Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders urged a raucous Cathedral City crowd Wednesday to "stand up to the status quo" and be part of a "political revolution."
More than 1,000 supporters lined up outside the Big League Dreams Sports Park in Cathedral City, with some of them camping outside the ballfield through the night, for a chance to see Sanders at the free rally themed "A Future to Believe In."
Sanders took the stage at noon, telling the crowd "the theme of this campaign is the political revolution and, guess what, you are the revolutionaries."
Other topics Sanders covered included universal healthcare, which he said should be a guaranteed right for all Americans, and combating climate change, which he called a "moral responsibility" for all people to undertake.
Sanders scoffed at denials that climate change is a manmade phenomenon that threatens the planet, saying, "It saddens me that the Republican Party, with very few exceptions, is so beholden to the fossil fuel industry that they don't have the guts to acknowledge reality."
As he concluded his nearly hour-long speech, he again called on his supporters to turn out en masse for the June 7 primary, noting that 475 delegates are at stake.
"If we have a large voter turnout, we are going to win the California primary," Sanders told the crowd. "Let this great state, one of the most progressive states in America, tell the world that you are ready for the political revolution."
Steve Fabian strolled onto the baseball field wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and broad smile. He carried a homemade sign, taking a page from Hollywood to take a shot at Wall Street. It read: “Gordon Gecko has taken my children’s future. Feel da Bern."
For Fabian, 62, a retired welding teacher, Wednesday felt like a political pipe dream that finally came true. For more than three decades, he has lived in Cathedral City, the kind of low-income, blue collar town that politicians “fly over on the way to Los Angeles.” And yet here he was at a presidential candidate’s rally in his own backyard.
“Normally we are not considered to be a political asset,” Fabian said. “But by the virtue of the fact that he came here, I think it shows a lot of respect for the people of the desert.”
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At one point, a Sanders supporter showed up wearing a giant papier-mache Bernie head, prompting cheers from the crowd that waited in line outside the rally site. A few people rushed up to the bobble-headed Bernie, posing for photographs, as if he was the real thing. Cameras flashed.
The man inside was Chuck Parker, 67, of Desert Hot Springs, who has been wearing his custom-made Bernie head around the desert since January. You may have seen him in downtown Palm Springs or at the Date Festival, but Wednesday’s rally was his biggest event yet.
Inside the mask, it’s hot, unwieldy and hard to see, Parker said, but at least “everybody loves you.”
“Bernie is speaking to the needs of everybody,” Parker said, taking a breather outside of the Bernie head. “He’s dealing with economic inequality. … He’s the only candidate, I think, that really presents an alternative to the establishment politics.”
Bernie Sanders continued to attack The Walt Disney Co. over what it pays to employees at Disneyland, even as the company and CEO Robert Iger have pushed back at his rhetoric as Sanders campaigns in California.
“The company makes billions of dollars in profit, but they are paying workers [at Disneyland] wages that are so low that many of the workers cannot find housing and they have to stay in hotels,” Sanders told supporters at a rally in Lancaster on Wednesday evening.
After Sanders raised the same criticisms of the company at a rally in Anaheim on Tuesday, Iger wrote on Facebook “To Bernie Sanders: We created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade, and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?” His posting was first reported by The Wrap.
At the Lancaster rally, Sanders also chided the company for sending manufacturing of its consumer products to China where wages are even lower.
“I say to Disney, bring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck back to America,” Sanders said.
Sanders also has criticized Wal-Mart and the family of founder Sam Walton for low wages at the retailer.
“Let’s tell corporate America that they cannot continue to throw American workers out on the street and move to China,” he said.
In the latest twist to this unpredictable 2016 presidential race, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders independently agreed Wednesday night to debate each other.
On ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Trump was asked if he would consider holding a debate with Sanders. Trump agreed to the idea.
"If he paid a sum toward charity I would love to do that," said the business mogul, noting that a Sanders vs. Trump debate "would have such high ratings."
Sanders quickly responded with a tweet reading, "Game On. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7th primary."
This response was also a jab at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who this week declined to face off with Sanders in a previously agreed upon California debate.
A bitter divide over the Middle East could threaten Democratic Party unity as representatives of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont vowed to upend what they see as the party’s lopsided support of Israel.
Two of the senator’s appointees to the party’s platform drafting committee, Cornel West and James Zogby, on Wednesday denounced Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza and said they believed that rank-and-file Democrats no longer hewed to the party’s staunch support of the Israeli government. They said they would try to get their views incorporated into the platform, the party’s statement of core beliefs, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.
