Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday urged supporters at a Green Bay rally to reach out to family and friends, saying he cannot win the Wisconsin presidential primary without high voter turnout.
Sanders spoke to about 500 supporters at the KI Center Monday afternoon, urging them to remain committed to his political movement even as rival Hillary Clinton and national media outlets are branding him unelectable and too far to the left.
"At this pivotal moment in American history, people are beginning to say the status quo is not acceptable," he said. “In a thousand different ways, we are taught to think small. We are taught to believe we can’t change the status quo. That does not have to be.”
Sanders' speech hit on familiar themes, including income inequality, equal rights for women, listening to minorities and reforming the criminal justice system.
Actor and activist Tim Robbins introduced Sanders Monday. Both Sanders and Robbins took aim at Clinton and the Democratic National Committee assertions that Sanders can’t win the nomination and should step aside.
"The DNC and the Clintons have a big problem," Robbins said. "Times have changed. Bernie is not our (2004 presidential candidate Howard) Dean. Bernie is not the obligatory progressive that will keep the left in line until the presumptive moderate nominee emerges.”
On the eve of the Wisconsin primary, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders touted his long-standing support for labor unions and his opposition to a series of “disastrous trade deals,” setting a contrast with Hillary Clinton that he’s pressed in other Midwestern industrial states.
The senator from Vermont began his day in Janesville, where General Motors shuttered a manufacturing plant in 2008 and moved operations to Mexico, costing the community 2,800 jobs, Sanders said.
“I am not a candidate who goes to the unions, goes to workers, then leaves and goes to a fundraiser on Wall Street,” he said, taking a jab at Clinton, whose ties to the financial sector Sanders has repeatedly criticized. “You are family, and I have worked with unions my entire life.”
Speaking at a union hall here, Sanders recounted his opposition to trade deals dating back to the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s,, when Clinton’s husband was president. The former senator and secretary of state has supported “virtually all” of the trade deals since then, Sanders told his audience.
“I’m glad that she’s going around the country talking about the need for more manufacturing,” Sanders said. “Well that’s a great idea, but maybe she should have been there 20 or 30 years ago when we started hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs in this country largely because of the disastrous trade policy.”
..
“If we win here, we’re going to have a bounce going into New York state, where I think we can win,” Sanders said. “If we win in New York state -- between you and me, I don’t want to get Hillary Clinton more nervous than she already is, so don’t tell her this -- but I think if we win here, we win in New York state, we’re on our way to the White House.”
The latest Emerson College poll now has Bernie Sanders defeating Hillary Clinton by 8 points in Wisconsin after its previous poll, released just two weeks ago, had Clinton leading by 6 points. This remarkable 14 point swing bodes well for Senator Sanders, giving hope to those that have invested in the political revolution that the anti-establishment candidate has called for. Wisconsin voters appear to be flocking to the Bernie Sanders revolution despite being insulted by both Hillary Clinton and top surrogates like Barney Frank, who mischaracterize Sanders’ supporters as not doing “their own research” and having “a lack of information.”
What’s Behind the Wisconsin Surge?
The Wisconsin surge for Sanders is likely the result of Badger State voters doing more of their own research and garnering more information, the opposite of what Clinton and Barney Frank are claiming. Former Secretary of State Clinton started the presidential race with a huge lead, partly based on name recognition, with many voters unaware of Sen. Sanders’ political positions and history. For the most part, polling and electoral results, have shown that Democratic voters like Sanders the more they learn about him.
..
Matt Taibbi, writing in Rolling Stone, defended the young Democratic voters (the future of the party) that are overwhelmingly supporting Bernie Sanders. Taibbi notes that young voters look at important issues such as “the Iraq invasion, the financial crisis, free trade, mass incarceration, domestic surveillance, police brutality, debt and income inequality, among others” and “are making a carefully reasoned, even reluctant calculation about the limits of the insider politics.”
While cynicism runs rampant in today’s culture and the idea that gridlock prevents real change is the status quo, the internet provides an opportunity to gather information on how change occurred in the past and what is stifling change today. Voters today can quickly learn about New Deal economic policies, the passage of Medicare and Social Security, health care for all in most industrialized nations and the Civil Rights Movement. It wasn’t that long ago when young people were told that marijuana legalization and marriage equality were both “pie in the sky,” but laws and political support has drastically changed across the nation, thanks to advocates. Progressive change does occur in this nation, often led by young people who are criticized as naive by older generations; young voters don’t seem discouraged by such criticism, as they are doubling down on the political revolution, with their time and money.
