In last night’s Democratic Presidential debate, Senator Bernie Sanders explained that the fear to which the Republicans are playing with fascist xenophobia really stems from economic anxiety created by pro-corporate Republican policy:
I want to talk about something else because Secretary Clinton, I think, made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The Secretary is right. Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism. And the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they’re anxious about? They’re anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they’re worried about their kids and they’re seeing the income and wealth going to the top 1 percent. And they’re looking at Washington and saying, ‘the rich are getting much richer, I’m getting poorer, what are you going to do for my kids?’ And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, ‘I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they’re criminals and rapists, we’ve got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We’ve got to hate the Muslims.’ Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump’s rallies, understand, he thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let’s create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top [Senator Bernie Sanders, presidential debate, Manchester, New Hampshire, 2015.12.19].
Meanwhile, in a live town hall north of the border Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister responded to a call to condemn Donald Trump’s “hateful rhetoric” by saying such language is “ignorant,” “irresponsible,” and ultimately weakens a nation:
….if we allow politicians to succeed by scaring people, we don’t actually end up any safer. Fear doesn’t make us safer, it makes us weaker. And at this time, when there is reason to be concerned for security around the world and here at home, we need to remain focused on keeping our communities safe and keeping our communities united instead of trying to build walls and scapegoat communities that, I mean, to talk directly about the Muslim community, they are predominantly, they are the greatest victims of terrorist acts around the world at the present time [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, town hall, Ottawa, Canada, 2015.12.16].
The rich have created real economic anxiety by transferring wealth from the lower and middle classes to themselves. Now one of the richest steps forward to distract us with Trumped-up fears of Mexicans and Muslims while the elites continue their power grab. Divide us with false fears, and we are less likely to unite behind a statesman like Bernie Sanders to forge solutions to our real problems.
Donald Trump and his fellow rich fearmongers want very much to shift our attention to foreign policy. But this election, the fundamental anxiety roiling the electorate, is still fundamentally economic.
And that’s the difference between the Democrat and Republican candidates. The democrats are the grown ups in the room and the republicans refuse to give any specifics.
Of course the economy is doing well so they can’t attack that.
All they have is to scare the American people by telling them that ISIS is showing up at their door and that Obama is coming after their guns.
Sadly there are people that really believe that.
Brings us back to the problem of how to engage mis-informed voters and their stoopid desires to not know the truth. Best guess is I hope we outvote them at all levels and persuade them from a position of strength. Democrat control of the senate will help ensure we get more knowledgeable,moderate Scotus justices. Control of the house of ill repute will ensure more bills to help level all playing fields will be voted on.
Sad to hear wingnuts claim Obama hasn’t kept us safe. We have been alot safer than under dumbass dubya.
It’s market driven.
Kurtz-is your Guv alcoholic,stoopid or all of the above?
I will have to hand it to Bernie. He is loyal. After Hillary’s DNC tried to pull the plug on his campaign, one would think he would be saving his disgust for a more deserving crowd than the GOP. If HIllary’s DNC had not scheduled the debates for Saturday nights, I am sure more people would care.
mfi: all republican governors are alcoholic and/or stoopid. martinez, branstad, ricketts, daugaard, christie, kasich and dalrymple are all out of their freaking minds.
Why the Democrat party in New Mexico is being crushed by that pretty young Governor Martinez:
http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/opinion/columnists/2015/10/15/puppet-master-controls-local-democratic-paerty/74000952/
Here is fact checking done by USA Today. Dems are being condemned for minor gaffes and Sanders isn’t even mentioned. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/12/20/fact-check-third-democratic-debate-sanders-clinton-omalley/77647452/
Grudz-couldn’t you find an article written by anyone more right wingish in the nutjob head?
Here’s your pretty, young nutjob guv,Grudz- http://nmpoliticalreport.com/23417/audio-governor-calls-911-after-hotel-asks-her-to-be-escorted-off-property/
Drunk and disorderly,ordered off hotel property. Blame Obama.
