Bernie Sanders Trolls Republicans on Ronald Reagan’s Birthday

[Cali_Democrat]

Last edited Fri Feb 6, 2015, 07:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Today, February 6th, is former President Ronald Reagan‘s birthday. Many conservatives have been posting messages of remembrance on social media, including some of Reagan’s famous quotes exemplifying his views on limited government.

You would not expect Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a self-described socialist, to say a word about the former president on his birthday, or even tweet out one of his quotes. But that, he did.

Under the Obama presidency, Sanders and the Democratic Party have been pushing for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans — a plan that Republicans oppose. But Sanders was able to troll his GOP colleagues by tweeting a Reagan quote showing the former president’s support for closing tax loopholes for the wealthy. It even contained the words “fair share,” a term that Republicans often mock the president and Democrats for using.

Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan: pic.twitter.com/nCmmFLfubn
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 6, 2015

http://www.mediaite.com/online/bernie-sanders-trolls-republicans-on-ronald-reagans-birthday/

[Jefferson23]

1. +1, for Bernie. n/t

[arthritisR_US]

3. I wish Bernie could win the general election

for POTUS.

[Jefferson23]

7. He should try, he is a formidable debater and his message can

resonate with Independents and moderate Republicans, I think.

[arthritisR_US]

14. Not too sure how he'd fair in Florida. That state

is rampant with neoliberals

[Jefferson23]

15. I don't know, how well are they doing and how well are their grown children doing?

I would like to see him give it his all.

[MannyGoldstein]

21. I expect he will try, unless another FDR Democrat runs

Which is one reason why I'm confident that Hillary Clinton will stay out of the race - she knows things will get ugly for her with a Democrat to debate against.

[Jefferson23]

24. Edwards moved the conversation of income inequality/ taxes too low for

corporations as a central part of his platform at the time and that moved the others left.

I have no idea if either Bernie or Warren will run, but they're trying to voice in clear precise
language now what the problem is..we need this conversation because we all know it is
sorely missing within the msm despite polls showing that 2/3rds of Americans believe
corporations do not pay their fair share. http://www.gallup.com/poll/1714/taxes.aspx

I hope you're right about SoS Clinton, do you think she'll speak about these problems
willingly? Of course then the issue becomes will voters trust she will follow through
on any pledges she may make.

40 charts that explain money in politics

Money suffuses our political system. Candidates must spend huge sums to get elected, and once they do, well-funded interests spend huge sums to influence how they vote. Campaign finance laws are being struck down, and money is rushing into outside groups that don’t have to disclose their donors. Some studies have found companies can get as much as a 22,000 percent return on their lobbying dollars, while a recent poll from the Global Strategy Group found that more than 90 percent of Americans wants to reduce the role of money in politics. Here’s what’s going on — in charts, of course.

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/30/5949581/money-in-politics-charts-explain

[erronis]

33. Wow me with charts! These are incredible - thanks!

I may have seen some of these before but the sheer number and overwhelming negative implications of most of them is frightening.

I imagine, pretty soon, that the numbers that go into these statistics will no longer be available. I'm sure the PTB (and their allies the Supremes) will soon eviscerate any reporting requirements.

[Jefferson23]

35. When compiled in one place, it's a jaw dropper..yep.

You're most welcome to spread it around, as you see fit.

[merrily]

26. I wish I shared your optimism.

I think the fix is in, maybe has been since 2008, and Hillary knows it and she and Bill have been working to correct past mistakes, failsafe, etc.

I think part of pundits, strategists and MSNBC shills insisting that no Democrat would even give it a try if she decided to run--and perhaps helping to make that so--was the knowledge that a Democrat would attack her in ways no Republican ever would or could. Therefore, she had to be unopposed in a primary. However, she will not be unopposed in the general or at the ballot box.

All the baggage against her from Arkansas and her husband's Presidency will be resurrected in a way Obama did not do. All the baggage against her that no one on the GOP side bothered with all that much while her husband was President will also be resurrected. And so will stuff from her 2008 campaign against Obama and stuff from her stint as SOS.

The meme that, of maybe 50 million Democrats in the US eligible to run for President, she is the strongest is laughable. Nonetheless, as I said, the fix seems to have been in since at least 2012, if not 2008.