While Sanders holds a modest lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Badger State, everything could be thrown into disarray Tuesday with mass confusion about Walker's convoluted ID requirements.
Imagine you're a kid from the Midwest who just moved to Wisconsin for your freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You don't have a Wisconsin drivers license, but you registered to vote online and have your student ID clipped to the red lanyard around your neck. You head to the polls super stoked to be part of the revolution with Bernie!
Then the polling place attendant hits you with a buzz kill.
..
Under Walker's arcane rules, student IDs at most of Wisconsin's 60-plus colleges and universities are no good, because they don't have the requisite signature or expiration date. Under the law, students have to go to a special office to get a new ID for voting. Even then, they must bring additional "proof of enrollment" to the polls, or they'll be sent packing.
Sound confusing? Walker and his Republican allies promised to launch a voter education campaign to inform residents of the new requirements. But if most students missed those ads during college hoops, it's probably because the Republicans axed the funding and they never aired.
"It has never occurred to me and I think to most candidates that the way you try to win an election is to make it harder for people who might vote against you to participate in the election," Sanders said at a recent stop in Onalaska, Wisconsin. Win or lose Tuesday, this type of statement shows that Sanders is out-of-touch with the cynical, GOP electioneering happening in purple and red states across the country.
“Bernie Sanders comes to us in a moment of crisis of credibility in the American political system,” Mark Ruffalo says in his new ad for Democratic White House hopeful Bernie Sanders, on the eve of the Wisconsin primary. “People feel like they have given up on the system, and that is exactly what the bad guys want us to do.”
The Vermont senator is on a bit of a streak, after beating Hillary Clinton in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington on “Western Saturday,” four days after “Western Tuesday” in which he picked up wins in Idaho and Utah. Clinton still holds a big lead in delegate count. The Sanders campaign officially entered its TV celebrity endorsement phase with this ad. Not coincidentally, 86 delegates will be divvied up between Sanders and Clinton tomorrow in Ruffalo’s home state of Wisconsin.
In the new ad, the Avengers and Spotlight actor is joined by documentary filmmaker Matthew Cooke for a sort of informal scruffy-guys dialogue about the crisis in the country. After running through various polls by Gallup and other orgs reminding us how much we dislike and mistrust Washington, and react by not turning out to vote, Ruffalo complains that, when it comes to the country’s 1%-ers: “There’s just no justice. You break the law, it doesn’t mean anything, You hurt people, it doesn’t mean anything. You steal from people, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Ruffalo and Cooke agree Sanders isn’t just creating a campaign, he’s creating a grassroots political “reLOVElution” the likes of which, they insist, the country never has seen.
“I always wish a politician would say, ‘I’m going to bring Exxon/Mobile to justice for paying millions of dollars for propaganda to lie about the environment,” Cooke says by way of seguing to a clip of Sanders at a recent campaign rally, promising to do that.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders lauded two of the nation's largest states for approving significant minimum wage hikes.
California Gov. Jerry Brown and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo each signed bills Monday to raise their respective states' minimum wage rates to $15 an hour.
"Not too long ago, the establishment told us that a $15 minimum wage was unrealistic," Sanders said in a statement. "Some thought it was 'pie-in-the-sky.' But a grassroots movement led by millions of working people refused to take 'no' for an answer.
"Loudly and clearly workers said, 'Yes we can increase the minimum wage, not just to $10.10 an hour, not just to $12 an hour, but to a living wage of $15 an hour."
..
Sanders also praised New York for the creation of a state program which would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave. Employee deductions will be used to fund the program. He's pushing for passage of legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Clinton supporter, that would establish a similar program at the federal level.
Gillibrand's bill, the FAMILY Act, would establish a new Social Security trust fund to provide paid leave benefits. Employers and workers would each contribute to fund the program.
"Secretary Clinton opposes this bill," Sanders said. "She believes that a $1.61 a week payroll tax on the average worker is too high a price to pay for this legislation. I disagree."
Highlighting his opposition to nuclear power ahead of the Empire State's primary later this month, Bernie Sanders is calling for the shutdown of a nuclear power plant outside New York City that has leaked radioactive material into groundwater supplies.
The Indian Point plant has long been a source of controversy, thanks to numerous leaks and safety concerns. In February, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the latest leak at the plant "unacceptable." But the plant produces about a quarter of the electricity used by New York City and neighboring Westchester County, making it difficult to replace.
