Outside this city's downtown convention center, the usual crop of vacationing families were boarding theme park shuttles, sporting Mickey Mouse ears or Star Wars backpacks. Inside, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) was denouncing the Walt Disney Co. as an example of the economic greed and media control that had exploded America's wealth gap.
"Everybody knows that the major economic force here in Anaheim is the Disney corporation," Sanders said. "Anybody here work for Disney? Anybody make a living wage, working for Disney?"
There were cheers for the first question, and loud boos for the second.
"I'm probably the only politician to go to Anaheim and say this," Sanders said. "I use Disney not just to pick on Disney, but as an example of what people are talking about when they talk about a rigged economy. Here in Anaheim, and the surrounding areas, Disney pays its workers wages that are so low that many of them are forced to live in motels because they can't afford a decent place to live. Meanwhile, Disney made a record-breaking profit of nearly $3 billion last quarter. At the other side of the world, in Florida, Disney replaced 250 workers with foreign workers using the H1-B visa program. They had tech workers train the people that were replacing them!"
It was a rare political reference to the ongoing lawsuit against Disney over its hiring of consulting companies that cut costs by hiring foreign workers. Sanders went on to criticize the company for "exploiting people in China" and called Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger a member of "the top tenth of one percent," proof of "an economy based on greed," making $46 million in the year that the layoffs occurred.
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"Let me tell you things that will not appear on ABC [News]," Sanders said. "You know why they won't appear on ABC? Who owns ABC?"
The crowd cried out "Disney!"
"So, you know about these things," Sanders continued. "I think it would be very nice of the Disney corporation to start building factories in the United States. That will not appear on ABC tonight."
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told an enthusiastic Riverside crowd that political change requires struggle, but their efforts will help make the country a better place for everyone in it.
An estimated 3,000 people filled the Riverside Municipal Auditorium and more spilled onto the surrounding streets Tuesday afternoon, May 24, hoping to see or at least hear the Vermont senator, who also spoke in San Bernardino in the evening.
“My point is that what seems impossible today, 20 years from now people will say, ‘Oh, no big deal,’” Sanders said after referencing movements for civil rights, women’s rights and gay rights.
“What the system always tries to make us feel is that real change is impossible.”
In a nearly hour-long stump speech that won cheers for promising to raise the federal minimum wage, expand health care access and advance immigration reform, Sanders pumped up his supporters, an ethnically diverse crowd that looked to be mostly under 30.
Before making his entrance in the auditorium, Sanders grabbed a microphone and stopped on the lower level to speak to supporters who weren’t able to get in.
The crowd roared in appreciation when Sanders said marijuana should be removed from the federal list that says it’s as dangerous as heroin, and they cheered for the idea that drug addiction “should not be seen as a crime issue, but as a health issue.” Legalization of marijuana should be a state issue, Sanders said.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brought his campaign of unity and diversity to a crowd of more than 5,200 supporters Tuesday at the National Orange Show Events Center.
Sanders took on Wall Street and corporations like Walmart, saying the middle class should not have to subsidize the wealthiest family in America, the Waltons, through the low wages paid to workers.
In a high-energy atmosphere, Sanders tackled topics such as poverty, living in a “rigged” economy and Social Security. He explained that America is not supposed to be a country where the top 1 percent own almost as much as the bottom 99 percent.
“Our message to Wall Street: They cannot have it all; this country belongs to all of us,” Sanders said.
Long lines of Sanders supporters waited hours to get inside and hear him talk about investing in young people, in jobs and education, not in jails or incarceration. He also pledged to overturn the “disastrous” Citizens United decision.
Sanders called for “demilitarization” of police and abolishing private prisons. The overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are honest and hardworking and do a very difficult job, he said.
“But, like any other public officials, if they break the law, they have to be called to account.”