After all, what is better for the Party PTB than uncontested Dem primaries? We had that in 2012 and, since then, we've been promised it for 2016, too. And with much less protest from us hoi polloi than one might expect of Democrats in an alleged democracy.

But I hope for all our sakes that you are right and I am mistaken.

[MannyGoldstein]

27. I agree that the fix is in

But I don't think the fix will work this time, is all.

[merrily]

28. I hope you are right, I really, really do.

[MannyGoldstein]

29. Me too!

I'm wrong a lot!

[merrily]

30. Either way, we'll soon see.

(For a time before he died, my father said only "Either way" in response to all questions. It was an appropriate response so often that no one could tell of he was understanding the question or simply just saying "Either way.&quot

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. Way to go Bernie! You're awesome!

Another famous persons birthday today...

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/02/06/jamaica-marley-idINKBN0LA11H20150206

Jamaica celebrates 70th birthday of late reggae great Bob Marley
BY HORACE HELPS
KINGSTON Fri Feb 6, 2015

Julian Marley, son of the late reggae icon Bob Marley, performs at a concert celebrating his father's 69th birthday at the National Stadium in Kingston, February 7, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/GILBERT BELLAMY

Happy Birthday, Bob!

[freshwest]

4. Sweet!

[tecelote]

5. ...while the bus driver was paying 10% of his salary...?

I'm all for increasing taxes on people prospering from our society and bringing our bus drivers back down to 10%.

What is wrong with the rich supporting more of America than a bus driver?

Benefit Equivalent to Contribution

The bus driver deserves to live a decent life while the rich are... rich. They pay more, they get more.

We can all live with that.

The problem is that the rich think they own us and we owe them.

[erronis]

34. Agreed. The paycheck should be based on

How good/bad the job is
- school teacher, driver, trash collector, etc. - $1,000,000
- clerk/computer type - $40,000
- banker, CEO - $10,000
- congress critter - $2,000
- President - $300,000
- etc.

So many of those currently high-paying jobs don't involve a whole lot of nasty stuff, just entertaining your friends on your yacht or bribing your buddy to get a great deal on insider trading.

I think this is a too-broad brush but it includes most congress-critters, lobbyists, other non-productive "members of society" - wealthy stockholders included later.

I'd like us to pay the people who have to get up in the morning and take care of our roads, infrastructure, schools, children, hospitals, elderly - I'd like to put them at the top of the scale.

I'd like to give the personnel in the military that are actually putting themselves in harms way twice as much as the general and the arm-chair pundit/lobbyist that is assigning them on a lost cause.

The President - strange case. I think s/he should get enough to live reasonably without ostentation but enough to spring for a good dinner with some other head-of-state every now and then. And I'll throw in a few bucks for having to duck those foam-rubber arrows lobbed at her/him from the deranged congress-critters.

[Marie Marie]

6. Oooh - smooth move there Sen Sanders.

Nicely played!

[kacekwl]

8. Great move , we need

to keep pointing out what they were for and now against , for SOME reason.

[calimary]

10. Welcome to DU, kacekwl!

Glad you're here! I'm one of those who is happy for ANY holes that can be poked in the so-called reagan "legacy." He is either THE WORST, or the SECOND-WORST President EVER. His "legacy" has proven to be as toxic as george w bush's. Except the poisons he brewed and scattered throughout our land have been in the system much longer.

[freebrew]

32. I keep waiting for some of that 'trickle-down' thing to happen...

tired of working for assholes that pay nothing.

Yet, all I seem to get is pissed on. You think that was the real plan???

[calimary]

37. Yep. But the REAL UNDERLYING plan was to make sure you didn't notice.

Thus the slick talk, the sloganeering, the Busby Berkeley staging the reagans were FAMOUS for, with the ginormous American flags and the pomp and the circumstance and the poseurs. And the speechifying! The whole "It's Morning in America!" thing and the "shining city on a hill" thing, and all that soothing crap-spew about "getting the gummnt off yer back" thing. And the schtick! I used to watch reagan do his thing for the schtick, to study what he was doing and how he stood and how he held his head and what his eyebrows did and that cutesy little tilt and "adorable" little crooked smile. It was SCHTICK. It sure snowed a whole lotta people in this country. He was that adorable avuncular old uncle you just luvved-luvved-luvved, and meant so well and was so damn nice and had such fun stories and anecdotes to share, and wouldn't hurt a flea. Utterly harmless and totally non-threatening. Yeah. My ass. He was the nice, harmless Trojan Horse in which all the toxin-ridden vermin was hiding, to whom FAR too many American voters threw the gates open and dropped their guard and suspended their critical thinking and dismissed facts and objectivity, and welcomed.