Gannett Publishing is a liberal rag and is not read west of the James River. Fact checking by them is a libbie lie. If you weren’t from Iowa, Mr. mike, you’d have more knowledge about South Dakota. You should visit. Stay east of the James, please.
There is nothing wrong with having pizza and beer in a hotel room. Nothing at all.
Uh,they didn’t get in trouble for eating pizza or drinking beer.You are starting to sound like Trump,Grudz. He has a yuuuuuuuggggge problem discerning reality from imagination.
The republicants showed twice in rapid succession why they are incapable of wearing big-boy and big-girl pants in governing. Recently congress passed a budget increasing the debt by about $1 trillion, busted the earlier budget deals, declared victory, and went home. Totally irresponsible. Earlier they passed a cobbled, mis-mash of crap called a highway infrastructure bill that passes no common sense – yet received laudatory praise from the SD congressional minions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/12/18/house-to-vote-on-spending-bill-that-would-avert-shutdown/
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-02/the-dumbest-way-to-fund-america-s-infrastructure
Sadly, the democrats did little-to-nothing to stop either.
It seems to me that these God fearing American conservatives would be more than skeptical of the love fest brewing between Trump and communist leader Putin!
Oh wait, it is Bernice that is the Social Communist.
Cory, why do you allow that misogynistic, racist, plutocrat, grudznick on your blog, especially when he says that the Gannet paper from east river is a liberal rag? It just goes to show that he doesn’t know crap from shinola.
He has 3 comments on this particular blog and didn’t say anything important and certainly has never called Trump the racist misogynistic plutocratic hog that he is.
Owen, remember, the economy is “doing well” only in relative terms. In the near-term, yes, President Obama gets credit for steering us out of the recession and into a stead period of job creation. The Sanders critique addresses the much longer-term dismantling of the middle class and concentration of wealth at the top.
Wow, the New Mexico governor isn’t relevant. Lanny, I’ll note that Spencer, Larry, and Grudz said nothing to advance or beat back the main thesis.
Cory,I think the good economic news is due to wingnuts taking over Congress-NOT.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jan/08/mitch-mcconnell/mitch-mcconnell-says-economic-uptick-coincides-exp/
Someone wants credit for Obama’s hard work.
Roger, the right wing should be going totally ape at the notion that Trump and Putin are batting their eyelashes at each other. Does no one remember when the Russkies were our biggest enemy… and do none of them recognize that Putin seeks quite explicitly to restore Russia’s power to be our greatest enemy?
R U talking the “Evil Empire” of Ronnie Raygun years?
Mr. Mike, who is from Iowa but fixates on South Dakota, if that pretty young lady did not get in trouble for eating pizza can you explain if she really got in trouble and if so for what?
I am an anti-Trump fellow, but you out-of-state libbies are really not having much of an effect on the voting here in the Great State of South Dakota.
Mr. Stricherz, Mr. H is generally a fair fellow. But he can’t bring himself to say “Argus Leader”, the real name of that libbie rag run by Gannett. That’s what the Sibbinator used to call a “passive aggressive attack on reality” back when Sibby was judging debate.
(Lanny, if you have ever seen Lar and I on deck at the same time doing our 1970’s act, you really need to get your arse to Belle)
Grudz doesn’t feel comfortable being criticized by ex-Pat South Dakotans? Does he think his anti-libbie comments are any more palatable to resident liberal Dakotans? Or is it just criticism in general he doesn’t want directed his way?
Few take you seriously in an intellectual sense anyway, Grudz. Thicken your skin, reptile. Everybody be nice to Grudz, from now on. OK?
Mr. Lansing, I don’t mean to be mean to young impressionable people, but you live in Colorado so I’m just going to say it. You don’t even have fuzz on your arse, do you, young man? It is clear the way some of these ladies here hand you your ass on a regular basis. That said, I dare you to post 20 times between now and December 25, at 2pm. I dare you.
Show of hands, is Ms. Martinez prettier than Ms. Hubbell? They do have some similarities. My money is on Ms. Martinez, plus she actually won a gubernatorial election.
