COMPLETE INTERVIEW: Bernie Sanders On CNN's "State of the Union" (10/2/2016)

[Donkees]

[Overseas]

1. K&R. Well done of Bernie resisting Jake's big push for discord.

Jake was pushing pushing pushing to have HRC's stupid comments about our dreams as Bernie supporters divide the party.

Glad Bernie pointed out how much closer the Democrats will bring us than the old stuck in Trickle Down GOP would.

[RBInMaine]

2. Clinton's comments were GOOD and FAIR. They were empathetic and part of a primary campaign.

She EMPATHIZED and said idealism was good.

What she said in that meeting was that Bernie was making huge promises that he could not keep. And that was a fair campaign season critique.

Millions of others said it too. If I am not mistaken, Bill Clinton said it publicly and she may have too. MANY people said it. It doesn't mean she was against idealism or the general goals, but Bernie was wrong to be making such huge promises (and he was also wrong to keep saying that everything in the world was "rigged&quot . That said, Bernie was right about a lot too, and the primary is now over. Now we all need to work together to beat Trump, just like Bernie is.

This was a heated primary, and her criticism of Bernie's over-promises were fair game, and she was right, much as I otherwise love Bernie. And he also said a lot about her too, calling her "the establishment" and all the rest. But those are bygones.

We don't need to re-fight the primary campaign. It's over. Now let's work together and BEAT TRUMP.

[JCanete]

3. Agreed, lets not refight it. I do disagree with you about what Sanders was promising.

He was promoting the possibility of change if the groundswell of support was there. He never suggested he could do those things on his own. That groundswell of support by the way, has absolutely affected the democratic platform, and there are issues being discussed by Clinton that honestly I haven't heard discussed on the national stage in a long long time. So, that is how you get things to happen. You get people to want them and insist upon them. Of course, until we see actual bills and ratifications, it may all be lip service, but the Sanders campaign wasn't about capitalizing on naiveté.

I do believe the system is rigged, just by the nature of the beast. I don't think that's off base at all, even if there are no all powerful pullers of strings. There is very much a structure that rewards certain behaviors, usually sociopathic, and dis-incentivizes good works.

As to what Hillary said, we're in complete agreement. I might have quibbled with where she was drawing the line of the possible, and there was some political strategizing in the conversation, but her representation of Bernie voters was empathetic and respectful.

[stuffmatters]

4. This is why Dems won't win the Senate:Lost opportunity to tie Trump taxes to Repub's tax policy

It's Republican Senators and Congress, Republican governors and state legislators who refuse to raise taxes on the 1% or legislate to force Corps to pay not just federal but state and local taxes. It is the Republican Tax Agenda that for decades has relentlessly driven to privatize by minimizing, in fact eliminating, taxes on the wealthy and global corporation while leaving taxpayers to make up the deficit..

This is what the beloved Republican's "Austerity" really means. Billionaires like Trump and mega corps like Apple pay no taxes, have golden toilets and hoard trillions of untaxed profits (from American consummers) abroad, while Republicans managed cruelty (i.e. Austerity) forces taxpayers to live in an economy that cuts services, degrades their quality of life.
Look at Trump, look at the disaster that is Kansas, look at Flint, look at Wisconsin, look at Republican run states throughout the Country and look at the Republican Congress.You will see tax policy that not only supports tax cheats like Trump but celebrates
him. Trump IS Republican fiscal policy from the state to the national level. Who's defending Trump today? Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Guiliani; no Republicans in government, in fact, are criticizing Trump's tax evasion!

This election is not just about getting Hillary into the White House. It's about getting Republicans out of power in the Congress and in State and Local governments so that their Koch Brothers controlled tax agenda can be overthrown.. Why are Democrats not making this point in every interview with a sledge hammer? Especially when they are specifically given this rare and precious airtime to discuss Trump i.e. Republican tax loopholes and cheating?

Why not bring up that not just Trump but EVERY Republican in Congress wants to eliminate the Estate Tax? In fact the Repubs just tried(again!) to put the elimination of the Estate Tax as a necessary rider to pass the budget & keep the government functioning. It's not enough that now the 1% get to leave 10 million tax free to their Melanias, Ivankas, Donalds and Erics. Bring up that there is no Republican in Congress who thinks Wall Street should have to pay a sales (transaction) tax. Even though women have to pay sales tax on essential products and elderly probably even have to pay tax on their diapers! Why has no Republican in any office in the Country ever talked about scrapping the cap on Social Security to make millionaires pay their fair share into our national safety net, especially when they babble on about the glories of "flat taxes."

This election should be a pocket book revolution. Every Dem interviewed this week on Trump's taxes MUST seize this golden opportunity to define Trump as the perfect example of decades of Republican Tax Policy in action,a tax policy that punishes the 99% by not taxing the 1% responsibly, a tax policy that can only be changed by getting Republican out of power in Congress and across the Country.