10/23 News Roundup – Bernie Brings His Message To Hundreds In Rollinsford, Sanders To Rally In Somerville & More – The Progressive Wing

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Home→Bernie Sanders→10/23 News Roundup – Bernie Brings His Message To Hundreds In Rollinsford, Sanders To Rally In Somerville & More

Happy Monday friends!

Plenty of news to sort through today so I’ll just start with Sanders in Rollinsford and go from there:

Sanders brings message on health care, education, taxes to hundreds in Rollinsford

Bernie Sanders was the keynote speaker for the Strafford County Democrats’ fall event, and he drew a large crowd, including many state Democrats.
The Martel Roberge American Legion Post was set up with 500 chairs, but Rollinsford Selectman Mike Rollo estimated 600 people were present.
Sanders talked about health care, education, workers’ wages and the politics of Washington.
“We can sit here and make fun of Donald Trump and that would be easy to do,” said Sanders. “What we need to be doing is focusing, and uniting so we can bring this country back to where it should be, to where all Americans have rights and not just the top tier. We need to not allow this administration to divide us on any level, not on race, religion, country of origin, color of skin or sexual orientation.”
Sanders said he came with good news and bad news out of Washington.
“The good news is that even though the Republican Senate has a 52-to-48 majority, in the last five months, they have tried and failed five times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That would have made 20 million people lose health insurance.”
Sanders said health insurance is a right for every American. He said the answer is to expand Medicare to everyone and bring in a single-payer health system. He said other countries do it and spend 50 percent less per capita than we do now.
“The bad news is that the Republicans just passed a budget, the ugliest and most destructive budget ever passed in the history of the United States,” said Sanders. “It is a framework and not a done deal and we need to work to defeat it because it is a moral obscenity.”

If/when video becomes available, I’ll have it up!

In the meantime, the rest of the days news will be in the comments, including:

*Sanders To Seek Senate Re-Election As An In Dependent
*2018 Candidates Hit The Streets
*US prepping nuclear bombers for 24-hour ready alert status
*Jimmy Carter says he is willing to go to North Korea on peace mission
*California fires took thousands of homes. Now rent in hardest-hit areas is soaring
*Half a Million March in Massive Uprising Against Spanish Plan to Overtake Catalonia
*Pipeline Updates, Waters Protector News & More

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Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc!

In N.H. stop, Sanders says he’ll run for Senate re-election as an independent

Bernie Sanders said he’ll run for re-election next year as an independent candidate.
The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and independent senator from Vermont made the news in an interview with the Monitor on Sunday evening after energizing Democratic activists packed into the American Legion hall in Rollinsford, along the Maine border. Sanders’s trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state was his second in less than two months, sparking more speculation that he just may run again for the White House in 2020.
But before any potential 2020 White House run, the former Burlington, Vt., mayor and congressman must deal with his 2018 re-election for a third term in the U.S. Senate.
“I am an independent, and I have always run in Vermont as an independent, while I caucus with the Democrats in the United States Senate,” Sanders said. “That’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
While running as an independent next year doesn’t prevent Sanders from making another bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, pundits said running as a Democrat in 2018 may have been a signal of his 2020 intentions.
Earlier, Sanders received repeated standing ovations as he headlined a Strafford County Democratic Committee fundraising dinner.

I have to blockquote just one more excerpt from this article because its pretty telling as to why Bernie is kept around..

Strafford County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Ellen Phillips said this was the first time a non-Democrat headlined one of their fundraising dinners. She said “it’s been an issue for me,” but added that “he’s going to make a lot of money for our candidates, and that’s a good thing.”

He’s not going to give them a new take on a way forward, etc, etc… he’s going to make a lot of money for their candidates, and that’s what matters. Until election time, when he’s not really a dem’.

If it helps to get Bernie’s message out, and helps to rally support to oppose the Republican tax plan, I’ll take it.

And a possible side benefit is that those candidates he’s helping raise money for will see some of the support that his ideas gain, and that’s good too.

But I see where you’re going, Bernie at a Dem fundraiser? The guy certain ‘resisting’ people constantly point out is “not a Democrat!!”? Follow the money.

