of instinct.

[fadedrose]

36. So far

The TV hosts and hostesses I've seen are impressed with Bernie's crowds and with how close he has come to Clinton's rating in such a short time.

They seem like they are FOR him, without saying it...

But the cutting will come behind the scene and may already be in progress, who knows? Dean was sky high one day, and knocked down the same night.
The insidious word of mouth campaign in Iowa did him in. He is unelectable they said, and they are the experts.

[Wellstone ruled]

51. Howard Dean was taken out by Fox News.

Remember the Microphone,that was a noise canceling Mic. Notice zero crown noise,nothing nadda back ground noise. But,Roger Ailies won the day,and no one figured it out. Duped again by one of the most infamous dirty tricksters in the Business.

[cascadiance]

52. I know someone who attended that speech and verified that this was funny microphone business...

It magnified his voice over the crowd's noise. He was yelling like anyone would have with the noise that was there then.

[Wellstone ruled]

53. Deans Campaign got had on that one and they never

ever were able to bounce back. It was purposely done by Fake Noise. Talked to several people who were in the Hall and said the same as you. And they to a person said it was a set up. Just watching the floor directors for Fox was the tip.

[hibbing]

54. total hit job

Heck he was excited, I thought it was funny and showed emotion, but the way it was manipulated like he was unhinged was a total hit job. Of course the corporate media all played it about 300 times a day.

Peace

[Wellstone ruled]

57. Yes bigtime Hit Job.

And with all of the Super Charged Positives in the Hall,everyone including Campaign Dean missed the Mic switch. No sound checks.

[karynnj]

61. was this even unusual?

I have watched many speeches given and I think something like that is the norm. Even when Obama led the church singing Amazing Grace, you could barely here the congregation join him.

[Dream Girl]

3. The Koch brothers would be delighted to see Sanders as the Democratic nominee

[winter is coming]

11. No. They'd rather see many of the things that Sanders is talking about not discussed at all.

They'd rather have a Dem nominee who'll advocate for more trickle-down. It may get a shiny new wrapper, but it'll still be the old "feasts for the rich, crumbs for the poor" mindset.

[Nay]

12. Are you joking? They don't want Sanders' ideas to even enter the ears of any voter.

They know that propaganda usually wins, but it loses if a truly honest person can challenge them. They don't even want him near the electorate and hope he runs out of money ASAP.

[cprise]

17. Hillary would have highly publicized, soft anti-oligarch reforms on one hand

...and on the other hand would completely neutralize those reforms (and more) with secret international treaties.

That is what Obama is actually doing now, and I'm positive Mrs. NAFTA Walmart would be much, much worse.

[frylock]

24. So would I!

#feelthebern

[JustAnotherGen]

25. I agree n/t

[daleanime]

26. Really?

[Bjorn Against]

4. I think Bernie is a much better candidate than Dean was

Bernie has shown himself to be very effective at responding to the attacks against him, the guy has a real talent for answering the question without letting the question distract from the issues he is running on. The media has already tried to drag him down in interviews and when they have tried the interviewer has came out looking bad and Bernie came out great. The guy is a master at handling the media.

[BeyondGeography]

7. They both have short fuses

You can take the New Yorkers out of New York...

Bernie has a temper, will display it without much provocation and needs to avoid a meltdown. If I had my heart set on him winning the nomination (I might if I thought he had a chance, but I really don't), this is what I would worry about the most. Other than his overly dour demeanor and his reluctance to smile more often. Can somebody work a joke into the stump speech? And not a snarky, Brooklyn joke either.

You might think this is all too superficial, but I've read a lot of comparisons on this board about Bernie pulling a Barack on Hillary. The biggest differences between the two are presentation and temperament, not policy.

[MADem]

27. """"The biggest differences between the two are presentation and temperament, not policy.""""

It's so nice to see a litttle ANALYSIS on the board every so often, rather than the usual "GRR! GRR!" stuff.

You nailed it.

[daleanime]

28. And any kind of disagreement will be blown totally out of proportion....

so?

[truebluegreen]

58. Biggest differences between which two?

Barack and Hillary? Bernie and Barack? Bernie and Hillary?

[yurbud]

8. Two differences between Bernie and Dean: Dean was closer to a traditional Democrat...

and eleven years ago, the MSM had more juice.

