Bernie has been in the Congress since 1990, anyone that believes Bernie

[Uncle Joe]

doesn't understand how the Supreme Court or the Congress work are seriously deluding themselves.

After settling in Vermont in 1968, Sanders ran unsuccessful third-party campaigns for governor and U.S. senator in the early to mid-1970s. As an independent, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont's most populous city, in 1981. He was reelected three times. In 1990, he was elected to represent Vermont's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1991, Sanders co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He served as a congressman for 16 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. In 2012, he was reelected by a large margin, capturing almost 71% of the popular vote.

Sanders has long been critical of U.S. foreign policy and was an early and outspoken opponent of the Iraq War. He rose to national prominence following his 2010 filibuster[9][10] against the proposed extension of the Bush tax cuts. Sanders favors policies similar to those of social democratic parties in Europe, particularly those instituted by the Nordic countries.[14] He is a leading progressive voice on issues such as income inequality,[15] universal healthcare, parental leave, climate change,[16] LGBT rights, and campaign finance reform.[17] He is also outspoken on civil rights and civil liberties, and has been particularly critical of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system[18] and mass surveillance policies such as the USA PATRIOT Act[19] and the NSA surveillance programs.[20]

(snip)

During his first year in the House, Sanders often alienated allies and colleagues with his criticism of both political parties as working primarily on behalf of the wealthy. In 1991, Sanders co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of mostly liberal Democrats that Sanders chaired for its first eight years.[21]

(snip)

Polling conducted in August 2011 by Public Policy Polling found that Sanders's approval rating was 67% and his disapproval rating 28%, making him then the third-most popular senator in the country.[102] Both the NAACP and the NHLA have given Sanders 100% voting scores during his tenure in the Senate.[103] In 2015 Sanders was named one of the Top 5 of The Forward 50.[104] In a November 2015 Morning Consult poll, Sanders had an approval rating of 83% among his constituents, making him the most popular senator in the country.[105]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is the largest membership organization within the Democratic congressional caucus in the United States Congress with 69 declared members.[4] The CPC is a left-leaning organization that works to advance progressive and liberal issues and positions.[5][6][7]

The CPC is currently co-chaired by U.S. Representatives Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN). It was founded in 1991 and has grown steadily since then, having more recently added 20 members since 2005 and having hired its first full-time Executive Director, Bill Goold, in May of that year. Subsequent Executive Directors have included Andrea Miller (2009-2011) and Brad Bauman (2011-2014). The current Executive Director is Mike Darner. Of the 20 standing committees of the House in the 111th Congress, 10 were chaired by members of the CPC. Those chairmen were replaced when the Republicans took control of the House in the 112th Congress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus

I've seen several publications as of late that "Bernie doesn't understand how the Supreme Court, Congress or politics in general work" they're just ignoring the record, spinning Bernie's words and they're full of shit.

[Empowerer]

1. His campaign issued a "what he meant to say was" clarification, so obviously THEY knew that what he

said suggested he didn't know what he was talking about.

[99th_Monkey]

2. What Bernie's tweet meant was clear to me at first reading

and was clear to anyone who wasn't desperately looking for SOMEthing, ANYthing
to launch a baseless attack on Bernie over.

[Uncle Joe]

4. That doesn't change the point of my OP, they knew what Bernie meant but they pretended not to.

Bernie Sanders ✔ @BernieSanders
Any Supreme Court nominee of mine will make overturning Citizens United one of their first decisions.
6:57 PM - 21 Jan 2016

Except that's not how the Supreme Court works. Justices don't get to pick which issues or cases come their way. Only after a case is appealed to the Supreme Court can the justices decide to hear the case. There is no way for Sanders' Supreme Court picks to decide that overturning Citizens United, the 2010 campaign finance decision that fueled the rise of super-PACs, will be one of their first acts on the bench, even if they really, really want it to be.