Q: We’ve heard many of your key issues, but an issue we haven’t heard much about is space exploration. It’s been more than four decades since we’ve been to the moon, Why have we not done this - gone back - and what would you do for space exploration. Places like Downey, where Apollo rockets were built - space is important to this economy.
A: I think what has happened as we have more and more income and wealth inequality, as Republicans fight hard for tax breaks for the rich and large corporations and as the Republicans cut back on every major program you can think of, there is less public funding available for important, exciting and, I think, long-term innovative programs for this country, like NASA and space exploration. The pride that we felt as a nation when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon was extraordinary and I would like to see that type of exploration to Mars and elsewhere continue. And, by the way, it creates a lot of jobs, creates scientific breakthroughs which help technology, which helps our society
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Q: How have you been on the campaign trail? How has it been for you in terms of your health, energy level?
A: I’m feeling great. It’s an enormously exciting campaign. I’m proud that, up until now, with six states remaining, we have won 20 states in this country in terms of primaries and caucuses. One of them - I guess we’re going to ask for a canvass (close inspection) in Kentucky because it was too close to call. But if we win that, it will be 21. With six states left, we think we have a strong chance to win most of them, including here in California. So, I would like to end this campaign by winning half the states in this country and winning a majority of the pledged delegates. That’s what we’re doing right now.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that people should "lay off" Bernie Sanders, sending a message to restive Democrats increasingly anxious to see the party unite behind Hillary Clinton.
Reid is personally close with the Vermont independent senator and presidential hopeful. Last week he disclosed that he'd spoken with Sanders to voice concerns about unruly protests by Sanders supporters at the Nevada state Democratic convention, and subsequently voiced his disappointment over a defiant statement Sanders issued in response.
On Tuesday Reid had a different message, signaling to fellow Democrats that pressuring Sanders is not the way to go.
"I've had conversations with Bernie, he's a good person, he's doing his best to effectuate what he believes in, and I have no criticism of Bernie at this stage," Reid said.
"I think we should just kinda lay off Bernie Sanders a little bit, OK?"
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Reid also told reporters that he'd spoken with Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, who is running for Senate, and "I'm very happy that Sen. Sanders is supporting him bigtime." Although it's not surprising that Sanders would back Feingold since they share similar outlooks, Sanders has not thus far gotten involved in endorsing or campaigning for Senate Democratic candidates. Backing Feingold could reassure other Democrats about his intentions and party loyalty.
While Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, has set grassroots fundraising records for his own candidacy, Clinton’s campaign has criticized him for not doing more to help raise the profile of progressive candidates for federal and state offices as he rallies his supporters. Sanders had previously said, “We’ll see,” when asked whether he would fundraise on behalf of other candidates.
But Sanders has begun to rebut that criticism, fundraising for three House candidates in April, and for another this past week. On Tuesday, Sanders went further, endorsing eight state legislative candidates “who embody the spirit of our political revolution.”
“No president, not Bernie Sanders, not the greatest president you could possibly imagine, can take on the billionaire class alone,” Sanders wrote in a fundraising email to his supporters. “And that’s because change never happens from the top down, it always occurs from the bottom up.”
The candidates Sanders named in his email are South Carolina state Reps. Justin Bamberg and Terry Alexander; Wisconsin state Rep. David Bowen; South Dakota House candidate Clara Hart; Illinois state Rep. Carol Ammons; California state Senate candidate Jane Kim; Colorado state Rep. Joe Salazar; and Vermont state Senate candidate Chris Pearson.
Sanders noted that the next round of congressional redistricting in 2020 is approaching. Democrats would need to win back GOP-dominated state legislative chambers to have more of an influence on how districts are drawn, which is key to them taking back the U.S. House.
“Bernie believes that the path toward bold change requires leaders to take back control of state capitols around the country and ensure fair redistricting in 2020,” Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, said in a statement. “The leaders we’re raising money for today are the members of Congress, senators and presidential candidates of tomorrow.”
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders took a giant step into San Francisco politics Tuesday, endorsing Supervisor Jane Kim in the wide-open contest for the city’s state Senate seat.