"I am very concerned that the Indian Power nuclear power reactor is more than ever before a catastrophe waiting to happen," Sanders said in a statement Monday. "In my view, we cannot sit idly by and hope that the unthinkable will never happen. We must take action to shut this plant down in a safe and responsible way. It makes no sense to me to continue to operate a decaying nuclear reactor within 25 miles of New York City where nearly 10 million people live."
"Even in a perfect world where energy companies didn't make mistakes, nuclear power is and always has been a dangerous idea because there is no good way to store nuclear waste," Sanders said. "That is why the United States must lead the world in transforming our energy system away from nuclear power and fossil fuels."
Sanders is the only candidate in either party who wants to end nuclear energy production, which currently accounts for 20% of U.S. electrical generation. But this is the first time Sanders has leaned into the issue in a high-profile way as a potential wedge issue between rival Hillary Clinton and the Democratic base.
Actor Tim Robbins on Monday afternoon rallied supporters of Bernie Sanders on the eve of the Wisconsin Democratic primary.
Robbins sought to address Democrats who "feel Bernie in their hearts but are supporting Hillary with their pragmatic brains," saying that "these are not bad people."
"We've all been fed a steady stream of simplistic propaganda that furthers the establishment's narrative that Hillary's the presumptive nominee," Robbins said during a rally in Green Bay.
"And if we were sheep, if we had gotten in line, there'd be no problem now," he continued, saying "establishment figures would get elected" and figures like Sanders would be "marginalized."
"Times have changed," Robbins said. "We are done with compromising our ideals."
Sanders on Monday suggested Clinton was "nervous" heading into Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin following the Independent Vermont senator's recent state wins despite an uphill delegate battle.
"The story tomorrow is pretty simple — if there is a large voter turnout, I believe we win. If there is low voter turnout, we will probably lose," Sanders said in Green Bay. "I think it will be a close election."
Daily Show host Trevor Noah pushed Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on Monday on not only her party’s use of “superdelegates,” but the allegations that she is stacking the race for the party’s presidential nomination against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“A lot of people feel that Bernie Sanders … is being c*ckblocked by the DNC. Is there any merit to this?” he asked, drawing a cheer from the audience.
“As powerful as that makes me feel, I’m not doing a very good job of rigging the outcome or blocking anyone from being able to get their message out,” she replied. “The reality is that I have a job as national party chair that is one that requires a thick skin. It requires me to be able to absorb the body blows so our candidates can stay above the fray.”
Noah got a bigger applause when he brought up the topic of “superdelegates.”
“I know you didn’t start this, but doesn’t the idea of a superdelegate go against the very fact that people should be voting for the people who represent them at the [national] convention?” he asked.
“We’ve had superdelegates since I graduated in high school in 1984,” she said, before Noah noted that he was born that year. Wasserman-Schultz then said that the “activists, elected officials and other leaders” who are a part of that process have never determined the party’s presidential nominee.
The Democratic candidates' debate over debates has been resolved —- at least for now.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have agreed to debate in Brooklyn on Thursday April 14, according to reps for the two campaigns. The debate will be hosted by CNN and NY1 and will be held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard at 9 p.m. ET.
The announcement comes after a week of back-and-forth between the Clinton and Sanders campaigns as they tried to negotiate a day and time for a debate in New York ahead of the state’s primary on April 19.
..
“Brooklyn. April 14. It's on.” Clinton national press secretary Brian Fallon tweeted tonight.
The Sanders campaign —- which moved a rally they had scheduled for that night -— confirmed the debate too, but not without taking a not so subtle shot at Clinton.
"Fortunately, we were able to move a major New York City rally scheduled for April 14 to the night before,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said. "We hope the debate will be worth the inconvenience for thousands of New Yorkers who were planning to attend our rally on Thursday but will have to change their schedules to accommodate Secretary Clinton’s jam-packed, high-dollar, coast-to-coast schedule of fundraisers all over the country.”
Bernie Sanders made a speech on the Senate floor in October of 2011 that warned that a proposed trade agreement with Panama would open the floodgates of American money flowing into off-shore tax havens, a plea that ultimately fell on deaf ears as the agreement was signed by President Barack Obama later that year.
That warning now appears to be prescient as a global tax evasion scandal known as the Panama Papers is sweeping through the news. A treasure trove of nearly 11.5 million documents — which NBC News reported were obtained by cryptic means — were released to media outlets around the globe. Extensive reports on the tax evasion scandal hit the news this weekend, implicating a number of powerful politicians, athletes, and celebrities who are hiding money in offshore accounts.
Sanders said there was no other legitimate reason to enact a trade agreement with a country as small as Panama.
