“I don’t actually have a question, Mr. Sanders. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” the Morningside College student said. “I’m [from a] third-generation union family. My 1-year-old son’s on WIC. My two autistic siblings are on Medicare. And for the first time in my life, I honestly feel a candidate is worthy of my admiration and truly and politically who I am. I just want to thank you for that.”
As the audience of more than 400 clapped its approval, Sanders sought to bring his supporters back to Earth.
“When you say that, it is very moving to me, but I have to repeat something. I want to make this clear: Guys, we are in this together. OK? I can’t do it alone,” he said, invoking the specter of capitalist forces he said were working against him. “These guys are just too powerful. But we can beat them when we stand together.”
As Sanders works his way across the Midwest this week, evidence is mounting that a sizable portion of the Democratic electorate is standing with the 73-year-old presidential candidate. After 10,000 people showed up to a rally Wednesday night in Madison, Wis., Quinnipiac University released a poll showing that he’d more than doubled his support in Iowa since May, and trails Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by just 19 percentage points — 52 to 33 percent.
And as he traveled from a 600-person gathering in Rochester, Minn., Thursday morning to the campus of Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge that afternoon, Sanders’ campaign announced he had raised more $15 million in his first two months as a candidate.
But as in Sioux City, Sanders cautioned a crowd of 150 in an ICCC auditorium not to rest all its hopes and dreams on him.
“I appreciate the Bernie signs, but if you think I can do it alone, you’re sorely mistaken,” he said. “The truth is that no president of the United States — not Bernie Sanders, not anybody else — can bring about the changes we need to protect the working families and the middle class of this country. That’s just the simple reality, and we are naive not to think otherwise. They are very powerful. These guys control the economy and they can punish us at any time they want.”
“The Koch brothers will spend close to $1 billion in this election cycle,” he said. “That is more money than either the Democratic Party will spend or the Republican Party will spend. Does that sounds like democracy to you?”
“No,” the crowd murmured.
“That sounds like brainwashing,” one man called out.
“What are the implications of an extreme right-wing family like the Koch brothers, whose views are that we should abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, do away with the concept of the minimum wage, do away with public education, and they are now spending more money than the Democratic or Republican parties?” he asked. “What are the implications of that for our kind of society?
“They own us!” a man yelled.
“Yes they do,” a woman agreed.
“OK. Other thoughts on it?” Sanders prompted. “Yes, sir.”
“It’s a non-sustainable concentration of power,” another man said.
“I love the fact that you call yourself a democratic socialist,” Gary Lewis said. “I wonder as we go forward — trying to explain what we saw here today, why we believe in you — how do we tell the people that [when] they hear the word ‘socialist,’ how do we tell them that … it does not mean what they think it means?”
“Based on the size of the crowds that we’ve been drawing and our increasing poll numbers, I think many people are catching on,” Sanders said.
Democratic socialism, he told the crowd, means standing for the middle class and ensuring access to health insurance, paid sick leave and education.
“I believe in equality for all people, and to my mind that’s what democratic socialism is about,” he said. “Let us not be afraid of a word. Let us look on ways that we can expand the middle class and make life good for all of our people.”
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This man NEEDS us; but not as much as WE NEED HIM!
Bernie can lay it on thick. The Koch brother lies are very interesting. I used to respect Bernie for his honesty and ethics. Now he doesn’t even have that.
Bernie Sanders was speaking the truth as he always has.
Keith Stern, which part of what he said was a lie?
Keith – how do you or he know how much will be spent?
The Koch brothers spent over 400 million in 2012, and they will probably spend a lot more this time around because there’s a much greater chance that the Republicans can win.
In 2012, Obama was a shoe-in. So Koch spending was about helping allies and getting their ideology out there. This time around, they’re going to be spending money to win.
Really Keith Stern? The numbers should be easy enough to check. Oh, look–it says that the Koch brothers are spending 889 MILLION dollars on this next election. THE SAME AMOUNT AS THE REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC PARTIES. Lies indeed. I guess just blurting out stupid shit like that is easiest. But maybe next time you could check it out first before commenting?
It wasn’t about the money spent. They earned the money and can spend it any way they see fit. It was the lies about doing away with public education when they believe in the elimination of the department of education which serves no useful purpose educating students. Bernie also claims they want to abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and federal aid to education. All B.S. Try reading about the Koch brothers and see what they are for and against instead of listening to Bernie. I did and they have very good ideas for the country.
Remember they EARNED their money by using their brains to excel. Bernie won elections.
Funny for Kieth to have lost such respect for Bernie’s honesty and ethics, yet sees the Koch brothers as admirable for using their brains to “earn” their inherited wealth from their father.
When my dad leaves me his small empire, I’m going to structure my brainy earnings by reinstituting slavery for my workforce. But hey, I earned it, and can spend it any way I see it fit.
