Gail Collins Column: Bernie Sanders Yells His Mind

[LiberalElite]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/02/opinion/gail-collins-bernie-sanders-yells-his-mind.html

-snip-
Our topic today is: Bernie Sanders for president?

“My fifteen minutes of fame,” the Vermont senator said gruffly over the phone. Gruff is pretty much his normal way of speaking, but Sanders was actually in a good mood at this point in the conversation. Later, the volume would escalate.

He announced he was running for the Democratic nomination on Thursday, first in an email, then in a makeshift press conference on the lawn outside the Capitol. There are worse approaches. One of the few previous presidential candidates from Vermont was George Dewey, the hero of the Spanish American War. Dewey started his campaign off with a statement that read, in part: “Since studying the subject I am convinced that the office of the president is not such a very difficult one to fill . . .” It was pretty much downhill from there.

Sanders’s beginning was more auspicious. His infant campaign raised more than $1.5 million in donations in the first 24 hours: “Thirty-five thousand donations averaging $43 apiece!”
-snip-
Also posted in Good Reads

[still_one]

1. "Gruff is pretty much his normal way of speaking"??? What is the author talking about. Bernie is

not gruff, in fact he is pretty soft spoken, and has always run a clean campaign.

I am not sure if this is supportive of Bernie or not.

[LiberalElite]

2. I thought the first few paragraphs were pure snark - In that regard Collins

is just repeating the grumpy grandpa meme - but she gets digs in on Hillary too.

[daleanime]

3. Good for Bernie...

I was getting upset with her condescending attitude myself, and I only read the interview.

[haikugal]

4. He's direct, guess that sounds like "yelling", and "gruff"... To them...LOL nt

[RoccoR5955]

5. From the article

"Sanders doesn’t really want Democratic voters to compare him with Clinton to see who has the best positions on the issues. He wants them to decide who has the most consistent record in fighting for those issues, and there is absolutely no question in the world that when it comes to consistency, Bernie Sanders is Mount Rushmore to Hillary Clinton’s Sheila the Shapeshifter."

You gotta love that line!

The comments are awesome as well. People want someone who has a point of view for WE THE PEOPLE, and has had it all along, not someone who has to "evolve" into a position.

More from the article:
"“I voted against DOMA — you know what DOMA is?” he (Sanders) demanded, referring to the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, which Clinton once supported during her husband’s presidency. “I’m not evolving when it comes to gay rights. I was there!”"

Again, once people find out what Bernies views are on issues, and finds out that he is steadfast in them, he shall win in a landslide, the likes of which, we rarely see.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Appears the 1%ers

are a bit nervous with Bernie saying it like it is. Second snark hit piece in as many days from the so called paper of record. Just the start.

[Kip Humphrey]

7. it is a language war against Bernie and we need to be cogniscent of that and counter that assault

"gruff" == disagreeable, doesn't get along with people
"yell" == remember Dean?
"socialist" == communist
"uncombed" == unkempt, dirty, slovenly

In supporting Bernie's run we need to creatively take on this language war for it is a war for the hearts and minds of the voting electorate.


"WIN, BERNIE, WIN!

[SusanCalvin]

9. Really.

I can see, barely, how his manner might be perceived as gruff, but "yell"? I listen to him every week on Hartmann, and he never yells.

[Kip Humphrey]

11. the point is that by the use of associative meaning, attempts to marginalize Bernie in the eye of

the voter are underway and, we Bernie supporters, need to combat this effort.

[SusanCalvin]

12. I was agreeing with you.

These characterizations were pulled out of a hat. A hat with an ulterior motive.

[Gregorian]

8. I'm so sick of polish and embellishment, I welcome Bernie's candor.

I do not like decoration. I want my candidate/car/house/mate/friends/cats and all the rest, to be functional, not pretty.

Bernie makes the other candidates look like they're making a cosmetics commercial.

[bvf]

10. Great take.

Especially like your last line.