Update: Sanders campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders sent the following note explaining the tweet: "That tweet was worded oddly. The senator often speaks about appointing justices that believe in overturning citizens united and who would do so if the opportunity arose. That is what this was referring to."

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/01/bernie-sanders-promise-citizens-united-supreme-court

Bernie has always stated this would be a priority of his in nominating candidates to the SC.

[pnwmom]

7. He was making an empty promise then, as seems to be his habit lately.

He can't promise that overturning Citizens V. United would be one of the first acts of his nominees, any more than he can promise to wave a magic wand and bring about Medicare for all.

[Uncle Joe]

11. It will be a major litmus test for any nominee to the SC that Bernie puts forward.

He has stated this numerous times.

Should Bernie be elected and having a strong probability of being able to replace three Justices on the SC, that issue will surface and it will come to pass.

[pnwmom]

16. What he stated was that it would be one of the first things his nominees would do.

A promise that is entirely beyond his ability to promise.

[Uncle Joe]

24. And what former Secretary of State; (he highest post in the field of diplomacy) Clinton stated

was that the "Iranians" were one of the enemies that she is most proud of a major diplomatic faux pas, she didn't say Iranian government, theocratic rulers, terrorists, but all of the Iranian people, the entire nation of approximately 78.4 million people.

Hillary also stated the drug companies were among the enemies that she was most proud of and yet, they are some of her top donors while some of them have major connections to her campaign, what does this imply?

While Bernie's statement is more erred on the side of time, Hillary's statement defies logic.

[pnwmom]

25. Yeah, speaking of Iranians, Bernie said during the debate that he thought Iranians

should be part of the "boots on the ground" forces going into Syria.

Yeah, that's a great idea, sending bitter enemies into Syria to enforce peace.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Muslims will need to patch things up, that's what Bernie was speaking of and Bernie is talking about

normalization with Iran being a worthy goal, he never stated this would happen overnight.

Hillary stated we should have a no-fly zone over Syria, now the U.S. and Russia have different takes on who the enemies are other than ISIS, so what would happen should Russia attack one of the groups that we support?

Do we shoot down their jets and risk WWIII or do we ignore them and lose credibility with our allies?

[jeff47]

12. And Clinton's nearly identical promise?

That's just hunky-dory, right?

[pnwmom]

17. No one here has ever been able to provide a quote in Clinton's own words.

Just a paraphrase by some anonymous person.

The choice of words matters. We know what Bernie said, and it was wrong.

[jeff47]

19. That's the problem with excluding the press from your events

They don't get to quote you.

You better get busy correcting WaPo then.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/14/hillary-clintons-litmus-test-for-supreme-court-nominees-a-pledge-to-overturn-citizens-united/

[pnwmom]

20. That is a paraphrase by an anonymous person, as I already told you.

We only know what Bernie chose to say, and that it was wrong.

[jeff47]

27. Actually, multiple people. All saying the same thing.

So...Clinton's supporters are lying about what Clinton said?

[pnwmom]

28. Not one of them gave a direct quote. Words matter. There are ways Bernie

could have gotten his message across that would have been correct and appropriate. But the words he chose weren't.

[CoffeeCat]

3. We understand that it's a Clinton camp

Bullshit talking point.

It's getting so old and boring.

[silvershadow]

10. The Clintons would crawl through mud on wounded knee, clawing at turf and cursing

their enemies if it would get them in office. It's gonna be a real primary fight. I hope beyond help we will all be sending them a memo...

[SoapBox]

5. Full of shit indeed.

And we know where this steaming pile is originating.

When they got nothing else...they toss crap.

[pnwmom]

6. Then he's purposely misleading voters when he says false things.

Such as claiming that one of the first acts of his SCOTUS nominees will be to overturn Citizens vs. United.

[Duppers]

8. K & R

[MeNMyVolt]

9. I think we're sure he undestands.

Just doesn't know how to speak, or type in this instance,

[Uncle Joe]

13. Bernie's tweet could have been more clear in this instance but that doesn't change

the point of the OP

I suspect other candidates; not to mention human beings in general have also spoken, typed or tweeted with awkwardly phrased messages.

