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Sanders As A Media Critic:
When addressing audiences, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) regularly includes the “corporate media” in a list of what’s ailing American politics these days, right alongside the outsize influence of the “billionaire class,” corporate greed and super PACs.
He did so again Monday, at a rally here attended by about 750 people, complaining that the media is too eager to turn presidential politics into a soap opera or a sporting event rather than cover “real issues,” such as job creation or guaranteed health care.
Asked by the media to elaborate after the event, the presidential hopeful said he doesn’t think he is being treated unfairly, telling a gaggle of reporters: “I don’t have a problem with the way I’m being covered.”
But Sanders stood his ground on his critique of the media’s priorities, responding with a little finger-wagging for the cameras.
“I want you to talk about and force discussion about climate change,” he said. “Do you think you do that enough? I would like you to force discussion of poverty in America. I have talked over and over and over again that 51 percent of African American kids are unemployed or underemployed. You think that’s an important issue? I do. Are you going to discuss it?”
He continued: “So what I am asking you is help me. … The American people want a discussion of the real issues. They don’t really care that Marco Rubio threw a football and hit some kid in the head. Not one of the great issues facing our society.”
CNN has more::
What is the worst moniker Bernie Sanders could assign someone? Koch Brothers-like.
Sanders did just that with "corporate media" on Monday in New Hampshire, telling an audience in Conway that groups like the Koch Brothers -- Republican moneymen who plan to spend upwards of $900 million in 2016 -- Wall Street and media stand in the way of the "political revolution" he is trying to drum up.
The line was not a one off: Sanders delivered anti-media remarks at every event he headlined in New Hampshire over the last two days, telling audiences that his campaign is not just against politics as usual, but against the way media covers campaigns.
Sanders has long been a media critic -- primarily about the focus on personality and fluff -- but the independent Vermont senator's trip to New Hampshire made clear that his 2016 bid would regularly use crowd pleasing anti-media rhetoric.
"The American people, I think, increasingly understand that corporate media is prepared to discuss everything 24 hours a day, seven days a week except the most important issues facing the American people," Sanders said Monday during a town hall in Conway. "Increasingly what media sees campaigns being are soap operas and football games, rather than a serious discussion about the serious issues facing America."
Bernie On Biden:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said that he isn’t sure how Vice President Joe Biden’s potential entrance into the 2016 Democratic primary race would affect his chances to win the nomination.
“Politics is not a soap opera. We should not be going around making terrible attacks on each other. Let’s debate the issues. If Joe comes in, that’s what I will do,” Sanders told reporters outside a campaign stop at A. Crosby Kennett Middle School in Conway.
“What impact it will have on the race I honestly don’t know. I mean, I wish I could tell you but I don’t. Will it help or hurt me? Will it help or hurt Hillary Clinton? I just don’t know.”
Sanders reminded reporters that he has known Biden for a long time, and they were colleagues together in the senate for six years.
“You’re not going to find a guy who is more decent than Joe Biden is,” he said. “I promised Joe that if he gets into the race that I will, as I have up to now, run an issue oriented campaign. Joe’s views on a number of issues I suspect, I know, are different on a number of issues than mine.”
More:
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders doesn't think having a meeting with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is that big of deal because he's had lots of them.
Sanders told New Hampshire television station NH1 News Network on Monday when asked about the news that Warren and Vice President Joe Biden met together on Saturday, NH1's political director Paul Steinhauser said on Twitter.
Political pundits were buzzing after news of the unannounced meeting broke, while rumors grow that Biden is considering running for president. The meeting led several to speculate whether or not it was the sign of a possible Biden-Warren ticket.
Bernie Addresses The Stock Market Chaos:
Only hours after delivering a stem-winder speech in New Hampshire blasting income inequality created by economic policies that help the rich get richer while the poor stay poor, Democratic presidential contender Sen Bernie Sanders (I) ripped into “unfettered free trade” that is devastating workers.
On Twitter this morning, Sanders wrote: “The results are in. Unfettered free trade has been a disaster for working Americans. It is high time we ended our disastrous trade policies.”
Sander’s tweet came as investors panicked in what some are calling “Black Monday,” with the Dow Jones dropping a 1,000 points this morning, the worst meltdown since 2008.
While small investors were in a frenzy- selling off their nest egg before it disappears only to have large institutional investors swoop in and scoop up stocks at bargain prices – Sanders pointed out that the U.S. has never seen so much income inequality, dating back to 1928 – the year before the stock market crash launched the Great Depression, according to the Concord Monitor
Yahoo! Writes about a Sanders foreign policy:
Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont, has a special “War and Peace” section on his official website, detailing his views on issues like Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East peace process. Bernie Sanders, the contender for the Democratic presidential nomination … doesn’t.