The endorsement — and his email blast asking his supporters to send money to Kim — instantly started the cash flowing.
“The response has been incredible,” said Eric Jaye, a consultant for Kim’s campaign for the 11th state Senate District seat. “The phones started leaping off the hook (Tuesday) morning as soon as he sent the message out to his donors.”
By early afternoon, nearly 1,000 people had given more than $25,000 to Kim, Jaye said.
The money is welcome. Kim, the progressive’s choice in the race to replace termed-out state Sen. Mark Leno, has been outraised more than 2-to-1 this year by her more moderate opponent, Supervisor Scott Wiener. On April 23, the end of the most recent state financial reporting period, Wiener had just under $800,000 in the bank, compared with about $360,000 for Kim.
Sanders described Kim as the first Korean American to be elected in San Francisco, the daughter of immigrants and “a civil rights attorney who’s fought for affordable housing and fair wages in her city.”
While the announcement was made Tuesday, Sanders agreed to endorse Kim when the pair met at a Sanders rally in Vallejo last week, Jaye said.
“The pair connected over the issue of free community college for all, which Jane has worked for,” he added.
Bernie Sanders is requesting a re-canvass of the vote the Kentucky primary Hillary Clinton narrowly won earlier this month.
Sanders signed the request Tuesday morning, according to spokesman Michael Briggs, which read: "Pursuant to KY statute (KRS 117.305) I hereby request a full and complete recanvass of every one of the voting machines and absentee ballots in all precincts and all 120 counties involving the primary."
Clinton's lead was by 1,923 votes, according to the Kentucky secretary of state's office -- with 46.8% of the vote to Sanders' 46.3%. Clinton won 28 delegates to Sanders' 27.
Alison Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state, said in a tweet that county boards of elections would gather at 9 a.m. on Thursday to begin the re-canvass.
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A senior Sanders adviser said the campaign has no specific reason to believe anything was miscounted, but is just checking to be sure since the race was so close. The campaign is not pointing to any specific county or precinct they see as being wrong or suspicious in Kentucky.
"We aren't looking anywhere in particular -- we are simply making sure everything was counted and it was all added up correctly," a Sanders adviser says, noting that "how a couple transposed numbers can change the count."
Sanders supporters online have been calling for a recount, and the margin is narrow enough that the law allows for it.
I'd guess that there are a few reasons:
1. Since March 15 (when Missouri voted), Sanders's proposition to his supporters has changed. He still claims to be able to win, but he usually focuses on an argument that his campaign should head to the convention with as many delegates as possible, in order to best twist arms on policy fights.
2. His campaign has also embraced the idea that they've been unsuccessful in part because the system is working against them -- particularly after the Nevada fight.
3. Grimes, the secretary of state, herself has been looped into that. Grimes had endorsed Clinton, and on the night of the primary called in to news shows to declare that the unofficial results suggested that Clinton had won. On MSNBC the next day, she said that there had been no "revolution" for Sanders in the state. That galled Sanders supporters and provided more fuel for their arguments that something untoward had occurred in the vote count. (Those arguments, we'll note, have cropped up repeatedly in recent contests, often based on little or no evidence.)
4. As Weigel and Phillip note, Sanders has been loathe to call Kentucky a loss. Part of his argument in the last few weeks of the contest has been that he has robust momentum, winning state after state. If he can somehow pull out an official win in Kentucky, that argument is more easily preserved.
You might say, then, that Sanders has already notched a victory simply by making this request. His supporters who are looking for him to battle the establishment get to see him battle the establishment. He can talk about how he's fighting for every delegate (though that one delegate almost certainly would never make any difference). And he gets to sow doubt about the "real" winner of the Kentucky primary.
It's the small-ball approach to winning the presidency.