Dean's positions weren't what scared the elites. It was that he got as far as he did without their blessing and support. He wasn't owned. He did it with OUR support not theirs.

Bernie is doing it without their support and blessing AND he has a more "radical" agenda.

[OilemFirchen]

14. "Bernie is doing it without their support and blessing..."

He's been on more network shows since his announcement than all of the other Democratic candidates combined.

Seriously. When does this particular whine stop?

[MADem]

29. He's doing it entirely with their support--if they didn't have him on their shows, he wouldn't be

getting much air time at all.

It doesn't make sense to claim he's not availing himself of every opportunity to go on TV that he can find--he's been on every network, even Fox news, since he announced--and in some cases more than once. His publicity team is keeping him busy.

[fadedrose]

37. Bernie's problem is not the MSM

It's the DLC, or whatever it is calling itself now.

That's what did Dean in.

[m-lekktor]

34. I never understood why many considered Dean a lefty. I never thought he was.

Friends of mine in Vermont complained about him back then for the same reasons we complain about "third way" types now.

[fadedrose]

38. He strongly opposed Bush and Cheney's war

and was for health care. He was more moderate than Bernie, but the war thing was a big item, still is...

I'd like to know who the most Dove leaning candidates are, with the exception of those wanting to defeat ISIS.

Please no more nation-building and leaders deposed (well, maybe Syria, have to think more about that).

[villager]

5. Bernie will need to watch out for private planes, parade routes in Dallas, and other "coincidental"

...events that always historically benefit -- coincidentally! -- the same 1% busy resisting change...

[daleanime]

30. And sadly.....

that's not a joke.

[villager]

33. it sure as hell isn't

structural reformation of economic power isn't allowed in this country...

[fadedrose]

39. Are you remembering a guy named Paul?

Paul Wellstone? Let's all pray for Bernie....

[Thor_MN]

6. The mainstream media is going to try to take any Democratic candidiate down.

That is why there are 3 in the Democratic race and they have to take off their shoes to count Republican candidates.

[daleanime]

31. That, and the fact that republicans.....

find it very profitable to run for office.

[truebluegreen]

59. Yup. Wingnut Welfare,

now with Billionaire Backers! Everyone can play!

[fadedrose]

40. I think they want more formidable candidates

who can take on the competition. Reporters love tight races - it's good for the news programs and arguments that guests have...

[Thor_MN]

42. The GOP has 31 candidates and 4 more that are potentials

That is not a tight race. I think they either are trying to obfuscate with bullshit or they really don't have anyone qualified. Neither would surprise me.

[fadedrose]

48. the more of them that campaign

the worse their attacks on our frontrunner will be....

It would be best to ignore them. That almost always works best.

[karynnj]

9. The Dean scream happened after he lost a primary he was projected to win - with Kerry getting over

twice the number of people caucusing for him than Dean got. It is also likely the FIRST time it was played, there was absolutely nothing planned about it at all. Have you ever seen an event where the speaker was NOT wired and amplified over the crowd noise? Even Trippi, in his book, spoke of Dean having problems early in 2004 dealing with being the front runner.

The iowa loss could be put down to many things - Kerry winning many when he spoke face to face with them, and Gephardt and Dean essentially killing each other with nasty ads. Dean also had a very bad debate where he complained that he did not like being a pin cushion with everyone attacking him.

In reality, this was a case of one candidate greatly exceeding expectations -- and another greatly underperforming. This led to Kerry getting the momentum that every Iowa winner gets in NH. Here, from polls it is likely that he got a huge amount of the remaining Clark vote and the undecided - many of whom had gone from Clark to undecided as he imploded. Dean's numbers in NH really did not fall all that much after Iowa. It did allow Kerry to easily pass him.

After he lost in NH too, he announced he was not contesting the states up next - as they were not a good fit for a New Englander and Trippi had managed to spend the huge sum raised in contesting Iowa and NH. The gamble failed when Kerry won 5 of the 7. (NM, AZ, MO, DE, ND -- and came in close in OK where Clark won and SC where Edwards won. At that point, Kerry was a strong frontrunner.

[yurbud]

19. that scream was played over and over and over and over and over again...

to the point that was all low information voters knew about him.