The campaign website, BernieSanders.com, offers visitors access to the iconoclastic candidate’s thoughts on Income and Wealth Inequality, Getting Big Money Out of Politics, Creating Decent-Paying Jobs, Racial Justice, A Living Wage, Real Family Values, Climate Change and Environment, and Reforming Wall Street. But there’s no tab for Syria, the Islamic State, a rising China or strained relations with Russia.
It’s not that Bernie is hiding his record. When he rolled out his campaign in April, Sanders took a question about where he disagreed with Hillary Clinton. “I voted against the war in Iraq. And not only did I vote against it,” Sanders emphasized, “I helped lead the effort” to defeat the resolution authorizing the use of military force to topple Saddam Hussein. Clinton, of course, lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination in part because she voted for the war. (Her website includes a section on what she views as her chief accomplishments as secretary of state.)
The omission aligns Sanders with most voters, who are telling pollsters that their top concerns are the economy and health care, not foreign policy.
“If he’s going to win this nomination, it’s not going to be on the strength of his foreign policy views. They’re not distinctive enough, even though he is to the left of Hillary Clinton on some of these issues,” explained Matt Dickinson, a political science professor at Middlebury College in Vermont. “That’s not what’s capturing the attention of the base of the Democratic Party.”
Cornel West Backs Bernie:
Civil rights activist Cornel West defended his endorsement of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, stating that this is the time “for his prophetic voice to be heard across our crisis-ridden country." West’s comments, seen in a series of tweets late Monday, come amid questions over Sanders’ commitment to fight racial injustice in the U.S.
Even though Hillary Clinton has had a stranglehold on minority voters in the Democratic race, West’s endorsement should give Sanders a boost in support with minority voters, according to reports.
“My endorsement of Brother Bernie in the primaries is not an affirmation of the neo-liberal Democratic Party… My endorsement of Brother Bernie is not a downplaying of the immorality of the ugly Israeli occupation of Palestinians,” West wrote on his Twitter account Monday. “I endorse Brother @BernieSanders because he is a long-distance runner with integrity in the struggle for justice for over 50 years.”
Sander Was In NH Monday:
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made three stops in New Hampshire Monday to hold town hall meetings in hopes of gaining more support from voters.
The Vermont senator stopped in Conway, Berlin and Littleton. Hundreds piled into the gymnasium at Kennett Middle School at Sanders' first stop in Conway.
"It's very difficult for young people to make a living with the minimum wage as low as it is, and I think it's time things were changed," said Michael Farrington, a voter from Conway who showed up to hear Sanders speak.
"This country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires," said Sanders.
WMUR:
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders visited the northern part of New Hampshire on Monday and continued to say he's the candidate for the working class.
Speaking to a large crowd in Conway, Sanders took some shots at the Republican field.
"I think all of you know what they mean by 'family values,'" Sanders said. "What they mean is that women in America should not be able to control their own bodies. I disagree."
Sanders has mostly eliminated the large lead Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton held in the New Hampshire polls, and he said he believes the primary is there for the taking.
"I think we've got a real path to victory," Sanders said. "The turnouts that we are seeing all over New Hampshire are just fantastic."
The Enough Is Enough Rally continues to grow:
First, the breaking news: A Facebook-driven grassroots movement of Bernie Sanders supporters is seeking 100,000 or more RSVP’s from other Sanders supporters to attend a mass rally at the Washington Mall on or around October 17, with the theme “enough is enough,” in support of the Sanders candidacy.
As of Monday morning, this Facebook RSVP movement has garnered over 87,000 signatures and is preparing to formally present the idea of a Sanders movement march on Washington later this week.
In effect if one views the Sanders campaign as a movement for social change that advances beyond the tactics and strategies of a conventional political campaign, which is largely driven by a social media movement that advances beyond the insider-driven mainstream media, the push for a grassroots Sanders march on Washington should be viewed as a movement within a movement and the ultimate expression of grassroots democracy and politics.
Even assuming that some who formally sign an RSVP for a Sanders march on Washington will not ultimately attend, the publicity surge leading into the event would be enormous. The grassroots movement through social media mobilizing Sanders supporters to attend would go mega-viral the minute Sanders agrees to attend, and the likely crowd attending this rally would be far larger than any event for any candidate in either party.
3:10 AM PT: