Bernie Sanders Warns of 'Aggressiveness Among the Ruling Class'

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/168294/bernie-sanders-warns-aggressiveness-among-ruling-class

Governor Scott Walker says that, with his victory in Tuesday’s recall election, he will “tell Wisconsin, tell our country, and we tell people all across the globe that voters really do want leaders who stand up and make the tough decisions…”

Actually, cutting taxes for CEOs and corporations and then balancing budgets on the backs of teachers, nurses and snowplow drivers isn’t exactly tough work. Redistribution of the wealth upward is common practice these days.

That said: Walker’s right about the fact that his victory speaks to the state, the nation and the world.

But what does it say?



US Senator Bernie Sanders has a wiser assessment than Walker, who raised and spent the better part of $35 million to defend himself—and had another $15 million spent in his favor by so-called “independent” groups. The whole process, say Sanders, is “hugely scary stuff.”

“There is,” the senator says, “an aggressiveness out there among the ruling class of this country, among the billionaires who are saying: ‘You know what? Ya, we got a whole lot now, but we want even more. And we don’t give a damn about the middle class. We don't care about working families. We want it all. And now we can buy it.’?”

[southmost]

1. kicked

and recommended

[Turbineguy]

2. There's a song about that:

Allan Sherman

You Went The Wrong Way, Old King Louie lyrics

Louis the Sixteenth was the King of France in 1789.
He was worse than Louis the Fifteenth.
He was worse than Louis the Fourteenth.
He was worse than Louis the Thirteenth.
He was the worst since Louis the First.
King Louis was living like a king, but the people were living rotten.
So the people, they started an uprising which they called the
French Revolution, and of course you remember their battle cry,
which will never be forgotten:
You went the wrong way, Old King Louie.
You made the population cry.
'Cause all you did was sit and pet
With Marie Antoinette
In your place at Versailles.
And now the country's gone kablooie.
So we are giving you the air.
That oughta teach you not to
Spend all your time fooling 'round
At the Folies Bergere.
If you had been a nicer king,
We wouldn't do a thing,
But you were bad, you must admit.
We're gonna take you and the Queen
Down to the guillotine,
And shorten you a little bit.
You came the wrong way, Old King Louie.
And now you ain't got far to go.
Too bad you won't be here to see
That great big Eiffel Tower,
Or Brigitte Bardot.
To you King Louie we say fooey.
You disappointed all of France.
But then what else could we expect
From a king in silk stockings
And pink satin pants.
You filled your stomach with chop suey.
And also crepe suzettes and steak.
And when they told your wife Marie
That nobody had bread, she said
"Let 'em eat cake."
We're gonna take you and the Queen
Down to the guillotine,
It's somewhere in the heart of town.
And when that fella's through
With what he's gonna do,
You'll have no place to hang your crown.
You came the wrong way Old King Louie.
Now we must put you on the shelf.
That's why the people are revolting, 'cause Louie,
You're pretty revolting yourself

[calimary]

5. I LOVE Allan Sherman!!! Always have!

One hippopotami...

[tclambert]

14. Merde! I cannot find zis on ze youtube!

Zis ees ze clozest I could find:

It is not Allan Sherman, but a lady sings the song pretty well.

[HopeHoops]

3. Sorry Bernie, but that's kind of a "WELL DUH!" moment there.

[cali]

10. know of anyone else in the Senate saying that? No, of course not.

[Dont call me Shirley]

12. He must continue to state the obvious in order to answer truth to lies.

Just as Goebbels rule of repeat the lies often enough and people will belive them, the truth then must be repeated in the simplest terms even more times and more loudly.

[closeupready]

15. +1000.

K&R

[me b zola]

32. I promise not to call you Shirley

...if you promise to keep telling the truth

[Chorophyll]

22. I see your "well duh!" and raise you a "hello?"

Aimed at you. Bernie's the only member of Congress who's not afraid of the corporate overlords, and he's the only one speaking out.

[HopeHoops]

29. He hasn't sold out. But do you think FOX Noise will cover this?

[Bluenorthwest]

39. And THAT is your standard? Why? FoxNews is a niche market outlet with an audience that is tiny

compared to any other commentary source or tv programming aside from other cable niche commentary programming. FoxNews has never won a time slot, their biggest 'hits' are beaten in viewership by old sitcoms and cartoons on a daily basis. The largest audience they ever had did not reach 1% of the nation. Most hours, a few hundred thousand watch at most, in their 'hit hours' they get 1-3 million. The network news shows each night, all three get 6-12 million viewers. FoxNews is a backwater, hardly watched, more known from the constant promotions by those who gasp 'but will FoxNews cover it' than from actual audience exposure.
Go look up some ratings. Check out how much is paid for an ad on FoxNews compared to say, the most dismal network sitcom.
Fear of Fox is delusion. Few watch and those who do remember the day of the Armistice.