If he was already toast, they wouldn't have bothered.

[karynnj]

23. Another possibility - what would have been the coverage if not the scream?

The scream was real hard to watch for people - and I include myself - who admire Dean. However, if you look at polls, you don't see his numbers in NH imploding - in fact, he lost a huge amount of support in late 2003 mostly to Clark. So, he was already below his peak in NH.

Kerry's gaining many Clark people and many of the undecideds (some of whom were likely people that might have gone from Dean to Clark and were at the time of Iowa undecided.) Kerry was a known quality and liked in NH, but he had been given NO chance to win by the media for months. The national media ignored that he was gaining support in Iowa - until he decisively won.

Most of the coverage after a primary, especially Iowa is usually on the winner. Yet, on that evening, I saw the Kerry victory statement - given to a crowd that included lots of vets and political officials from MA, who spent months there on their own dime - and people like Rassmann (the man JK saved) and Max Cleland - a fraction of the times I saw the Dean scream. If anything, Dean managed to step on Kerry's (and Edward's) unexpected strength -- though clearly not in any way he would have wanted.

Had that not happened, he still would have had some real tough media. As he and Gephardt were supposed to win the secondary story would be why they didn't. The nasty ads would have been mentioned. In addition, I suspect that two clips - from the same day - less than a week before the caucus were part of the answer. I saw them many times back to back on cable news - Kerry at a Youthbuild event surprised by Rassman saying anyone would have done what he did -- and Dean telling a 70 year old heckler to sit down. The first could have been a Frank Kapra scene in a movie, the second a very unfortunate incident that happens when people are filmed 12 plus hours a day. Had there been no Dean scream, I suspect what we would have seen was a series of all the low moments in the Dean campaign - including that one. (Note the media can edit any campaign to be a failure or a success - after the result is known. Just include all the bad (or all the good) moments.

Losing Iowa to Kerry -- no matter what the media did -- was likely to give Kerry NH. Note the same might not have been true of Edwards or Gephardt, but with him actually having a far worse showing than anyone expected, there was absolutely no reason to think that however it was reported would lead to him gaining support in NH.

[fadedrose]

41. I saw that debate

and he was used as a pincushion. I remember it sadly still. The candidates never addressed each other with questions, it was always Dean.

Barbara Lee was the only civil candidate on that stage.

It was so phony and fixed (in my opinion).

[karynnj]

43. You mean Carole Mosley Braun, Lee was not a candidate

I saw the debate as well and it was very typical of a debate where this is a front runner. In a race like that, with a front runner, but many with the possibility to rise to the top given how early it was and where they were - this is the norm. Why did the 2008 candidates in 2007, all jump on things HRC did? Can you picture Kerry whining about being a pin cushion when attacked? The "pins" here were minuscule compared to what happens in the general election.

Not to mention, I completely disagree with the characterization that the others were not civil. (It is hard to get more consistently civil than John Kerry.) Not to mention, at that point in the campaign, Kerry and Edwards were being positive, while Dean and Gephardt threw mud at each other. Dean's campaign had launched a series of down right dishonest ads against Gephardt, who responded in kind.

Gephardt, the son of a milk man, progressive, strongly supported by labor candidate was attacked by Dean as having voted against either Medicare or Medicaid because there was some bill that for other reasons he voted against. Gephadt's equally unfair response was to speak of Dean cutting the VT part of Medicaid back, ignoring that Dean had to balance a budget.

Iowa is retail politics and very hard for anybody to fix. Note that HRC, with all her media and party support in 2008, came in third.

[fadedrose]

49. Thank you for the correction

I saw the debate, and there was a beautiful woman seeking the nomination who was in the debate. I never saw her again after that and couldn't remember who or what her name and position were...

Then one day I saw Barbara Lee speaking in Congress....another beautiful lady, and I thought to myself, "that must have been her." Unfortunately, nobody was here watching TV with me who knew any better, so I was not corrected and stayed confused about the two women.

They are both beautiful and articulate. Neither is easy to forget and I'm glad you found Carole for me. She's been missing in the action of my mind and it's high time she took her place in the debate of my memory.

Sincerely, thank you again...

[karynnj]

62. she was the first black woman in the Senate

She represented Illinois.