Keith, you really need to read up on the Koch Brothers. They inherited the company from their father, and do indeed donate huge sums of money to back conservative and libertarian groups. Can they spend their money the way they want? Sure. But what they spend it on is pretty much what Bernie has identified. So there is no lie.
Keith…”Remember they EARNED their money by using their brains to excel.” They had other people EARN their money for them…they OWNED an infrastructure for many, many, many workers to actually CREATE their wealth. Just like Bernie says, hey I’m not the solution, you are….he is voted for because people feel he represents them BETTER and with the DIGNITY of true DEMOCRACY. The Koch Bro. could hire any team of anything to do the actual running of their endeavors, even the creation of other endeavors, and have no real part in it other than OWNERSHIP. Working harder doesn’t = more POWER or more WEALTH. OWNING things doesn’t = SMARTER or more RIGHTEOUS. A lot of people, including yourself scream bloody murder over GOV in MARKET, but endorse and see it as 100% RIGHTEOUS for MARKET to BE GOVERNMENT. That an outrageous robbing of dignity to every human that’s ever aided any OWNER through WORKING to help OWNERS realize their WEALTH….which is then used to strip the WORKER of their DIGNITY and COUNTRY.
You people can attack the wealthy the way Bernie and the rest of the liberals want you to because you will never understand that their investing in business creates jobs and if we had enough of that going on wages would rise naturally. How many of you complain about George Soros doing the exact same thing? Bernie never mentions him and he probably contributes hundreds of billions to liberal causes and candidates.
I don’t care about the Koch brothers or George Soros but if politicians including Bernie want to be honest mention all of the individuals equally. BTW I don’t know of the Koch brothers being Nazi collaborators as Soros was.
Yes, trickle down economics is sure working Keith… Those “job creators” fight against paying living wages here, outsource jobs overseas, dodge taxes and depend on the rest of us to fund the welfare programs the working poor who drive their profits have to receive. Not paying taxes, having to support the employees they should be paying a living wage too, and you somehow thing that they are going to suddenly change and increase wages on their own? Delusional. You need to open your eyes to reality. Nobody is demonizing “the rich” outright, but they are demonizing and rightfully so, the exploitation of people by the super rich who are the true “welfare queens” in this country.
Donald! Donald! Donald!
So Christin what has Bernie stated as solutions? I hear him put the blame on multicultural corporations for years but have not seen one piece of legislation to fix it. I even contacted him with some fixes but he never bothered to respond. I ran some years ago to get some ideas out and I know Welch, Leahy, and Sanders saw them because I ran against the former two in separate years and presented Bernie with my palm card.
I proposed legislation that would level the playing field against foreign labor, require all companies to pay income tax on all profits made here, and stop allowing companies to buy out competition, close it, and write it off in taxes. To my knowledge none of the three have proposed legislation which will accomplish anything my ideas would. Blame the real villains, the politicians who let it continue unchecked while making a grandstand move. FYI, find a copy of Perfectly Legal.
Claiming that George Soros was a “Nazi collaborator” is a foul lie often repeated by commentators on the far right attempting to smear him.
Soros was a 14 year old boy in Nazi occupied Hungary. In order to survive, his family placed him in the care of a Christian government official, posing as his “godson”
While young George did see the destruction of Hungary’s Jewish community from the vantage point of traveling with his godfather, he was not a “collaborator” — he did not turn in other Jews, he did not profit from the looting of the Jewish community’s property, he did not receive favorable treatment from the Nazis. He was a teenage boy in hiding, like thousands of others who somehow managed to survive the Holocaust.
http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/09/2…
The obsession that right wingers have with smearing Soros is nothing more than a far right anti-Semitic meme to attack someone they despise.
Keith. Money doesn’t NATURALLY do anything. The entire idea is man made. Regardless of basing value on gold, or pocket lint.. For being such a trusting individual, you sure sound pretty paranoid. Thats not the only totally contradicting statement…there’s also this gem: Market owners have absolute authority over the market, labor, and government…yet you came up with a plan where companies can’t buy other companies? I thought as long as you have money, you can do anything you want with it…being buying out competition, or regulation, or workers…so how in the world do you think YOUR version of regulation is safe from being bought out, and why in the world would you suggest that ANY individual must trust and sacrifice 100% of their liberty in legislative process to business, rather than having a seat at the table when determining “fairness” for every citizen of our country?
Argue about the money thang, in the end Grandma will win the nomination…
Has Bernie mentioned his ideas to dismantle ISIS?
ISIS is more of a threat than complex campaign donation and spending laws. Who enacts these same laws? Yes, you’re right! It’s the Congress and most of the candidates have been or are members of this esteemed class of deciders!
We better fix ISIS.
Justin where did I state there is anything illegal about buying a business and closing it? I said the government should not give them tax credits for doing that. To believe otherwise is to choose businesses over employees. The rest of your rant has nothing to do with what I actually said.
terjeanderson I read the story about Soros from a renowned Nazi hunter. I’ll take those credentias over any sourced by Media Matters.