[bvar22]

40. Not the ONLY one!

We have:

*Paul Wellstone..... wait a minute, he was KIA

*Cynthia McKinney! Oops,.... attacked, isolated, marginalized, cut off from Party support, expelled

*Anthony Wiener! My bad,... marginalized, discredited, isolated, expelled

*Russ Feingold! My bad again,.... attacked from The Center, marginalized, isolated from party support, exiled

*Alan Grayson! YEAH...wait, he's gone too, attacked from The Center, marginalized, isolated from party support, exiled

*Dennis Kucinich!!! Not my day,... attacked from The Center, discredited, marginalized, isolated, redistricted, exiled

I shouldn't have drank all that Cough Syrup this morning.
But there ARE other "Democrats" speaking out against the Big Money!

**Eliot Spitzer......NOT afraid to Take On the Big Boys... Honey Trapped, discredited, isolated, expelled

**Howard Dean!!.... Now THERE is a fighter who believes the Grass Roots should have a voice in the Party!!!.... discredited, marginalized, banished for cheering too enthusiastically!

*John Edwards! He Highlighted Income Inequality in the Two Americas Campaign..... expelled and demonized for weakness in his personal life that regularly goes unpunished for others.


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.
Hmmmmm.
Hey, BERNIE.
Watch your back,
and stay out of small planes.
Please.






You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
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[SammyWinstonJack]

50. Excellent list and thank you for mentioning John Edwards in a positive light!

[bvar22]

52. I couldn't and can't understand the attacks on John Edfwards....

...from the "Democratic Party".
When did we start judging our politicians by problems in their personal life?

If I have to go into court,
I want a Junk Yard Dawg to defend me,
and I don't care who he/she sleeps with or how many children they have,
or what they do behind closed doors.
I'm NOT planning to marry them

When I vote for a politician,
I want a Junk Yard Dawg to defend my political interests,
and I don't care who he/she sleeps with or how many children they have,
or what they do behind closed doors.
I'm NOT planning to marry them.

For most of my life, the Democrats I knew felt the same way,
and were vocal about it during the witch hunt into Clinton's personal life.

Now, along comes John Edwards, highlighting the plight of The Poor in America,
and suddenly, The Bedroom & Personal life becomes the number 1 front & center issue.....for Democrats?
...and ONLY for John Edwards?

Most of the people who stone Edwards in the Courtyard,
are acolytes in the Church of Bill Clinton.

[Jake2413]

26. Absolutely right

but we can't say it enough. We need to hear this until we move the country toward change. Remember what Bush said, you have to keep saying things until people believe you.

[HopeHoops]

30. It's an old statement - repeat a lie enough times and it becomes the truth - hence, FOX.

[HopeHoops]

28. We used to have Grayson in Congress and we still have Franken. Other than that, no.

[kestrel91316]

4. Aggressively robbing the poor to enrich the 1% is actually hard work.

I hear Boner sprained a pinky doing it.

[katsy]

6. Kick

He is spot on with this assessment.

Just as an aside, there was a Wall St analyst on CNN with Jack Lemon speaking of Europe's woes. This analyst made a point that Europe was in trouble because of entitlements and that people have come to view them as human rights. Of course he was against these entitlements/human rights.

It got me thinking about what is a human right. Is it a license to steal? To sell unsafe products or food to enrich a few? Is it a license to deplete earth's resources to make a fortune?

For the billionaires maybe that is so.

For us? To educate our children, to work and contribute to our pensions/SS without fear it will be stolen, shelter, food security, healthcare.

The whole exchange upset me. Senator Sanders is correct. They want it all. I suspect they want a world set up just like China with expendable laborers.

[ArcticFox]

33. I think they want feudal serfs

[katsy]

45. You are correct.

There is no other explanation. None.

They want an expendable work force.

[Egalitarian Thug]

7. And at some point we will have to face the fact that they will never give up.

They have ceaselessly pursued this agenda for over a century and each time they've been beaten back, they come back with all the tools we always let them keep to try it again.

Once again, we are at a tipping point and, IMO, this time they could actually succeed. Too many people living in denial and hoping somebody else will fix it for them, if they think of it at all.

Who's dancing tonight?

[jtuck004]

8. There was one other VERY important comment:

"“This is not the time to [throw your hands up in despair]. This is not the time to do that,” he adds. “This is the time to organize for the taking on all of this money.”"

Notice, he didn't say "raise more money, send us more so we can combat this"

Maybe we need more dinners in the hoods?

[freshwest]

9. We should make a meme out of this part:

'Actually, cutting taxes for CEOs and corporations and then balancing budgets on the backs of teachers, nurses and snowplow drivers isn’t exactly tough work. Redistribution of the wealth upward is common practice these days.'

IOW, Walker and his ilk are taking the short and cowardly path of appeasing those with too much, and pushing down those with less to placate the bullies. The best quote describing it:

Standing up for the powerless is not the same as standing up for the powerful. - Keith Olbermann (11/01/2010)

It needs to be emphasized that the Koch brothers and their stooge Walker did not stand in the cold and the heat, they sat back and played the people of WI like pawns in a chess game. This is not the sign of a 'leader who stands up to make tough decisions,' but is the definition of venality:

Venality is a vice associated with being bribeable or of selling one's services or power, especially when one should act justly instead. In its most recognizable form, dishonesty, venality causes people to lie and steal for their personal advantage, and is related to bribery and nepotism, among other vices.