Woo hooo! I’m in. Of course, we still have machines, but he has a real chance as an Indie. Feel bad for all those millenials that switched to vote for him and now have to switch back. But yeah, I’m already feeling myself waking up again. :O) No matter what, it’s definitely time to pour my heart into something political again!

Haha 🙂 Yah, I’m not quite ready to go away yet. Whenever I have the time and energy I’m going to do what I can. XO

Sanders to run as an independent in 2018

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has confirmed that he will run for re-election in the Senate as an independent in 2018, despite recent pressure from some Democrats to join the party.
Sanders told Fox News of his decision to hold onto his independent status during an interview Sunday night.
“I am an independent and I have always run in Vermont as an independent, while I caucus with the Democrats in the United States Senate. That’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and that’s what I’ll continue to do,” Sanders told Fox News.
Sanders had been facing pressure from some Democrats to officially run as a member of the Democratic party. Sanders caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.
One Democratic National Committee (DNC) member, Bob Mulholland, had introduced a resolution at the party’s fall meeting that would have demanded Sanders and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) run as Democrats in the future.
However, the resolution failed, falling short of the simple majority it needed to pass.

Ahhhhh, i thought the first one meant he was running as an Indie for Prez! LOL

From the way things look, Im of the belief that he will if he is going to run. Cruz and several others are likely to take on Trump, it could be a 3 or 4 way race :).

Bernie Sanders is coming to rally with candidates in Somerville and Cambridge

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is planning to rally with candidates running for city council, school board and the board of aldermen in Somerville and Cambridge.
Monday’s visit is meant to highlight candidates running in elections nationwide in November who have been endorsed by Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sanders’ unsuccessful presidential campaign.
Our Revolution Somerville member Rand Wilson says the group has been organizing for months to continue the revolution started by the Sanders’ campaign by focusing on more local political contests.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, will be campaigning with 17 candidates endorsed by Our Revolution Somerville and Our Revolution Cambridge.

Does Bernie ever take a day off?

Can you imagine how many games of golf he would have played already if he had won the election?

ummm zero? does he play golf. gotta go. T&R!

I do believe your answer is correct. Though we’d probably see a few videos of him pitching a few to his grandson to knock out of the White House park.

Ah’, what could have been.

It makes me want him to run in 2020 (and of course become the candidate running against Trump).

I mean, who would people vote for? Even neolibs and/or HC supporters, they’re not going to vote for Trump, right?

some of them, maybe many, would or would not vote. since they already don’t much care for the 99%, they might consider it payback.

Or shooting some baskets with grandson as well.

Here is Bernie!

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-sanders/bernie-sanders-brings-local-politics-focus-to-massachusetts-races-idUSKBN1CS2CF?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=59ee307a04d3016eb949b41b&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders brought his strategy of trying to reenergize the Democratic Party by lending his star power to lower-level races to a small city just outside Boston on Monday, with a stop to endorse candidates for alderman and city council.
Sanders, an independent who ran for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2016 presidential election, announced his support for a dozen candidates backed by “Our Revolution” a group formed by supporters of Sanders’ campaign to boost progressive, liberal candidates.
It is unusual for a politician with Sanders’ profile to weigh in on races with no serious Republican contenders, political observers said.
“The local level, more than any other level, is a way to involve people in the political process,” Sanders said in Somerville, Massachusetts, a city of 80,000 people.
Sanders last week pointed to the appearance as one of a series to try to build enthusiasm for lower-level elections. Sanders served four terms as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, before being elected to the Senate.