“Panama’s entire annual economic output is only $26.7 billion a year, or about two-tenths of one percent of the U.S. economy. No-one can legitimately make the claim that approving this free trade agreement will significantly increase American jobs.
“Then, why would we be considering a stand-alone free trade agreement with this country?
“Well, it turns out that Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade U.S. taxes by stashing their cash in off-shore tax havens. And, the Panama Free Trade Agreement would make this bad situation much worse.”
Sanders was not the only one warning that the Panama trade deal would open up the possibility of tax evasion on a massive scale. Many other watchdogs called on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, to back away from the free trade agreement that had originally been negotiated by the Bush administration, the International Business Times noted.
Opponents believed the deal would make it more difficult to root out companies and wealthy individuals who funneled money into Panama to avoid taxes.
Escalating his pressure on the Obama administration to adopt a more lenient approach to unauthorized immigrants from conflict-riven parts of the world, in a statement on Monday, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders demanded a moratorium on deportations targeting the migrants "as soon as possible."
"America has always been a beacon of liberty for those fleeing violence and persecution. Raids separating families are not who we are," Sanders said in a statement. "Deportation can be a death sentence to detained minors, parents and asylum seekers."
..
In an impassioned missive in January, Sanders wrote to the president that the country bore a "fundamental responsibility" to welcome migrants fleeing strife-torn countries. One month later — as he was looking to make inroads with Latino voters ahead of the Nevada caucuses — Sanders blasted federal authorities for slow-walking promised reforms to the deportation process.
In his statement on Monday, Sanders cited the cases of Wildin Acosta, a Honduran teen facing deportation in North Carolina after fleeing gang violence in his home country; South Asian asylum-seekers currently on hunger strike in Arizona; and Ladislao Padilla-Ochoa, a Mexican-born Tennessee father of three facing deportation after 24 years in the United States.
"We need an immigration system that unites families, not one that tears them apart," Sanders said.
Remember when college was optional? Fifty years ago, if you finished high school and went to work, it was possible to make a living and have a decent life. If you wanted to attend college but couldn't afford it, grants and scholarships helped with the costs. If you qualified, the federal Pell Grant covered more than 75% of the costs of attending a public university for a year. If you didn't, working while in college helped make ends meet.
Those days are over. Targeting financial aid to some people has proved ineffective at making college affordable for the millions of Americans who are now required to attend. It's near impossible to maintain a middle-class life without college, yet the Pell Grant now covers barely one-third of the cost a year at a public university. And most Americans can't get a Pell Grant because they are "too rich," even though they have to shell out at least 25% of their annual income to pay for an education at a public university. Other people can't get a Pell Grant because they can't complete the required application. Even a community college is so expensive that after all grants and scholarships, students from low-income families still have to work or borrow to afford it.
This is why Bernie Sanders has a plan that emphasizes the importance of making public higher education affordable to everyone, period. His approach goes "big" because it's what our economy needs: strong incentives for everyone to work hard, get educated, and commit to a better tomorrow. It focuses on the public sector because government can hold schools accountable for high-quality outcomes, and encourage real competition for private institutions that shortchange students.
Sadly, Hillary Clinton decries this bold effort to make college affordable because she thinks Gov. Scott Walker won't like it, or one of Trump's kids might actually benefit. Should the Democrats really support a leader with a defeatist attitude about a critical 21st century problem? Would we have supported a Democrat who opposed making public high schools free?
Ignorance is massively expensive. Bernie Sanders is pursuing a goal we can't afford to sideline.
It was freezing and snowing, making West Capitol Park in Albany look more like a scene in the middle of January on Wednesday afternoon. It's not the kind weather suitable for a rally. But that didn't stop a crowd of Bernie Sanders supporters from holding sings, marching and chanting for the presidential candidate. Some even played a few tunes.
The group is essentially kicking off Sanders' Capital Region campaign ahead of the New York primary on April 19th. Those who took to the microphone talked about why Sanders would be the best choice. They stressed that he's the real progressive and that he will fight for working families.
"I'm supporting Bernie Sanders because he's been consistently representing the working class and the disenfranchised in America," said Susan Beebe for Saratoga Springs.
"I think his message is resonating with people all across this country who are fed up with the status quo," said Jon Fuhrer, a representative of the Working Families Party.
..
Sanders was not at the rally. He was in Wisconsin campaigning for that state's primary on Tuesday.
"If we win here we're going to have a bounce going into New York State where I think we can win," Sanders said. "If we win New York State, between you and me, I don't want to get Hillary Clinton more nervous than she already is."