There are hundreds of we young liberals (students mostly) who read this blog. And, yes we are quite impressionable. That’s why your presence here is so valuable to our cause. To have your comments as a prime example of your Republican Party is a teaching tool extrordinare.
~ Young Liberals … Our Democratic Party is the party of the positive. Their Republic Party is the party of the negative. Paying attention to the theme of Mr. Grudz’s posts demonstrates the contrast.
PS … I’m not very competitive, Grudz. I’m afraid of dares.
one
It shouldn’t matter where anyone who posts here is from, it is irrelevant to this thread and most other threads. Those complaints about residency are petty and distracting from the substance of Cory’s work.
Now to the real business, republicans should fear Sanders more than Clinton, ISIS or Commies.
If you have ever noticed, in election years republicans will always say the economy is in dire straights, it is one their fear tactics.
The bad news is that vulnerable republicans won’t listen to Sanders ideas on how to strengthen the middle class and fight poverty, they’ll continue to believe the fabricated scary scenarios like Trump’s fight about immigration.
LWIY … last word is yours, nick
“Hate” and fear have been the playbook options of the GOP going back to 1968 with Richard Nixon. Whether it be Nixon’s “Law and Order” mantra, Reagan’s fear of the Soviet bear, GHW Bush’s “Willie Horton” ads, or the politics of “Dubya” and 9/11, only the impeachment of Clinton and the Great Recession have caused any skewing of this Republican strategy of division in order to take over and or control the White House for the GOP in the last fifty years.
Increasing, the GOP has become merely the party of the wealth class disguised as the party for the white race. The former benefits from the electoral successes of the politics of fear and thus the profiting of the continual war, and the latter is patronized with the rhetoric of hate through division and simplistic blame – and unfortunately, we increasingly find the two strategies working hand in hand with some of the contemporary GOP presidential candidates.
Democrats have been forced to spend most of the last 50 years while in the White House cleaning up Republican messes and unable to significantly protect or rebuild the American middle class. The destruction of the middle class has further fueled this fear and hate, which the Republican party depends upon to be politically relevant so they can continue to protect the wealth class of this nation.
This Republican strategy has an inertia, which feeds off of itself. Democrats will only be able to stop this inertia or strategy and the continual slide of the American middle class which is its common fuel, when Democrats successfully turn the fall of the middle class into a national security issue, but not one of fear rather one of solvency found through the enlightenment that Democrats unlike Republicans admit that blatant free trade has been a mistake, that the economic empowerment of China has been our own doing with the wealthy in our country having been the only ones who have truly benefitted, and the need to take inventory of what we have really done to the American middle class over the last 50 years, and what needs to be done to radically change this, and then lay out a blue print or a Marshall Plan to restore America’s middle class to its preeminence, which is the only way to assure America’s preeminence in the 21st century so that we can place in check any legitimate fears which could challenge our nation and the free world in the next century.
It is time we all hated the slide of the American middle class and turned the energy of fear into the energy of mutual solvency among all Americans regardless of race or creed to save the middle class, which will then work to erase the negative politics of hate and fear which perpetually destroy the American dream while allowing the wealth class to laugh all the way to the bank at our expense and our futures.
Meanwhile in South Dakota “The Decline of South Dakota Democrats” written by a professor at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public affairs. http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2015/12/20/the-decline-of-south-dakota-democrats/
Hey SDDP can go for that Hail Mary pass and get Monarch America to a few more fundraisers right? Rather than focusing on the long term narrative of restoring the middle class they go for the short term gain and in the end ads more fuel to the thriving poverty industry in South Dakota.
It’s the Economist, stupid.
Also:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/04/canada-new-liberal-government-legalize-marijuana
The Republicans are using fear, but pay no attention to Democrats using gang violence and suicides of those who see no hope in the future to pump up shooting statistics and generate baseless fear to energize the base.
Coke and Pepsi, which is better?
A.: neither
Grudz-who is from somewhere waaaay south of the here and now, saw his shadow and has been catatonic ever since.
President Obama is crushing Lynn’s earth haters on NPR this morning.
