Bernie is doing it old-school right now on the Senate floor. He started at 10:25 this morning.
If you’ve never seen a real filibuster, or even if you have, you can watch on C-SPAN2.
Please share widely!
Reality-based commentary on politics.
I just called Kerry’s office and said I expected my senator to join in. (202) 224-2742
(You won’t get through to Sander’s office, BTW: lines busy.)
Probably won’t mean a damn thing, but I did it anyway.
I said Bernie’s filibuster is inspiring and I’d be proud if my senator joined in.
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p>The lady on the other end “appreciated my comment.”
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p>Well, there’s still Bernie!
He is a hero for the common man.
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p>I hope more listen to him before the middle class is fully decimated and before the oligarchs take even more. Time to find a way to fight the Citizens United decision and restablish a democracy that is not built upon wealth and influence.
you actually have to stop a vote or any other kind of senate business to be a filibuster. Neither of which is happening.
That’s what Kerry’s office said, but so what? Like that’s a reason not to get off his butt and do the same thing.
The Senator himself seems to hedge on the exact term.
Best speech since this one:
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to Senator Kerry’s office (202) 224-2742,
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p> and then made one to Senator Brown’s office, (202) 224-4543.
The time is 6:54 PM. Incredible. Awesome. Brass balls. And telling the truth, too; the top 2% owns more than the bottom 40%. No wonder the percentage of children who are hungry, and are born into poverty keeps going up in the richest country on earth.
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p>And THAT is a moral issue, not just a fiscal issue.
This is what we want and expect from you.
After all, there are no higher offices in the offing for Kerry – his legacy will be about his courage, his priorities, and whether or not he stands for truth and defends those who need defending rather than enriching those who do not need further riches.
When push comes to shove, Kerry ducks. He voted for the Iraq War Resolution while his constituents were begging him not to. Does he even live in this state?
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p>I miss Teddy so much on days like this.
I don’t expect much from him and never have other than lip service and mediocrity
I think the compromise is a pretty good deal, and I also think that the whole idea of the President being a “fighter” is kind of overrated. But the flip side of that is that that leaves quite a bit of room for members of Congress to step in do their own thing. If Bernie Sanders thinks he can get better legislation, he should try to get it. That is literally what his job is. I wouldn’t like it if he was making the perfect the enemy of the good, but I think Sanders has been pretty good at folding when has to. There are some major bills he could have killed from the left but he didn’t.
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p>You need people fighting for bills to be more progressive. I don’t think that necessarily should the President, but there should be people in government making the argument.
I agree with UserGoogol. Regardless of the outcome, Bernie Sanders reminded people that we need to have a moral compass. As a country we really need to hear that more often.
I listened to Sanders (a self-described socialist who caucuses with the Democrats) for about 40 minutes while working. It was a lot of the usual blabber about the evil empire (companies who make America what it is), and occasionally some coherent relevant information (even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often), but who cares. I think he sounded a little cooky at times, like the guy on the corner proclaiming the world will be ending soon. Bernie got his 15 minutes of fame.
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p>But I don’t think it changed anyone’s minds about anything, it was not a filibuster. I’ve read some comments above like Sanders just climbed Mt Everest or something. So he spoke for 8.5 hours without stopping… my mother-in-law can top that easily, and she doesn’t need to read letters to fill the time.
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p>Why do some think this was such an amazing event? I’m often confused why people think it’s amazing when a person does something which puts them into the Guinness Book of World Records, who cares. So even though Sanders didn’t break any filibuster records or even come close, he is right up there with the guys who watched TV for 86 straight hours without falling asleep. Luckily for those guys, they weren’t watching Bernie Sanders speech.
I listened to much of Sanders’ speech. If more people listened, they would be disgusted with both the state of our government and the state of our country.
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p>This “compromise” cuts the estate tax to 35% and exempts the first $5 million of an estate. In other words, you can inherit the first $5 million with no taxes, and beyond that billions can flow with a tax rate identical to the top tier tax rate. For those who don’t understand the estate tax, it is in place to prevent generational accumulation of vast sums of wealth. It has been in place since 1916, and its rates were often much higher with a much lower kick-in level. It is a complete joke when I hear Republicans blaming the existence of the estate tax for businesses being “hesitant” about expanding. The Republican goal here is for full repeal.
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p>This “compromise” takes money out of the Social Security system via a “payroll tax holiday”. Using immediate past practices, that means when Obama doesn’t continue this holiday in 2 years, they will scream that he’s “raising taxes”. If he does continue the holiday, it greatly weakens the social security system. This was a Republican idea, by the way.
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p>This “compromise” will result in higher taxes for on the poorest wage earners because it does not continue the “making work pay” act.
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p>This “compromise” extends unemployment benefits for people who run out of their state benefits — but this is something that both Republicans and Democrats have done year after year, time after time, when unemployment has been higher than 7% (unemployment is currently near 10%). Is this a real threat by the Republicans?
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p>So, let’s see — lower taxes on the rich? Check. Higher taxes on the poor? Check. Moving forward in repealing the estate tax? Check. Weakening Social Security? Check. Blowing a hole in the budget that can only be fixed by drastic cuts? Check.
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p>This “compromise” is a Republican’s wet dream.
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p>For those who accused Obama of being a Manchurian candidate, you have been proven right. It turns out that he’s a plant by the Republicans.