Venality in its mild form is a vice notable especially among those with government or military careers. In these fields, one is supposed to act with justice and honor and not accept bribes. That ensures that the organization is not susceptible to self-interested parties. For people to accept settlements and legislation, the acts of the government must be seen as just. This perception enhances the legitimacy of the government. Venality is a term often used with reference to pre-revolutionary France, where it describes the then-widespread practice of selling administrative positions within the government to the highest bidder, especially regarding the Nobles of the Robe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venality

Walker made easy decisions to please his sponsors and has used his office to help his family, himself and those who sponsored him. And the fight against him and those who would follow his dishonorable path should always be framed that way.

[dreamnightwind]

34. Outstanding post

Thank you.

[Dont call me Shirley]

11. I agree, they will never give up. They will hide, regroup, reformulate and pounce.

These pople do not understand and more deeply resent the concepts of too much and sharing. They lack the ability to truly connect with other humans. Their absolute hatred of others and nature causes them to commit acts of evil. Yes evil does really exist in this world and it has been passed down from each member of the ruling class to their offspring to this day. They carry the mental illness/insanity genes on steroids.

[zeemike]

20. And George Bush is a shining example of it.

That goes back three generations...and will pass it on to the next one.

[JackHughes]

13. Bernie Sanders, a real "Democrat"

Bernie Sanders proves that the Democrats are a political party in name only.

If the Democrats were a real political party, they would all be like Bernie Sanders.

[abelenkpe]

17. so true nt

[Dustlawyer]

21. I guess that is why he is a Socialist/Independant who caucuses w/Dem's and not a Dem

[valerief]

16. The ruling class are all vampires and money is their blood. They suck it from us.

Whenever someone from the ruling class says he's doing something to help ordinary Americans, always remember the ruling class is made up of assholes, and you know what comes out of them.

[Ship of Fools]

18. and of course I'm sure most of us

have noticed the ad for the new *reality* show:

"Dangerously Rich: Billionaire Super Security" (?)

or some such bullshit. They're gearing up and ready to
starve us all...

[zeemike]

19. I submit to you George Carlin years ago.

He knew it way back then...
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[Chorophyll]

24. Kick.

[Uncle Joe]

25. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.

[limpyhobbler]

27. I agree they are getting kind of bold about their class warfare. nt

[Hotler]

31. Gee! After reading what Bernie said do you folks...

still think that mass protest by tens of thousands in every state would do no good. How do we know unless we try it?

[dreamnightwind]

35. It's all we have left

OWS did an incredible amount of good last fall, don't let anyone spin it otherwise. They changed the national discussion, causing policy to be examined from a different perspective than the MSM and their masters had previously allowed.

Interesting to me how quickly the discussion reverted back to the usual tripe when we left the streets. Now it's about deficits, "tough choices" (the consequences of which are only tough for the non-rich), ridiculous wedge social issues, and endless campaign analysis that splits hairs between policy positions that are nearly identical or hardly matter, while nobody addresses our real problems at all.

We have to leverage the street presence into electing candidates who truly represent their constituents, but it's only possible if we absolutely refuse to accept the policies of the corporatists, which means being loud, disruptive. creative, and most of all, determined.

[wendylaroux]

44. Well yeah,but

both sides would have to join up. Our masters have us too divided to do that. How bad will it have to get for that to happen?

[Heather4]

36. Spam deleted by Morning Dew (MIR Team)

[countryjake]

37. K&R!

Yet they forget that they are only the 1%. Their money can only take them so far.

[SnowCritter]

38. Ye, Gods! I grow weary of hearing the "make the tough decisions" crap!

Hey, Gov. Walker! D'ya wanna know what a "tough decision" is? Try saying "No" to the folks that provide the majority of your campaign funds. Try saying "I'm sorry, I can't crap on the poor and middle class by giving more tax breaks to people who don't need them".

[proverbialwisdom]

41. Senator Sanders appears in the trailer for the new documentary film by Robert Greenwald.

The DVD was released 6/5/12. Preview here: http://www.kochbrothersexposed.com/

"Every person in this country who cares about democracy should care about this work."
– Ed Schultz

[99Forever]

42. K&R

[siligut]

43. They are showing their butts now because they think they can't lose

Their confidence is their downfall, they are going to find out that money isn't everything.

[WillyT]

46. HUGE K & R !!!

[KansDem]

47. "Aggressiveness among the ruling class" reminds me this scene from "Key Largo"

[xchrom]

48. Too perfect. Nt

[Phhhtttt]

49. Liked the video

The ruling class want subservience.Like the Horatio Alger myth,they view their road to success as a noble venture.

Their deluded in believing that money brings happiness.I don't think they believe in love.
Love doesn't mean you control others.They want to control the world.

[BlueIris]

51. How great is Key Largo? nt

[ananda]

53. New kick.

nt

[salib]

54. Yeah Yeah Yeah

Blah, Blah, Blah.

So, Bernie has woken up.

Now what?

It is not so easy when you actually have to face the possibility that what you have been doing for most of your life is not going anywhere.

Time to be creative.

Too late to turn on, tune in and drop out.

Time to roll up the sleeves.