This is a shame as he was one of my favorite candidates to keep an eye on:

Paul Perry Drops Out of Primary in Pennsylvania Race

Democrat Paul Perry is dropping out of the crowded primary against Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Pat Meehan, even after garnering attention for a campaign video highlighting his personal story.
Perry had a background in education and worked for a nonprofit supporting children of LGBT parents. Perry was raised by gay fathers, both veterans (in his campaign video, Perry joked, “I had gay parents before it was cool”).
In a statement about his decision shared first with Roll Call, Perry said he was discouraged by the fundraising demands of a congressional campaign.
“As I depart this race, I leave with grave questions about the sustainability of our democracy,” Perry said. “It is awash in money and influence-peddling on both sides of the aisle. The barriers to entry for everyday citizens (most of the middle class) and true public servants are far too high.”
In the most recent fundraising quarter, Perry raised the third highest amount of money in the field of seven Democrats, raking in $62,000.
But that paled in comparison to state Sen. Daylin Leach, who raised $403,000. Dan Muroff, who worked as a House chief of staff and a Philadelphia Democratic ward leader, raised nearly $117,000. Muroff ended the quarter with $20,000 more in cash on hand than Leach.
Perry had the backing of New Politics, a bipartisan group that supports candidates with public service backgrounds, and Brand New Congress, a group formed by former campaign staffers for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

One more example of why we need campaign finance reform in this country. https://t.co/nW0eIkFwEb
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) October 22, 2017

PS: I’ll try and dig up some info on these peoples, if you know anything… please share!

Perry’s departure narrows the field, with Leach and Muroff considered the top contenders. Leach is an unabashed liberal candidate who uses his brash humor to make his case to voters. Muroff is a soft-spoken Democrat with experience in party politics, and says he has experience that will appeal to moderates and Republicans in the district in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Leach is the easy choice. May actually have been better than Perry.

oh, that is a shame. it is a big problem. the ones who want/need to support these candidates the most are struggling.

DNC creates new restrictions for corporate donations

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Saturday passed a resolution banning donations from corporate contributors whose areas of interest come into conflict with the DNC’s stated values.
The resolution, which was introduced by California member Christine Pelosi, passed unanimously. Pelosi is the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Pelosi has introduced similar resolutions before that were shot down over concerns over which industries the measures would target.
The move was celebrated on Twitter by progressive members of the Democratic Party who have been pushing to reduce corporate influence in the party.
An online petition started by Pelosi indicates that the resolution was designed to target “gun, tobacco, payday lender, and other corporate donations counter to our values.”
“Thnx Pelosi for taking a stand. Admire that you have always been for eliminating these positions of cronyism,” wrote Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Twitter.
The resolution’s strength in the DNC is unclear. Hours after the resolution passed, Pelosi warned that DNC officials were whispering that the vote is not legally binding, allowing DNC Chair Tom Perez to ignore it. Pelosi issued a call on her Twitter account, challenging Perez to uphold the vote of DNC members.

Democrats ban some corporate donations while approving controversial new member list

At a busy and sometimes tense fall meeting, the Democratic National Committee officially banned donations from some corporate sources — then approved a number of new DNC members who have been denounced by activists as corporate shills.
The passage of California DNC member Christine Pelosi’s anti-corporate money language was a major victory for the party’s left wing, which had been stymied under previous leaders. Pelosi’s amendment required the party to reject “corporate donors that conflict with our DNC platform” — donors, she said, such as payday lenders, who have spread money around to win allies in both parties. (Political parties are already prohibited from taking money directly from corporations.)
Pelosi’s resolution had been introduced before, and failed under the pressure of party activists who argued that the language was too loose. It was adopted at Friday’s meeting of the party’s resolutions committee — Pelosi is a member — but activists worried that the full DNC could strip it out. On Saturday, to their happy surprise, the full DNC membership approved the resolutions panel’s package with a voice vote.
But not long after, the party’s frustrated progressives were routed in a vote to appoint a new slate of at-large DNC members. The often obscure process of picking those members, who under current DNC rules will be unpledged delegates in the 2020 nominating contest, had become a flash point for activists and critics — mostly outside the DNC — who worried that the party was elevating lobbyists instead of heightening their differences with Republicans.
The most controversial nominees, name-checked in a widely circulated report in the Intercept, were Citigroup lobbyist Manny Ortiz and Dewey Square group strategist Minyon Moore. Just as controversial were the ousters — characterized in many reports as “purges” — of longtime DNC members who had backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president.