[Egnever]

10. Dean was the frontrunner when he was taken down

Polling numbers don't mean anything. And while the media doesn't have as much control as it used to we are a long way from them not being able to control the narrative yet.

I know this because as someone who cut my cable over ten years ago now it is glaringly obvious every time the TV starts pushing something. This place that likes.to pretend it is full of independent thought is immediately focused on what the TV is telling them to focus on.

I can't even count how many times over the last year I have watched ridiculous distractions become the only thing talked about here. The ebola nonsense is a perfect example of the media turning this place into a total freak show of paranoia simply because the TV was filling people's heads with nonsense.

We still have a long way to go before the media influence is reduced to a level that a candidate can't be destroyed at will.

[yurbud]

13. some are likely paid to repeat MSM talking points here

since they seem to be word for word the glib, smooth, but vacuous and evidence free crap.

[karynnj]

63. that may be the silliest thing I have read here today

Why would anyone in 2015 even care what is said about a candidate who lost out before the first vote was cast in 2004?

[yurbud]

64. I'm speaking more generally in reply to post 10.

There are such things as pay to post jobs and the military even has "persona management" software to easily appear as tens of different people at a time.

I doubt PR firms would let that capability go to waste.

[karynnj]

70. Not in 2004 - even most major candidates incorrectly thought that the internet was not "real"

This place was very very Dean friendly. There really were very few people attacking him here. Some people preferred other candidates, but it was much much tougher to be a Gephardt or Kerry supporter here. Dean had a huge amount of support from the then rather narrow people blogging on the internet. As you can see, many of these people were involved enough to go to Iowa, but they really were not that culturally attuned to that population. ( On the other hand, many long time MA officials, firemen, and MA vets showed up for Kerry - they and the candidate himself - was better at appealing to Iowans. )

Note, as Dean DOMINATED the internet boards, does it make sense to claim paid posters hurt him? If you are speaking of now, it is hard to figure out why anyone would pay something to distort why a candidate who only won the VT primary - after he was out of the race - lost. He lost because he did not have the votes.

[yurbud]

71. Please read excerpt of reply #10 I was responding to

I know this because as someone who cut my cable over ten years ago now it is glaringly obvious every time the TV starts pushing something. This place that likes.to pretend it is full of independent thought is immediately focused on what the TV is telling them to focus on.

I was not saying that paid posters necessarily hurt Dean, but making a broader point about post #10's perception of DU hopping on the MSM conventional wisdom bandwagon.

[karynnj]

72. Right -- but ... think back to mid 2003, when suddenly the media had a huge burst of coverage of

Dean. Simultaneously, they stopped referring to Kerry as antiwar, which they had for the first 5 months of 2003 - in spite of his vote. Dean was cast as a non mainstream man speaking of the people have the power. This was Dean, a moderate governor of Vermont, who had been part of a team that worked with HRC in 1993 on healthcare. This was Dean, who voted for a rather conservative incumbent Democrat rather than for Bernie when he first ran for mayor -- though he said his wife did!

Why NOT argue that the internet popularity of Dean was also something that was based on the media and many positions that Trippi pushed him to take in 2003 -- note that many things said and done by Edwards 2008 sounded like Dean -- consider both had Trippi managing their campaigns -- and both times crashing them, especially Dean's. (You can blame Trippi for Dean being out of money after NH, even though he GREATLY out raised others - and spent the most money in Iowa. )

[yurbud]

73. those are good points (unrelated to paid trolls)

[BuelahWitch]

18. I seem to remember Dean talking about

splitting up the big media conglomerates in December of 2003 (before Iowa, anyway). Then came the caucus loss and the "scream" and he was pretty much done for. I still get sad thinking about it.

[Pastiche423]

47. Good memory

On December 1, 2013 while on the Tweety show, Howard said, "We're going to break up the giant media enterprises."

It took the MSM less than a month after that statement to destroy Dean's run for the presidency.

[karynnj]

44. Iowa and NH are probably the two tests that are least controlled by media

The fact is that Dean was slipping from being the frontrunner in late 2003. Nationally, he was losing support to Clark, until Clark himself imploded shortly before Iowa. To me, that suggests that people were still looking for a candidate.