Do gangs and suicides kill with coke or pepsi bottles,Barry?
good one, Winston
Why was this debate scheduled on a Saturday night? Curious what the viewing numbers were? Senator Bernie Sanders was not too happy about it either and asked if Christmas Eve was booked for a debate? DNC looks like it is getting everything ready for the Hillary Clinton nominee coronation.
Lynn makes a good point. The GOP debates are watched more ardently because of the bloodletting.
muck from iowa,
Do gangs and suicides kill with guns exclusively?
I’ll write slowly. Coke = one party, Pepsi = the other party. Blindfolded and taking a sip of both, no one can ever again, tell the difference.
…but I’ll play your game of distraction:
http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/brazil-fan-killed-by-police-for-bringing-pepsi-bottle-to-world-cup-game/
and:
https://books.google.com/books?id=n9IdCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=murdered+with+coke+bottle&source=bl&ots=yblscwpfVj&sig=OLNQbsgvZaJGm7V7oiD9VHj4Hp0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3qKDxkO3JAhXG7SYKHQzICM0Q6AEIWTAI#v=onepage&q=murdered%20with%20coke%20bottle&f=false
Since the San Berardino workplace shooting, Police have shot and killed twice as many people in this country. Some may have needed it, but regardless, you will not criticize any of the killings as you exploit those dead for your agenda.
Back on point:
Democrats use fear of: Climate Change, Guns, and Republicans.
Republicans use fear of: Climate Change, Guns, and Democrats.
“The only thing to fear, is fear ourselves.”
Wazzamatta Sport, did Obama come and take away your shooty guns? Cops have shot and killed twice as many people. As what-coke or pepsi bottles? Where were all the good guys with guns while the cops were shooting twice as many people? Did Obama already confiscate your guns? Is he planning to do it in the future?
That poor guy gets stabbed 31 times and authorities found a broken swan statuary next to the body. It is assumed that a giant coke bottle(never found) is the murder weapon? Straight out of Fake Noise fabrication depot sounds like.
The person or persons unknown with the pepsi bottle was killed just a smidgen south of Nome,Alaska in freakin’ BRAZIL!
barry, u said:
muck from iowa, Democrats using gang violence
suicides kill with guns exclusively? I’ll write slowly.
exploit deaths
climate change
Police have shot and killed twice as many people in this country. Some may have needed it,…
***
hell, dems will fix gang violence. dems will fix suicide. dems will fix gun violence. because of gun deaths. because guns work so well. dems will fix climate change.
exploitation=spin=republicans.
dems will continue unraveling your spin. it might take until Hillary’s 8th year. but it’ll be better for the nation/world. not so with any repub. don’t you have anything better to do than spin, like rush and faux?
my fear is that by needling barry’s 2d amendment worship, hate for dems, certitude that people need to be shot, is that he or his ilk will shoot me.
***
any of the three dem candidates would be fine for the nation/world. not so with the repubs.
Fox News is not a news channel, but a propaganda outlet that regularly distorts, spins, and falsifies information.
Fox News is heavily influenced or even controlled by the Republican Party itself.
Fox News on the whole functions as a surrogate operation for the GOP [and] extends the Republican Party’s ability to swift-boat and discredit our candidates.
Fox News is a direct pipeline of misinformation from the GOP leadership into the traditional press.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2007/03/republican-propaganda-is-not-news-003109#ixzz3uyd7AbmC
One potential result of the decline of the middle class is the resurrection of the political/economic theory premised on dialetical materialism. Twentieth century scholars may have over-emphasized the role of the rising middle class in negating the factual correctness of Marx’s theory. It is beginning to look like our middle class could just be a bump in the historical road to a new synthesis in accord with Marx’s predictions. While the road to this synthesis will likely be painful, the end result might not be all that bad.
Maybe today’s Republicans are wolves in sheep’s clothing – Commies disguised as conservatives intent on destroying the middle class?
The least they could do,bcb,is kill the middle class with ‘murrican made guns,dangit.