[MeNMyVolt]

14. Agree.

ETA, but he needs to more careful.

[Babel_17]

18. It was a tweet about a position he had already spelled out, and yet this is what's being parsed?

Oh well, more grist for the mill that's churning out evidence of how meaningless his critics can be.

[Uncle Joe]

33. When you don't have anything else, look for nits to pick.

[AlbertCat]

32. could have been more clear

I think it's perfectly clear.

He merely is indicating he would be pushing for such action if his nominees, people who also like the idea of getting rid of CU, get on the court.

It's a friggin' tweet, for Christ sake. Not a great place for nuance, rhetoric and clarity. I'm sure he didn't get it off a teleprompter.


So because of this tweet, we should forget everything else he's ever said? I think I still like him, even if he sent out a murky tweet.

BTW.... going after Hillary for something like this would be equally ridiculous.

[Uncle Joe]

34. I agree, AlbertCat, it's amazing that some would prefer to dumb the people down and let them forget

or not see the big picture.

Peace to you.

[Babel_17]

15. Thousands of columnists and posters on the internet have a better understanding

I'm willing to entertain that notion.

Then I'll take away its car keys and call it a cab.

[oberliner]

21. Does that make him a member of the establishment?

Seeing as he has been in Congress for decades. At least an insider?

[SunSeeker]

23. Uh oh. That means he's "taking on" himself!

[Uncle Joe]

26. It depends on what your definition of the word "establishment" is.

Theoretically the government is "We the people" the mega-corporations, super-pacs, corporate media conglomerates and Wall Street have corrupted the campaign process with unlimited sums of money, as a result they have a stranglehold on too many timid or beholden politicians.

Citizens United has greatly aggravated this situation to the tenth degree, that's the establishment that Bernie is fighting against.

Just because someone serves in government doesn't automatically make them a member of the establishment, what they do with their people entrusted fiduciary powers does.

[oberliner]

38. Fair enough

He has been sort of an outsider working from the inside in a sense.

[Uncle Joe]

39. Precisely, oberliner.

[valerief]

22. He knows how everything works, FFS. That's why he's mad as hell. nt

[Uncle Joe]

31. Well put, valerief.

[deathrind]

29. ....

No doubt Mr. Sanders could have written a 10000 word op-ed on the formalities of how SCOTUS could revisit Citizens United to overturn the decision (making the same point his comcisly worded Tweet did) but in the TL;DR world we live in no would get past the first paragraph.

The idea of short (Ten Word) sentences plays both ways.

Molehill meet Mointain...

[Samantha]

35. I believe the super-hyped up attacks on Bernie Sanders the last week and a half has one purpose

HILLARY CLINTON IS DESPERATE TO STOP BERNIE SANDERS BIG MO this close to the Iowa and NH caucus times. If she can't turn things around before Iowa by stopping his incredible explosive momentum, (I will be polite) woe is she.

Thanks for the thread, Uncle Joe. It is disgusting the crass and twisted things that have been said about Bernie Sanders. It is unbelievable how some can take a relatively innocent comment, change a word and completely imply Sanders said something totally different and extremely controversial. It is almost like a chorus of people out there singing the same tune but casually changing the lyrics for ill effect.

Sam

[Uncle Joe]

36. Thank you, Samantha.

I've been up too long, have a good night.

[beam me up scottie]

37. Well it beats the other talking points they used yesterday.

Considering the fact that Hillary's supporters called him a racist, a sexist, a communist, old and "slipping" and implied he lied about his time in Israel (wink wink nudge nudge) I guess claiming he's stupid is an improvement.

Thanks for the reminder that they're full of it, Uncle Joe!

[Uncle Joe]

40. Peace to you, beam me up scottie.

[LWolf]

41. Seriously deluding themselves or

attempting to delude others.