Kerry had less media support than any of the other top tier candidates. The main reasons he made the national news in late 2003 were that he loaned his campaign $6 million and speculation of when he would drop out. Dean meanwhile got the cover of the three most prominent news magazines simultaneously in August 2003 - had that been another candidate you would likely have spoken of media influence. After the election, I watched a 2003 JK NH visit filmed by CSPAN. At a few points media came over - only to ask him about Dean each time - and about Dean, Clinton and Gore another time.

I suspect that the powers that be actually did not care all that much about the Democratic nomination in 2003. Bush was well over 60% even in December. I would guess that it was only in early 2004 did it even seem likely a Democrat could win - and in a poll before Iowa , Dean was still losing by a pretty big margin to Bush -- worse than when asked about generic Democrat. (Kerry was not polled at that point.)

You say you didn't listen to the media. However, you were obviously influenced by what you read here -- in a not very representative forum - even when one is speaking just of the Democratic party.

[socialist_n_TN]

15. I'm sure we'll see the answer to this question soon.........

One way or another.

[Sancho]

20. If Bernie gets traction, you will see mainstream "investigations" and attacking guests.

Right now, he's not worth the money and effort. Also, there's years of GOP build up to go after Hillary so there is little momentum for other Democratic candidates.

At some point, you may see more "Jewish" themes; "socialist" will be a big one. Personal attacks on Bernie's wife and her problems. We've already seen "gun support" and "amateur economist" in minor attacks. Most of that will come from other Democratic candidate's PACs, not from the right wing media or GOP.

At any rate, there are certainly some news hounds running around now looking for a big scandal or scoop about Bernie. The main time to reveal those stories is some lead up closer to the primary at the height of coverage - then the dirty news will get the most play.

There is no question that much of the main stream media loves to attack Democrats. Interviews with insane GOP operatives and minor politicians seems to be a daily occurrence, but they haven't focused on Bernie. Frankly, they would rather help Bernie defeat Hillary because he's not a viable opponent in a general election.

[Le Taz Hot]

21. That wasn't the mainstream media taking down Dean,

that was the corporatist Democrats taking him down. The media are merely lackeys for the .001% as are the major political parties. I keep warning about this. Bernie has nothing to fear from the Republicans. He has, however, a need to fear the corporate Democrats as they will do ANYTHING to bring him down. Anything.

[karynnj]

45. So, they took down a moderate Vermont governor to give the nomination to the

man who chaired investigations into BCCI and the illegal funding of the Contras? Trippi and then Bush/Cheney tried to play that card in 2003/2004 and Kerry responded by putting out the full list of lobbyists that he had spoken to since 1989.
[div class = "excerpt"]
But the questions came to a momentary halt on April 22, 2004, when Kerry’s staff released a list of nearly 200 “official meetings” that he’d had with lobbyists since 1989. The 11-page document, though likely incomplete, was unprecedented. In releasing the list, Kerry, by all accounts, became not only the first presidential candidate, but also the first Capitol Hill lawmaker, to make such a disclosure. The genesis of what grew to become a three-month staff inquiry into his schedules was a simple but unexpected promise Kerry had made in mid-January: “I will happily release any lobbyist meeting I’ve ever had, because I’m not ashamed of them,” he said during an appearance on ABC’s This Week. “Anybody I’ve ever met with, I’m not ashamed of.”


http://toughdonkey.blogspot.com/2008/03/kerry-precedent.html

Incidentally NONE of the 2008 or 2012 candidates followed that example.

[Le Taz Hot]

46. Would that be the same nominee

that managed to lose against the worst. president. ever?

Yeah, that'd be the one.

[JI7]

50. and dean lost to him

So doesn't say much about Dean who is now supporting Hillary.

But keep pretending he is the only one that has been attacked by the media.

[karynnj]

56. yes, but there is no reason to assume Dean would

Have done better. In fact, if there had been enough inner city voting machines in Ohio, Kerry would have pulled off a huge upset. Even after the media condoned character assassinations of both JK andTHK.

[azmom]

66. We can fight them with social

Media. Wish we could get old people to start using Twitter.

[Le Taz Hot]

67. Lots of "old people" use Twitter.

This "old people" (and thanks, by the way for summing up my entire existence with one term) chooses not to engage as, at 60 years old, my days are already 12-16 hours long and I'm too flipping tired to spend time reading what someone had for lunch at the local burger joint.

