October 15, 2015

Democratic Socialism Explained

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/14/9530787/socialism-history-explained

This is such a GREAT article and one that I will use to explain to my friends who don't understand. Definitely worth a thorough read by everyone in this group to better explain Sander's position and exactly WHY he identifies as a Democratic Socialist.

October 14, 2015

What really defines who won or lost the debate

First of all, we never really know who won or lost for a few days. (minimum of 3)

Even though there may be indicators, like google searches, added twitter followers, a huge uptick in campaign donations and talking heads all claiming this or that, half of who usually look pretty dumb a few days later...

The truth is in the polls.

There are also different definitions of victory. Here is my take on Victory for each candidate.

Clinton.

Did her debate performance convince Biden to stay out or jump in? If Biden jumps in, she faces a big bleed of support.
Was she able to appeal to the progressive base and frame her message to stop the drift of the party to Sanders? The test on this is whether or not her poll numbers stay steady, right where they are. We should see some polling by Friday, maybe.

Money and Activism: Did the debate garner more of both?

Sanders.

Did his debate performance serve as an introduction of the candidate to those who don't really know him? That is a yes, just by his being there.
Did he do a good job with the whole 'socialist' thing? Be honest here, it is too early to tell. If sanders sees a post debate momentum swing upward in the polls, this answer is really, "He made progress on that one"

Money and Activism: Did the debate garner more of both?

O'Malley.

Did his debate performance serve as an introduction of the candidate to those who don't really know him? That is a yes, just by his being there. He had the best closing statement of all of the candidates, it was pretty inspiring.

Will his poll numbers rise as well?

Money and Activism: Did the debate garner more of both?

Webb and Chaffee

Money and Activism: Did the debate garner more of both? I only put this here, because if he doesn't get more of both immediately, they will drop out soon.

If Hillary's poll numbers start declining any further, she did not win this debate, period.

If Sanders continues to surge in the polls and raises a great deal of money, as well as fire up or sway more voters, he won, period.

Bottom line is this....we don't know yet. We really don't.

Yeah and I hate the wait.

October 14, 2015

The Candidate Breaking Through in the Debate

Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/13/the-candidate-breaking-through-in-the-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders/

For the non-Hillary Rodham Clinton, non-Bernie Sanders Democrats participating in the first debate on Tuesday night, there was one goal: Get noticed. A look at the candidates being searched on Google during the debate shows that one candidate managed to do that.

Bernie Sanders.

October 14, 2015

Weighing in on the debate...

just cuz I want to

Okay, at first I thought that every single question was designed as a gotchya at Bernie, but the more I watched cooper challenged all of them, so I was kind of okay with the questions.

I thought Bernie did really well overall and got his message across and will lose no steam. I liked that the debate stayed mainly to the issues.

Ok so...

Chaffee....he has to be done, just the I was brand new to the Senate so I voted that way...um....Cooper was right to do a "say what???

Webb....maybe in the 90s...third way, all the way...no thank you.

O'Malley...honestly, best closing statement of the night, it really rocked, but the Baltimore thing really hurt him.

Clinton...I felt like on too many questions she continued to thread the needle..."So are you a moderate or are you a progressive?" "I'm both...." There was some real damage there. Even afterwards, Begala was a complete spin fail, virtually thanking Bernie for calling bullshit on the email stuff.

Sanders....ok, going to be honest, there were a few times he frightened me, he took some NRA hits even though I completely understood his rural vs urban viewpoint which made sense at the time. He nailed it completely on Black Lives Matter. He could have gone a bit further on Immigration and mentioned more about how immigrants are a benefit, not a liability to the country (like he did in Tucson). His move to Cuomo for a post interview was BRILLIANT and he basically got 5 extra minutes of Free debate time to clarify and further his message. I also think that American democratic voters have to be thinking..Damn I need to take a closer look at this guy.

The vote on the Patriot Act was marvelous....it was 99 to 1....Bernie: "I was the one" That is visionary and it is also someone not afraid to stand up for Constitutional principles in the US.

Bernie won. You know why?

Because, I am sending him another $100 tonight. I KNOW I am not alone. I am so going to love watching his poll numbers jump.

October 10, 2015

Last night Bernie Sanders was on Fire

and Tucson felt the Bern!

You know I have to report here.

I brought an old friend of mine to see his first political rally ever. He is a teacher in AZ making $35,000 a year with a family to support as the sole earner. He has a special needs daughter and faces a lot of medical expenses each year and even with good healthcare this puts him just barely above the poverty line here. He was excited to go and experience something new and was on the fence between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

We arrived late and skirted the back of the crowd looking for a small bump that might allow us to see the stage, but all we could see were the people back dropping the speakers, barely. Looking around the crowd and knowing that one stadium up in Phoenix holds about 19,000, my guess was that the crowd size had swelled to around 9 to 10,000, but one speaker reported over 11K. It didn't matter there were a lot of people here per capita for a smaller town like Tucson, this was an enormous turnout bolstered by people coming from as faraway as Las Vegas and all over Arizone.

Other's have reported on the early speakers, some could be heard from the back and others couldn't. Then Bernie came on and the crowd lit up. Some of them actually lit up...

Bernie Sanders touched on every single issue in his platform and more. A few moments in to his speech he paused to acknowledge the two shootings on college campuses and said that while the families had all of our thought and prayers, that this was no longer enough. That real gun control measures must be put in place beginning with the obvious ones like closing gun show loopholes as well as increasing funding for mental health services. Tucson has certainly been touched by this kind of gun violence in the recent past and the crowd definitely showed their approval here.