Mostly a “FLUFF” resolution. As if the Dems are going to get donations from gun, tobacco and payday lenders in the first place. No wonder it was unanimous.

i’m sure some of them do. i know private prisons were big for Hill.

Figures–lipstick on a corporate pig

If anyone is sitting around waiting on ideas from centrists… they will be waiting quite a while.
Centrist Democrats’ biggest dilemma: Where are the big ideas?

Moderate Democrats are increasingly wary of their party’s ascendant liberal wing, which has grown louder and more influential since Donald Trump’s election.
But in at least one key way, Democratic centrists say they’d benefit from imitating their progressive counterparts: Coming up with — and then relentlessly promoting — big policy ideas.
In a party desperate to find its way back to power after last year’s electoral wipeout, economic populists in the mold of Bernie Sanders have thus far dominated the conversation, using far-reaching plans such as single-payer health care or tuition-free college to pull the Democrats’ center of gravity to the left.
Their agenda has drawn pushback, but leaders of the centrist Democratic faction say mere objections aren’t enough —they need their own marquee proposals to truly compete for the party’s heart and soul.
“There are a lot of really big ideas and changes, and there need to be more,” said Will Marshall, who runs the new centrist Democratic group New Democracy. “We’re not at the end of this quest. We’re embarking on it.”
Centrist Democrats generally differ rhetorically from their liberal counterparts in their focus on economic opportunity instead of economic inequality, on working with business instead of expanding government programs. But the rhetoric, party strategists say, has to be buffeted by serious, attractive proposals that can win converts and drive conversations.
“You gotta have a bunch of big ideas that support your vision,” said Matt Bennett, senior vice president at the centrist Democratic group Third Way. “It’s not enough to say, ‘We’ve gotta tackle opportunity.’ We’ve gotta have ideas to do that.”

Turd Way is not moderate. “Centrist” is a deliberate mangling of the word center. TW is Repuke Lite, and more and more people know it. How stupid can the Democrats get?

That all sounds pretty pathetic, if you ask me!

They (neolibs) have their agenda, but no “ideas” to go with it? What that tells me is that they’re just looking for sales promotional material. They need the narrative to SELL their neolib agenda.

Shouldn’t it be that the “big ideas and changes” come first? Is it really that they’re looking for language to obscure what their ideas really are and to obscure the effects their changes would have?

This fight isn’t over James J Zogby

Having come through a difficult 2016 primary campaign and a hotly contested 2017 race for party chair, what Democrats desperately need is to unify their ranks to confront the challenges they will face in the 2018 mid-term elections and beyond. What happened over the last three days of Democratic National Committee (DNC) meetings not only didn’t contribute to unity, it added to our division. It hasn’t been an easy three days.
There were a few personal setbacks. The new chair removed me and a few other colleagues from the party’s executive committee. What we all had in common was that, earlier this year, we had been supporters of the losing candidate in the contest for chair. To make matters worse, someone started an ugly rumour that attempted to implicate me and two of my close associates from the Sanders’ campaign in an effort to challenge the presence of three prominent African American women who had just been nominated to serve on the DNC.
Both the removals and the rumours were not only wrong and hurtful, they were political blunders in that they deepened divisions and became negative news stories that cast a pall over the proceedings.
Despite the upbeat tone of the speeches delivered by party leaders at public sessions, the reality is that Democrats face serious problems. Over the past nine years, we’ve lost more than 1,000 state legislative seats, 12 governorships, and nine seats in the Senate and 62 in the House, resulting in our loss of control of both houses of Congress.
As a first step to secure unity, Democrats must make a determined effort to engage supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Dismissing or ignoring this imperative can be fatal. The two camps are real and the wounds left from the 2016 contest are still open sores. The charge made by Clinton during her recent book tour that Sanders cost her the election only served to fan the fires of division.

The only effort by the DNC neolibs is to “Purge” any Berniecrat or put them in positions that are ceremonial with no real influence.