“Justice for Palestinians cannot be attained without the lifting of the occupation,” Dr. West, one of Mr. Sanders’s five representatives on the platform committee, said in an interview. Dr. West said that while he recognized the necessity to provide for the security of Jews, who for thousands of years have been a “hated people,” he thought that the platform needed to bring more balance to “the plight of an occupied people.”
The presence of Dr. Zogby and Dr. West on the 15-member panel, which also has six appointees of Hillary Clinton and four from the party chairwoman, does not guarantee their views will prevail. But it raises the prospect that one of the party’s most sensitive issues will be open to public debate while Mrs. Clinton is in a fight to unify her party and appeal to voters turned off by Donald J. Trump.
It also laid bare a steady shift in the Democratic Party, whose members have been less willing to back Israel’s government than in years past. According to a Pew Research Center survey in April, self-described liberal Democrats were twice as likely to sympathize with Palestinians over Israel than they were only two years ago. Forty percent of liberals sympathized more with Palestinians, the most since 2001, while 33 percent sympathized more with Israel.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposes the Justice Department’s decision to seek the death penalty in the case of Dylann Roof, the accused killer of nine parishioners at a church in South Carolina last year.
The Democratic presidential candidate has long been an opponent of capital punishment, arguing that it doesn’t fit with America’s moral values or deter crime. And though the circumstances of the Roof case have prompted cries for severe punishment, his campaign reiterated his position in an email to The Huffington Post.
“Sen. Sanders opposes the death penalty,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs wrote. “He believes those who are convicted of the most horrible crimes should be imprisoned for the rest of their lives without the possibility of parole.”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced on Tuesday that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty in the Roof case, following a “rigorous review process to thoroughly consider all relevant factual and legal issues.” State authorities had earlier said that they would seek the death penalty for Roof, who they allege was motivated by racial animus and carefully planned the massacre at the Emanuel AME Church. Roof is charged both with federal hate crimes and nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
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President Barack Obama has called capital punishment “deeply troubling” but something he can rationalize.
“There are certain crimes that are so beyond the pale that I understand society’s need to express its outrage,” he told the Marshall Project in 2015.
Mainstream U.S. economists have criticized Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s proposals as unworkable, but these economists betray the status quo bias of their economic models and professional experience. It’s been decades since the United States had a progressive economic strategy, and mainstream economists have forgotten what one can deliver. In fact, Sanders’s recipes are supported by overwhelming evidence — notably from countries that already follow the policies he advocates. On health care, growth and income inequality, Sanders wins the policy debate hands down.
On health care, Sanders’s proposal for a single-payer system has been roundly attacked as too expensive. His campaign (for which I briefly served as a foreign policy adviser) is told that his plan will raise taxes and burst the budget. But this attack misses the whole point of his health proposals. While health spending by the government would go up in the Sanders health plan, private insurance payments would disappear, generating huge net savings for the American people.
On economic growth, Sanders also easily wins the debate. While President Obama opted for a short-term stimulus that peaked after two years and disappeared by the end of his first term, and Hillary Clinton has proposed a modest infrastructure program over five years, Sanders calls for a much bolder public investment program directed at the skills of young people (through free college tuition) and at modernizing and upgrading America’s infrastructure, with a focus on renewable energy, high-speed rail, safe drinking water and urban public transport. Sanders’s growth strategy would get back to fundamentals: a long-overdue increase in productive investments to underpin good jobs and rising worker productivity.
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There is nothing magical or utopian about Sanders’s recommendations. He is advocating policies of decency long ago adopted by other prosperous high-income countries. Our own neighbor, Canada, is a case in point. Canada has lower-cost health care, a life expectancy two years higher than in the United States, much lower college tuition, far lower poverty rates and, not surprisingly, more happiness (ranking sixth in the world in life satisfaction, behind Scandinavia and well ahead of the United States, which is 12th).
Mainstream economists long ago lost the melody line. Their models are oriented to the status quo and underemphasize the benefits of public investment. They take America’s bloated health-care costs as a given, not as the result of the influence of the U.S. private health lobby. They treat low growth as natural (“secular stagnation”) rather than as the result of chronic underinvestment. They have come to accept cruelly rising income inequality and rampant impunity for financial crimes. Sanders knows better, based on worldwide experience, an abiding sense of decency and a strong and accurate vision for a brighter economic future.