OT-Pistol Braylin has named he as yet un-live born fetus Sailor. Wasn’t the babydaddy a Marine?
barry freed lost immediate credibility with his comment at 8:41 when he says that the San Bernadino murders were a workplace shooting. The shooting was not a workplace shooting only barry thinks it was.
Winston and Bear, great on topic comments, especially Winston’s. Every thing in between them is just space.
The highway funding bill and the SD increase in gas taxes should result in massive bridge replacement. Instead the knuckleheads are bringing forward routine, scheduled resurfacing projects. Apparently either the bridge ‘deficiencies’ were figments of the imagination of the highway department managers; or they plied us as tools.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/state-has-million-more-to-spend-on-highways-including-several/article_5a17e657-7706-5466-bc88-702f84595e69.html
Fed early release of non-violent offenders. A little scary!
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s3997819.shtml
Lets hope these newly released inmates, have learned from their mistakes and are given a good chance to succeed and not make bad choices again but given some of these inmates past history it is disturbing.
How’d work go as a greeter at Walmart go today, Lynn?
Mitchell has a lot more to worry about its residents than about releases in Minnesota.
Cabela’s is a stockpile for domestic terrorists.
The Fed is releasing them nationwide. Fed as in National. One decision I disagree with the Obama administration. Many were not non-violent offenders as they were portrayed to be.
The feds are not the Fed, Lynn. Please make a note of it, hun.
The Federal government as in Federal prisons. You might be thinking of the Fed regarding fiscal matters as in the Federal reserve. It helps to be sober Lar.
Bear, clever if the Commies had dressed themselves up as conservatives (they actually shed their leftist cloaks and revealed their true oligarchic selves in de-sickled Russia): instead of destroying the middle class by handing all their stuff to the proletariat, they turned the middle class into proles and handed everybody’s stuff up the ladder to the rich!
This really tells the complete story of who owns Bernie http://www.theonion.com/article/bernie-sanders-clearly-pocket-high-rolling-teacher-50990?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:NA:InFocus
I’d let her buy me for the night for $200,Jerry.
If you are serious about stopping repeat offenders,stop electing them.
Trump is the best thing to happen to the GOP since Eisenhower.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/12/is_donald_trump_s_racism_and_bigotry_making_him_the_republican_front_runner.html
Roger,
You should do your homework before making pronouncements about people’s credibility. Here’s a little on the workplace environment of the two guys who worked side by side. One a devote Muslim, the other a demonstrably devote Muslim hater posting his hate on Facebook. Try and tell us the Admin and office staff knew nothing. His actions, like those of the Columbine bullies, will be lost in the media bray. On topic: the Republicans will use this media manipulated tragedy to instill fear of “others” to get votes, the Democrats will use it to instill fear of guns, and get votes. In the end, they will both get what they want, and the people with once again be left with fewer Rights and more fear of each other. The article I post is also critical of Limbaugh, so I guess some here will now call me a Democrat. This “either, or” mentality cheapens discussion and is exactly what the politicians hope to get from us. When you attack me, you are leaving them free to say and do whatever. .. and I am no one, how nice for them. http://crooksandliars.com/2015/12/did-san-bernardino-killer-argue-guy-his
Leslie,
I say there is no difference between Dems and Repubs, and you read it as: Barry hates Dems. I don’t hate anybody, but I have zero respect for many. Just because someone notes that Daschle, like many, many Republicans took money from Abramoff for political influence, does not mean they hate Daschle and Dems. They hate the behaviour. Limbaugh should be removed from the air as he is in violation of FCC rules by being addicted to Oxy. 2,000 in his possession qualifies him as dealer and that makes him a felon. Another strike against his 1st class license. The Oxy disables that switch in his head and induces him say things that make us all less safe. So now you can add Barry hates Repubs. Fine, but to make the jump to Barry is dangerous is desperate logic and cheap debate. Barry doesn’t own a gun, but he is thinking of donating to the NRA, at least they are a counter to the craziness. lies, and lack of critical thinking seen here.