DNC enters 2018 in cash panic

The Democratic National Committee is reeling, facing a turnaround that’s proving a much bigger lift than anyone expected as it struggles to raise enough money to cover its basic promises.
Many donors are refusing to write checks. And on-the-ground operatives worry they won’t have the resources to build the infrastructure they need to compete effectively in next year’s midterms and in the run-up to 2020.
Here in the halls of Bally’s hotel and casino for the DNC’s fall meeting through the weekend, state committee chairs and operatives echoed a now-common concern among donors and strategists: The DNC’s recovery is still a ways away, and that could have serious repercussions for the party in the coming years.
“Donors, small and large, are so over the party,” said Nebraska party chair Jane Kleeb, summing up the problem facing DNC chairman Tom Perez and his counterparts in the states. Kleeb, who is working on grass-roots fundraising efforts for the committee, said she believes the money will come eventually.
..
The financial challenges reflect a broader struggle at a committee led by a chairman who is new to party politics — and on a steep learning curve at a time when national Democrats are still searching for an identity after a historic loss. And it’s not just donors who are staying away as the Perez-led group promises an expansive set of new investments and innovations. The party’s old leaders, led by former President Barack Obama, have kept their involvement to a minimum, as well.
So with 2018’s midterms presenting a clear opportunity for Democrats to leap forward, the worry is that they simply may not be prepared in time. While the House and Senate Democratic campaign arms — and individual candidates — are having no problem raising funds, the comparatively anemic cash flow at the central committee and state branches could affect organizing efforts on the ground across the country.

Democrats’ early money haul stuns GOP

Democratic candidates are reporting historic early fundraising totals, alarming GOP strategists and raising the prospect that 2018 could feature the most expansive House battlefield in years.
Animated by opposition to President Donald Trump and the Republican congressional majorities, at least 162 Democratic candidates in 82 GOP-held districts have raised over $100,000 so far this year, according to a POLITICO analysis of the latest FEC data. That’s about four times as many candidates as House Democrats had at this point before the 2016 or 2014 elections, and it’s more than twice as many as Republicans had running at this point eight years ago, on the eve of capturing the House in the 2010 wave election.
Nearly three dozen Republican incumbents were outraised by Democratic challengers in the third quarter of this year – a stunning figure. Nine GOP incumbents already trail a Democratic opponent in cash on hand, increasing the likelihood that many veteran incumbents will face tough opposition for the first time in years.
The Democrats’ fundraising success, especially from a glut of candidates who have never run for office before, is unsettling to those charged with protecting the GOP majority.
..
In Texas, GOP Rep. John Culberson, whose Houston-area district attracted little attention from either party before Hillary Clinton carried it in 2016, finished the summer with less campaign cash than two different Democratic opponents.
The long slate of well-funded Democratic candidates, coupled with a favorable political environment and poor polling numbers for Trump, is raising Democratic hopes of erasing the GOP’s 24-seat majority.

After the damage caused by Wasserman -Schultz and how the DNC screwed Bernie over. We haven’t forgotten. The purse strings are closed. Perhaps Pelosi can donate 10-15 million or call Soros for some cash.

Thanks for coming out in Austin today!! On our way to New Braunfels, 6:30PM at Krause’s Cafe. See you soon! pic.twitter.com/NIJotuTZHI
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 22, 2017

Thanks to all who came out to our discussion on the effects of stuttering. I still struggle with a stutter from time to time. pic.twitter.com/dPxVTy56Af
— Ben Jealous (@BenJealous) October 22, 2017

Another reason I'm running:
New pipelines can end up locking in fossil fuels longer#FlipNY11 https://t.co/VhZm8jEbNh via @EnvDefenseFund
— Michael DeVito Jr. (@mdevitojr) October 22, 2017

If you want to go far, go together.#LetsRunTogether #FlipNY11 #Midterms2018 #Flipitblue #VoteVets #SemperFi
https://t.co/8VAQRKUVwe
— Michael DeVito Jr. (@mdevitojr) October 23, 2017

Boerne. Area. Democrats. Y'all.
Huge turnout for the Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner. #tx21 pic.twitter.com/u9gIzxIWeu
— Derrick Crowe (@electcrowe) October 22, 2017