As Donald Trump caught up with Hillary Clinton in the polls over the past two weeks, the Bernie Sanders campaign has reiterated its last-ditch argument to win over superdelegates and secure the nomination: The Vermont senator is walloping Trump in the polls by over ten points, in contrast to Clinton’s dead heat. To counter this increasingly messy fact, several Clinton boosters in the media have dusted off an old talking point: that Sanders hasn’t been properly “vetted”—thoroughly examined for political faults—rendering the polls meaningless. Should Sanders become the nominee, the idea is, the scrutiny that he would get in the general election would devastate him.
This line of argument has been advanced by, for example, everyone from Slate’s Michelle Goldberg to the Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky to MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid. The problem is this Beltway dogma is based entirely on rhetorical sleight-of-hand, conventional wisdom and unfalsifiable assumptions.
The refrain that the Clinton campaign hasn’t run a negative attack on Sanders, thus protecting him from the sort of criticism that lies ahead, is just a lie — one that normally reserved PolitiFact (5/22/16) deemed Clinton’s claim to this effect “false.” This argument has been repeated by several pundits, notably Goldberg (5/2/16), who wrote, “Clinton has not hit Sanders with a single negative ad.” Tomasky (5/24/16) added, “While [Sanders] all but called Clinton a harlot, she’s barely said a word about him.”
As FAIR noted two weeks ago, the Clinton campaign directly coordinates online media with its Super PAC Correct the Record which has been attacking Sanders with an online troll army, text messages, videos, infographics and talking points for months. So even if one accepts the libertarian myth that Super PACs are somehow separate from campaigns, this cannot be said about this Super PAC, which freely admits it works with Clinton. Using TV appearances and social media, Clinton herself linked Sanders to the Sandy Hook massacre and the far-right Minutemen militia.
In nine debates, Sanders has been asked questions about his socialism a total of ten times (roughly the amount of questions asked about Russia). In the very first debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, after bringing up Sanders “honeymooning in the Soviet Union” and support for the Sandinistas, pushed Sanders to pledge his loyalty to capitalism with three consecutive follow-up questions. Keep in mind these were the first four questions in the very first debate—the first impression millions of Americans had of the largely unknown senator.
During an interview on CNN’s New Day, Nina Turner explained that reforming the Democratic Party’s primary system was going to be a “messy” process, but it did not have to be “violent” like the riots that broke out after a Donald Trump rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday night.
“New Mexico compared to what happened in Nevada, while some in the media continue to talk about violence in Nevada,” she explained. “New Mexico was violent. Nevada, that was people lifting their voices.”
“You could also argue that what happened in Nevada has no place in democracy either,” Cuomo said.
“I was in that room for at least eight hours,” Turner insisted. “No one was hurt, no violence was propagated in that room. And I just have a problem with folks calling that violence. Yes, people lifted their voices. They got up in front of the stage. They said, you cheat — you’re cheating.”
“Some stuff was thrown as well,” Cuomo interrupted.
“Aw, Chris, nothing,” Turner gasped. “What chair, what video? Did you see the video of a chair thrown?”
“Those are the reports from the floor,” the CNN host noted.
“Oh, my Lord Jesus!” Turner exclaimed. “No, it did not happen.”
“Why do you have to bring him into this?” Cuomo asked.
“I’ve got to, I need him,” Turner replied. “This election, we need some Jesus.”
Bernie Sanders has generated a lot of excitement at his rallies and at Democratic primaries this spring. But he's generated decidedly less excitement among his Senate colleagues; just one fellow senator has endorsed him — Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Most of Merkley's colleagues have endorsed Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner who has a lead of a few-hundred pledged delegates, and a dominant lead among superdelegates. But even as Merkley cuts a lonely figure riding the Sanders train, he says some of his fellow senators regret endorsing Clinton so early in the nomination process — and that if Democrats want to win in November, they'll have to bring Sanders supporters into the party fold in a way they just haven't seemed to be able to stomach so far.
In an interview with The Fix on Tuesday, Merkley said the party has to make very careful calculations about getting some of Sanders's campaign positions onto the party platform, saying Democrats "cannot slam the door on folks, and then reopen it up and say, 'By the way, come and help us out.' "
"The DNC has not been a fair arbiter of planning the convention," he said. "Unfortunately the DNC — until [Monday]— was not doing its part. It was pouring gasoline on the fire. It was deepening the divide between the campaigns. I can't tell you how frustrating that is to so many Democrats who know that we have to come together."