Bernie Sanders indicated in early May that his campaign was “going to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform that calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage, an end to our disastrous trade policies, a Medicare-for-all health care system, breaking up Wall Street financial institutions, ending fracking in our country, making public colleges and universities tuition free, and passing a carbon tax so we can effectively address the planetary crisis of climate change.”
Win or lose in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders said, “we intend to win every delegate that we can so that when we go to Philadelphia in July, we are going to have the votes to put together the strongest progressive agenda that any political party has ever seen.”
Sanders has won a sufficient number of delegates—and a sufficient opening in the debate—to influence the shaping of that agenda. And his representatives on the convention’s newly selected platform-writing committee share a commitment to make it profoundly progressive.
Take the issue of climate change, as an example. Sanders has secured a place for author, activist, and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, on the 15-person Platform Drafting Committee—which is responsible for outlining the platform that will eventually be approved at the party’s late-July convention in Philadelphia.
McKibben will have plenty of allies—among the Sanders-aligned members of the drafting committee, among members who are aligned with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, and among members who are seeking to strike a balance between the two campaigns. It is fair to say that the drafting committee has a progressive majority.
The boldness with which that majority will act upon its progressive inclinations remains to be seen, however. There will be plenty of pressure on the committee from the campaigns, from party leaders, from interest groups, and from grassroots activists. It is a good bet that there will be wrangling over domestic policy (perhaps with regard to a 15-dollar minimum wage, and almost certainly with regard to banking reform) and foreign policy (regarding everything from trade issues to Israeli-Palestinian relations). But this is a far more engaged and activist committee than was anticipated, and it has the potential to write a platform that reflects the demands of new movements and of a political moment that has seen the Sanders campaign pull the debate to the left.
System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has been outspoken in his support of Bernie Sanders since last summer and, as primary season nears an end, he's standing strong behind the Democratic presidential candidate. "There's only one guy whose voting record I respect here," the singer tells Rolling Stone. "He's said what he's done and he'd done what he says in the Senate. All his contributions are from private individuals; everyone else's are from major donors and corporations. It does not take a genius to see who's working for whom here. "
Although the singer claims "Hillary Clinton is better than any Republican candidate," he is alarmed to see the way that some Democratic superdelegates have pledged their support for her so early. "It makes me question the viability of our republic in some ways," he says. "Our choice should be our choice. Although there are a lot of superdelegates aligned with public voting, some are not, and that's wrong."
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Despite the way the system is set up, the singer has not lost faith in the Sanders campaign. "I'm hoping that Bernie can rebound," he says. "He's the underdog that really has been coming up. It would be a shame to not see him make it all the way through."
Tankian will continue to voice support for Sanders despite negative comments he has received from his fans on social media. "Some artists look at their follows as, what do you want to call it, their 'market,'" he says. "I just look at them as people. If you don't like what I'm saying, it's all right. You don't have to agree.
Bernie Sanders declared he was an ally to the transgender community and he vowed to expand transgender protections under existing federal civil rights laws if he’s elected — according to his answers to a presidential questionnaire sent in April by a transgender-rights advocacy group.
More than a month after receiving the same questions, however, Hillary Clinton hasn’t provided answers to the Trans United Fund’s survey — even though her campaign initially indicated she would respond.
“I think Sanders’s answers were thoughtful and strong,” said Hayden Mora, chair of Trans United Fund’s organizing committee, which was formed this year as a response to a growing effort by conservatives to block and repeal transgender rights.
In contrast, Mora said the group’s leaders “feel disappointed and perplexed” by Clinton’s silence.
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Mora said Sanders responded to the 11 pages of questions within 10 days, expressing support for a wide range of proposals, from facilitating health care services by federal agencies to banning discrimination by federal contractors overseas.
“Too often, it seems as if the ‘T’ in LGBT is silent,” Sanders wrote. “In my administration, the T will not be silent.”
Sanders said that he supports using civil rights laws to advance transgender nondiscrimination policies “until Congress formally adds those protections to our laws.”