He also spoke about Immigration and keeping families together. He spoke of his active engagement in writing comprehensive Immigration reform to allow the millions of people here to stay together. He spoke of family values and defined exactly what Republicans mean when they speak of family values, that they believe women should not have control over their own bodies as well as many other points completely debunking any notion that Republicans actually have one iota of support for families. He talked about the Dream Act as an example of a family value. He also said that immigrants to this country should be welcome and told a story of his family's immigration to the United States, how his Dad worked low wage jobs and they lived in a rent control apartment in New York always dreaming of owning a home, which never happened for them, but they did live the dream of getting two kids to college.

Then Bernie began talking about the middle class and the poor. He began by listing off a number of things that are needed to address income inequality, talking about how we can lift people out poverty and revitalize a disappearing middle class in this country. He spoke about making college tuition FREE in this country. He spoke about jobs and infrastructure. He went through a long list of things that would truly help restore us as the greatest, most prosperous nation on earth and then...he said..."yes, but you may ask how are we going to pay for all of this?" and what came next was I thought one of his best lines of the night among many...."Well". he said..."In 2008, the American People bailed out Wall Street, when I am President it will be time for Wall Street to bail out the American People!"

Oh fuck, yeah.

He spoke about equal pay for women, he spoke about equal rights for the LBGT community, he spoke about teachers and how poorly teachers are paid in this country.....I looked over at my guest and watched him yell out for the first time all night...."Hell yes!" He was felling the Bern.

Over an hour, Bernie Sanders covered just about every major domestic political topic in the US right now. I could not object to anything he had to say. I did try and take pictures, and as I went around to the side, I could see Bernie. There were also a ton of volunteers out with their laptops signing people up at Bernie's website. It was pretty much a seamless event. although with the overflow crowd, it could have used a few more speakers in the back.

For some perspective, Tucson is a city of just over 500,000 people. Several months ago, Phoenix drew 11,000 Sander's supporters. Phoenix is a city of 1.5 million people. A crowd of 11,000 in Tucson relates to that event as a 3 to 1 turnout per capita or is equivalent to turning out 33,000 in Phoenix....I wonder if the next Phoenix rally will hit those numbers....
Make no mistake, this is not just a campaign, it is a real movement.

As far as the crowd there goes...this is early in a campaign. A good number of these people will influence their friends and neighbors, they will deliver literature, contribute in small amounts, phone bank, volunteer, hold debate watch parties (which are springing up all over AZ and the rest of the country).

In other words...Bernie Sander's fire shot flames right off of that small stage into the crowd and put fire in everyone's bellies....That is how you feel the Bern!

October 9, 2015

I am going to see Bernie tomorrow!

Oh and I am driving to another part of Arizona in the morning to pick up a friend who started out supporting Hillary because he didn't think Bernie could get elected being a socialist and all....well, he has come full circle and now feels the Bern and is really excited to go. He is a major influencer and very religious and I think the fact that Bernie Sanders gave a speech at Liberty University as well as hearing about the crowds and enthusiasm, along with reading Bernie's platform, well that got him. You see, my friend SHOULD be solidly in the middle class, but he isn't because he happens to be a teacher in Arizona. Arizona does not pay teachers enough to be considered middle class if they are the sole earner in a family.

I know this event will be important and will be focused on latino outreach, but all of us have this thing in common regarding economic fairness. The only person to crush the new gilded age is Bernie and US. Shout out if you will be there!


Tucson Sanders Event Update


https://www.facebook.com/events/1632302203712287/

1,984 signed up....just on FB. Event site can accommodate 7K.....

Please join Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and local leaders for a rally in Tucson to discuss the major issues facing our country.

Please RSVP in order to attend: http://bernie.to/RSVP-Tucson

Parking
Parking for the event will be limited, but includes all available parking at Reid Park. Please note, however, that the parking lot immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive will be closed for this event.

ADA Parking and Entrance
There will be a designated ADA drop-off location and entrance immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive. Please note this is for drop-off only, and ADA designated parking will be located at the parking lot between S Country Club Road and Bucky Steele Drive. This will be available to cars with officially issued AZ disability placards and plates only.

Attendee Entrances
Entrances to the event will be located at the band shell plaza on S Concert Place, and on the Country Club Road side of the band shell. All attendees will be required to enter through one of these entrances.

Doors Open
Entrance to the event area will not be open until 6:00pm. Attendees arriving earlier may wait in line prior to 6:00pm.

October 8, 2015

Omaha Steve Money Bomb for Bernie

http://www.democraticunderground.com/~Omaha%20Steve



Let's do it!

October 8, 2015

Please Rec this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141227417

The comments are priceless.

October 8, 2015

Tucson Sanders Event Update

https://www.facebook.com/events/1632302203712287/

1.8K signed up....just on FB. Event site can accommodate 7K.....I may have gotten 3 more to come.

Please join Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and local leaders for a rally in Tucson to discuss the major issues facing our country.

Please RSVP in order to attend: http://bernie.to/RSVP-Tucson

Parking
Parking for the event will be limited, but includes all available parking at Reid Park. Please note, however, that the parking lot immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive will be closed for this event.

ADA Parking and Entrance
There will be a designated ADA drop-off location and entrance immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive. Please note this is for drop-off only, and ADA designated parking will be located at the parking lot between S Country Club Road and Bucky Steele Drive. This will be available to cars with officially issued AZ disability placards and plates only.

Attendee Entrances
Entrances to the event will be located at the band shell plaza on S Concert Place, and on the Country Club Road side of the band shell. All attendees will be required to enter through one of these entrances.

Doors Open
Entrance to the event area will not be open until 6:00pm. Attendees arriving earlier may wait in line prior to 6:00pm.

October 7, 2015

Cross posting over here...

only because I think you may find it interesting. It does relate somewhat to Bernie Sander's position re NSA and perhaps academic freedom.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11787231