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are locked in a tight race in California, the nation’s most populous state and one that until recently seemed strongly in Mrs. Clinton’s corner, a new statewide poll has found.
The poll, released Wednesday night by the Public Policy Institute of California, showed Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Sanders among likely voters, 46 percent to 44 percent — within the margin of error. A survey by the organization in March found Mrs. Clinton with a lead of 48 percent to 41 percent over Mr. Sanders.
The survey came as both Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton have stepped up their campaign appearances here in anticipation of the June 7 primary. Mr. Sanders, after initially saying he would not advertise on television here — California is one of the most expensive states for television advertising, given its size and the number of media markets — took to the airwaves this week.
And Mrs. Clinton has quickly responded, with ads set to begin running on Friday in the Los Angeles, Fresno and Sacramento markets: one narrated by the actor Morgan Freeman, another highlighting Mrs. Clinton’s endorsement by the civil rights activist Dolores Huerta.
Mr. Sanders’s aides said he intended to spend nearly all his time in California until the June 7 primary, a signal of how much importance he has attached to a victory here as he tries to keep his campaign going through the convention. His rallies have drawn big, enthusiastic crowds in many parts of the state.
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The new poll takes into account both Democrats and independent voters who said they would vote in the Democratic primary. Among Democrats alone, Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Sanders by 49 percent to 41 percent, according to the institute. But there has been a surge of people registering as independents, which Democrats say could be aiding Mr. Sanders.
The poll showed that both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders would defeat Mr. Trump in a hypothetical November contest, though Mr. Sanders appears to have the stronger position at the moment. Mrs. Clinton is leading Mr. Trump among likely voters by 49 percent to 39 percent; Mr. Sanders would beat him 53 percent to 36 percent.
The PPIC poll shows the race breaking along familiar lines. Sanders holds a large advantage among younger voters — leading 66 percent to 27 percent among voters under age 45 — while Clinton leads, 59 percent to 28 percent, among voters 45 and older.
Other major cleavages, according to the poll, include ideology (Sanders leads by 29 points among “very liberal” voters, while Clinton leads by 21 points among those who are “somewhat liberal), education (college graduates back Clinton by 19 points, while those without a degree support Sanders by 7 points) and home ownership (homeowners support Clinton by 17 points, and renters go for Sanders by a 20-point margin).
But the survey shows only a small gender gap. Sanders holds a 4-point edge with men, and Clinton leads by 7 points among female voters.
There’s also little difference between white voters, who favor Clinton by a 6-point margin, and Hispanics, who back the former secretary of state by 9 points.
Voters registered as Democrats and those who declined to state a party when they registered are eligible to vote in the Democratic primary — and the poll shows differences between them. Clinton has an 8-point lead among registered Democrats, with decline-to-state voters tilting toward Sanders.
The poll was conducted over a relatively long period of time — May 13-22 — and surveyed 552 likely Democratic primary voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.7 percentage points.
Thursday, May 26 – Ventura, CA – 10 a.m.
The rally will take place at the West Field of Ventura College. You must enter from Loma Vista and West Campus. People with disabilities can enter on the northwest side of campus near Loma Vista Road. According to the Ventura County Star, Loma Vista Road will be closed between North Ashwood Avenue and Central Campus Way from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Parking is available on the West and East lots of campus and on public streets. You can also use public transit by Gold Coast Transit District and take the Telegraph/Estates stops. According to Sanders’ campaign, from Oxnard take Route 6, from Ojai take Route 16 to Route 10, from East Ventura take Route 10, and from Port Hueneme take Route 21. For more details and to RSVP, visit here. You can see a campus map here.
Thursday, May 26 – Pomona, CA – 4:30 p.m.
The rally will take place at Ganesha High School’s football stadium. You can learn more and RSVP here. The doors will open at 4:30 p.m., but Daily Bulletin estimates that he will begin speaking at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 27 – San Pedro, CA – 8 a.m.
This rally, the Los Angeles Harbor Unions Rally for Bernie Sanders, will take place at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum on 84 E 6th Street. The public entrance is at Harbor Blvd. and 5th, 23 ABC reported. Free parking is available at Ports O’Call Village, or you can pay $2 for parking at the Iowa Battleship parking lot. If you take the bus, use the Harbor Blvd/6th bust stop on bus 205. You can RSVP and learn more here.
If you’re interested in canvassing for Bernie in San Pedro, see his web link here.