And get off my lawn!

[azmom]

68. Old people like us will vote for Bernie

Because of his stance on Senior issues. He actually believes we should be able to retire.

Can you believe that radical idea?

[Le Taz Hot]

69. What are you, some kind of commie pinko freak?

Damned anarchists!

[brooklynite]

22. Considering that the mainstream media DIDN'T try to take down Dean...

...it's not really relevant.

Dean was already on his way to losing (a mediocre third place in Iowa) by the time the Dean scream happened, and the New Hampshire Primary was too close to Iowa for it to have any influence on votes -- add to which, Dean had a mediocre campaign organization in New Hampshire.

Add to which, if Dean was such an anti-establishment crusader, why is he now "Ready for Hillary"?

But don't let me get in the way of a good conspiracy theory...

[MADem]

32. Those Orange Hat volunteers ruined it for Dean.

They made his campaign look like a cultish high school exercise, they were rude to the locals in Iowa, and the Didn't Show Up in ways that were useful--but they did manage to appear ...pushy, and rude.

It's a sad thing when supporters of a candidate end up ruining that candidate's reputation. Not the first time this sort of thing has happened, and won't be the last, either...!

http://www.salon.com/2004/02/03/trippi_neel/

Worse, the abundant orange hats in Iowa created the impression that the Dean campaign was less concerned with the issues that mattered to Iowa’s Democrats than the enthusiasm of the non-Iowa political tourists. The campaign wasn’t oriented in the local, native way that best resonates with actual caucus-goers. In an obvious change of tone, Dean’s New Hampshire state director, Karen Hicks, made plain to the media that the only orange hats in her state arrived on the heads of people who came from Iowa.

http://www.salon.com/2004/01/20/orangehats/

An estimated 3,500 or more earnest Dean ground troops were in the corn-belt state last week, during the cold heart of winter, for a precinct-by-precinct effort to turn on and turn out Dean voters. They were known as “The Perfect Storm,” or, among journalists on the trail, as “the orange hats.” Bright with the light of common faith, that volunteer corps was supposed to provide Dean with the margin of his success. No other campaign could match those numbers or that degree of commitment, the pundits said.

But it didn’t work.

Maybe it’s unfair to blame the hats, but put yourself in the boots of an average Iowa Democrat a few days before the caucus. The campaign is so intense that it has become a form of political harassment. Your phone rings every 10 minutes with an automated robo-call on behalf of one candidate or another. Your mailbox is jammed with political junk mail. Then comes a knock on your door and there you find a couple of committed campaigners from Park Slope or Noe Valley or Wicker Park telling you that Howard Dean is your man. And they’re wearing these really loud orange caps.

How would you react if a bunch of Iowans invaded your neighborhood like that? Now you’re beginning to understand what might’ve happened to Dean on Monday.

[Kalidurga]

35. I suspect that Bernie is going to win the nomination.

At that point the media will be behind him just enough to ensure their place to have access to the White House.

[jwirr]

55. We will stand with him. We are more mature now than we were then.

[azmom]

65. Social media will be the key to

Fight mass media propaganda.

[Nye Bevan]

60. I think Bernie will be very careful not to scream.

[ZX86]

74. I still don't get it.

This was a non-issue. He screamed at a rally. Not a funeral. That's what goes on at rallies. Balloons, streamers, loud noises. The problem was Dean capitulated. He should have just said, "Yeah, I screamed. So what?"

That's the problem with Democrats. They buy into the narrative then profusely apologize for being a Democrat. And this is where Bernie excels.


“And if we know that in countries, in Scandinavia, like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, they are very democratic countries, obviously. The voter turnout is a lot higher than it is in the United States. In those countries, health care is the right of all people. And in those countries, college education, graduate school is free.”

When Stephanopoulos jokes that the GOP will be all over him for daring to say we should be more like Scandinavian countries, Sanders defiantly declares:

“That’s right. And what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong when you have more income and wealth equality? What’s wrong when they have a stronger middle class in many ways than we do, higher minimum wage than we do, and they are stronger on the environment than we do?”

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/05/06/sanders-socialism-scandinavia-stephanopoulos/