Mike,
Sorry about the name calling. I shouldn’t let myself get caught up in the childish banter often seen here.
Trying to stay on topic, Bernie ( who, with the exception of gun views talks the best talk ) uses his own fear and hate mongering to further his political goals. His home State has no requirement to carry concealed. Obama’s home State, with the toughest gun restrictions in the Nation, has 6 times as many gun homicides as Bernie’s, but Bernie wants the same bans as Obama. Neither have a strategy for disarming gangs who are the ones generating the Banosexuals ( C )* propaganda. Bermne, like Trump. will say anything to get nominated. We’ll see if he ever gets elected in NH again.
21 minutes with newborn in her arms waiting for Police: http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/09/24534-caught-on-tape-armed-citizens-take-down-criminals-with-guns/
Bernie would disarm her.
* Copyrighted, with a $5,000 per use fee. Please don’t use it more than you can afford.
Well said Barry, way to keep the Onion spirit going. I put that link up for laughs and see you have the same humor. The other Barry has sure taken the guns out of the hands of criminals though as we have seen daily. That good guy with a gun in Colorado Springs really showed us how the gun removal has been so successful for President Obama’s outright theft of our little guns. Thanks for the snickers, appreciated it this morning.
The last Foreign Affairs magazine has an interesting comparison of current GOP retrogrades with those in the do-nothing Congress that Harry Truman exploited to beat sure-winner Republicans. The parallels with current GOP are interesting. If history repeats, it foretells GOP election failure.
Fear and hate underlie the gun control argument. The idea that we should not have gun control because a good guy with a gun will stop crime should be considered in light of the numbers.
In 2012, for example, the FBI reports that there were 259 justifiable gun homicides, which presumably includes all cases where a good guy with a gun killed a bad guy with a gun. In contrast, there are approximately 10,000 gun homicides per year, where all the good guys with guns were not able to stop the bad guy. That is a pretty small success rate for the good guys.
More troubling is the fact that there are approximately 20,000 suicides by gun each year. Criminals are not the people who usually use a gun to commit suicide. Rather, it would be the good guy with a gun.
And included in the above 10,000 gun killings are domestic disputes and accidents. That is even more good guys with guns killing people.
So, if we weigh 259 justifiable gun homicides against over 30,000 gun deaths, the argument that everybody should be armed to reduce gun deaths seems a stretch.
http://www.salon.com/2015/12/19/7_ways_fear_and_ignorance_warp_americas_gun_debate_partner/
Barry,
By definition, was the attack on San Bernadino a act of domestic violence, a terrorist attack, or a workplace attack?
Good one, Bear.
Then there’s this guy in Georgia. I think it may be he had a falling out with his lover and it went off and done shot him in his leg.Guns is fickle creatures.
http://www.wtvm.com/story/30795379/police-respond-to-accidental-shooting
Meh. Another non sequitur trotted out by Salon. Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world and yet it also has one of the highest suicide rates (almost twice the US).
Total Number of Gun Deaths
In Japan, annual deaths resulting from firearms total
2014: 69
CompareRate of All Gun Deaths per 100,000 People
In Japan, the annual rate of all gun deaths per 100,000 population is
2014: 0.006
Suicide rates in Japan are higher ,but that is suicide by any means,not just gun related.
Just for shits and giggles- http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/tolls/2014
As Don thinks, there are really no gun deaths in America, only deaths. Nothing to see here, move on and ignore the chalk lines for the deceased.
Now, regarding the economy of anything other than gun sales to the paranoid. In order to actually make a difference in our economic woes, Bernie will be the guy to get that done. Instead of standing around waiting for the other shoe to drop, Bernie will lace those shoes up and get to work. What always has pissed me off about the Obama crowd and the Hillary crowd is there loving relationships with the banking insurance investment crowd they like to rub elbows with. Getting along with them is fine, just manage to keep your distance and make sure there are laws on the books that protect usins from their grasp. Smart republicans can see this as well, only those who are stuck in the muck of being ammosexuals cannot see it. To them, the gun is what separates them from the bedwetter in the mirror.