The GOP finally got the delivery system they'd always yearned for. The Perfect Salesman to sell their bullshit and wrap it up in nice harmless pretty-looking wrappings and you wouldn't even know you'd just opened the package and found a shit sandwich in there. Didn't even smell like shit, either! Certainly didn't look like one! Especially since they made sure it was covered over with lots of ketchup and spices and beautifully-melted cheese and layers of bacon. THAT was ronald reagan. EVERYTHING he sold was basically a big fat fraud.

For instance, it always amazed me - doesn't ANYONE on that side realize that not everyone is equipped to "start a business!" Not everybody's into that, built for that, aiming for that, or wanting that. Not everybody's geared for that, or driven to that, or worshipping at that altar. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution that the CONS and other gullibles and fairy-story-swallowers seem to think it is.

Government bad? Did ANYBODY stop to think that he was saying WE ALL were bad. Government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people? That's US you're demeaning and denouncing and trash-talking, you asshole! That's YOU TOO, more's the pity, as you proceeded to pervert the entire foundation of what makes America America.

What awful days. What an awful time! I knew when he took over that we were in for some trouble. I didn't realize just how much, though. But I remember dressing in black and blue to go into work the day after that Election Night. Makes me think of this Frank Zappa song some of us used to play in college radio - "America Drinks and Goes Home."

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+zappa/america+drinks+and+goes+home_20261916.html

No surprise to me when reagan finally kicked the ol' bucket - that some people portrayed it as "Death of a Salesman."

[freebrew]

38. Love the Zappa reference...one of my favorite artists.

Yes, I was in CA when he was Gov. You could see the state go downhill from the minute he took office.

He really hated the Bay Area, it seemed.

Seems the biggest problem the pukes have is thinking that everyone WANTS to be rich.

I don't care to own a yacht, or a $zillion car. It would be nice to get the part of the economy that 'we', as the workers, worked for(pardon the grammar).
Giving raises by % of salary or wage keeps the rich, rich. If it were fair, raises and especially bonuses should be equally divided amongst everyone. But that's just the commie speaking, hah.
Seen too much unfairness in the time I've been on this planet. Maybe things will be better on the next world I visit, eh?

[calimary]

39. And don't forget the other part of that "everyone WANTS to be rich" canard:

They've done a VERY good job, subliminally, of instilling the notion that if you JUST... KEEP... ON... VOTING... GOP, then YOU TOO will be rich someday!!!! Like magic! Just keep on believing and swallowing the talking points and sucking up the fairy-stories and the beautifully-embroidered facades and someday for sure, you'll be rich like us.

[freebrew]

40. Like Harry said...

'if you want to live like a republican, vote Dem...'

[Cali_Democrat]

18. Yep...keep pointing it out!

Welcome to DU

[ut oh]

9. Go Bernie!!

eom

[libodem]

11. Saint Ronnie

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[Jefferson23]

16. That is hilarious. n/t

[libodem]

12. .

[img][/img]

[Major Nikon]

13. Class warfare!

[Scuba]

17. Kickety kick kick.

[PatrynXX]

19. oh come on it's Nikki Sims birthday

Next Door Nikki bet the ol gipper would love a tease

[LiberalAndProud]

20. I can't believe I just recced Reagan.

What is the world coming to?

But anyway,
Thanks, Bernie!

[Enthusiast]

22. K&R! Yay, Bernie!

Fuck Reagan. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[rurallib]

23. Got to wonder if Reagan knew what he was saying

or was he just reading words from a speech writer that he didn't understand due to Alzheimers?

I wonder that sometimes when I read some of the things he said.
There are quite a few "Democrats" to his right these days.

[merrily]

25. Sanders nailed it, which is not unusual.

[hootinholler]

31. Ronnie always gave a good lip service job n/t

[treestar]

36. Ronnie said that?

Wow. Just shows how much worse the Republicans have become in the last 30 years.

[turbinetree]

41. Hey GOP

This is what is normally called a smack down, yeah for Bernie