In Des Moines, Bernie Sanders' Supporters Nearly Steal the Show

[cali]

The crowd in Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium was definitely ‘feeling the Bern.’

Around 700 supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders showed up Friday night for his town hall on this Des Moines, Iowa campus, but some of the most enthusiastic applause went to Tyson Manker, a 33-year-old former Marine practicing law in Central Illinois.

“Good evening Senator Sanders, I look forward to the day that I can call you Mr. President,” Manker said, to applause. “I’m a former U.S. Marine, I fought in Iraq [applause] and I’d like to say, before I ask my question, quickly, that your support for veterans is the reason why I drove six hours from Central Illinois today you in the growing campaign [applause],” he continued. At one point Sanders left the podium to shake his hand.

<snip>

Manker wanted to know what Sanders, a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, would do about the gap between what veterans are promised when they sign up to serve, and what they get when they come back. “If there is any moral obligation that the nation has, it is to do everything that we can for those people who put their lives on the line to defend us and have come back wounded either in body or in spirit,” Sanders said, before describing his work on the 2014 veterans health care bill. “But we still have a long way to go.”

<snip>

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-13/in-des-moines-bernie-sanders-supporters-nearly-steal-the-show

[marym625]

1. K&R!

Wonderful stuff! Thanks for the post!

for Tyson Manker for his service and his dedication

#Bernie2016

[Segami]

2. Great!!!

Thanks cali.....

[Segami]

3. ...

[cali]

4. it is a great story. Bernie may not be the most polished or personable candidate

but his authenticity is lighthouse bright.

[Segami]

6. Wonderful.

Glad you posted it!

[SoapBox]

5. Bernie is amazing.

[Springslips]

7. The comparision in a phrase.

Hilary supports war; Bernie supports the warrior.

I was going to wait until December to make my choice, but with her speech today, the toxic attack on Bernie supporters here by a bullying Clinton clique, and my progressive beliefs ( which is a knotch to the center from Sanders TTYT) I think I have made my decision.

[cali]

8. sound reasoning.

Glad you're supporting him.

[MissDeeds]

11. Glad to have you on Team Bernie

I'm sure you will never regret your choice.

[cantbeserious]

13. Welcome Aboard

eom

[840high]

29. Happy to have you here.

[L0oniX]

9. K & R

[daleanime]

10. K&R.....

[Omaha Steve]

12. K&R!

[2banon]

14. Well Done! Like the Q&A on the Veterans Affairs issue.

It's sad, that there's "still a long way to go" on that one.

[cali]

18. yeah, it is, but hopefully more progress can be made

[BeanMusical]

15. That's awesome!

And it wasn't something scripted like some other politicians would do or have done in the past.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

16. My dad went to Drake

How he would have loved to see Bernie.

[Rockyj]

17. Feel the Bern BIGTIME!

[rhett o rick]

19. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[bigtree]

20. awesome crowd

...college youth in abundance.

[Fuddnik]

21. A pet peeve, and it really pisses me off.

Every time I turn around, some charity is asking for donations for wounded and homeless veterans. I go to the bookstore, and at checkout I'm asked if I'd like to donate a bag of coffee to the troops. Go to the drugstore, and would I like to donate a candy bar to the troops.

WHERE IN THE FUCK IS THE GOVERNMENT THAT GOT THEM WOUNDED?!?!?!. Why aren't we funding the VA to the point that they can hire and attract more and better doctors? Because Congress, mainly Republicans treasure their tax breaks more than people who were damaged during national service.

About every month, a wounded veterans organization stops by my house, and picks up clothing, furniture, electronics, etc. I don't mind helping out, but it's high time that politicians started paying what they promised.

I'm a Vietnam era veteran, and always had company paid, "Cadillac" health insurance, and never needed a VA health card. When my company went bankrupt (after the executive looted it) and I lost health insurance, I applied to the VA before George W. Bush's means testing went into effect. They lost the application and I re-applied a year later. Nope, now my pension is too high to qualify for VA health care. Even though a selling point when I enlisted was "You'll always have the VA if you need health care".

Thanks a lot chickenhawks.

[daleanime]

23. +1

Can't be said enough. You might want to make this an OP.

[Fuddnik]

27. Maybe I will later.

Thanks

[OnlinePoker]

32. To paraphrase Bernie from last year

If you don't want to support the veterans, then stopping making them.

[Moral Compass]

22. Why is Bernie surging?

Why is Bernie surging? The national media is doing everything they can to not give him air time or column inches. He is, after all, screwing up the pre-written narrative of Hillary Clinton’s coronation. The 1st female President triumphantly ascending to the Oval office after the first African-American President. This is just good television. It works, dammit! And this old New York Jew shows up and is creating a hell of a disturbance. Why? Why is anybody listening to him in spite of NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, FOX, CNN all doing their best to paint him as a wild-eyed, frothing radical leftist?
Well, for a whole host of reasons. Bernie Sanders is not to the left of Dwight D. Eisenhower or Richard Nixon. He is, however, to the left of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And therein lies the rub.
His ideas resonate. They do not sound either radical or impractical. He believes in many of the same things that the Tea Party believes in. He is not a corporatist.
What he is--is fundamentally honest. He is speaking from a mind informed by his heart. He believes what he is saying. He is a very, very dangerous man. When he talks I have no sense that he is trying to blow smoke up my metaphorical skirt. His message is not calibrated nor is there some democratic equivalent of Frank Lutz standing behind him telling him what words to use. This guy is the real deal and his populist message is being drunk in by the thirsty masses. I have a sense that this is one of those times where the events will get out ahead of the media and they will have to revert to what they should be doing—reporting not editorializing. Rather than defining the narrative they will be left to try and keep up with it.
It is possible that this old man might be the leader that we hoped Barack Obama would be.
Our so very well entrenched power structure (which I assure you is deeply bipartisan) is being made very nervous by this gentleman. He has nothing to lose. He cannot be bought.
The attacks against him will only increase from here on in.

[cali]

24. great post, should be an op though I disagree about Nixon

[Moral Compass]

26. Just for the record

I loathed and despised Richard Nixon. However, some of his positions would be considered leftist by the standards of the day. This is how far the norm has moved to the right over the years.

That was my only point in making that comment.

Please don't read any approval of Nixon into it.

[Fuddnik]

28. I agree. I was with a bunch of Yippees who threw dead rats at Nixswine at his second coronation.

But I think he was more to the left than most of todays politicians. He was actually afraid of being branded as in the pocket of "Big Business" (White House transcripts).

I think Bernie can pull off a "Wellstone". Thousands of enthusiastic volunteers going door-to-door in every state. Bypass the media and PACs.

Down here in Florida, the formerly "liberal" Tampa Bay Times doesn't even mention him. But today they have their obligatory puff piece on Jeb Bush being a self-made man. It's Jeb and Rubio, 24/7.

[cali]

30. yes, some being the operative word.

But no, I didn't think for a minute that you were expressing approval of him.

[Babel_17]

25. People are noting the importance of Sanders consistence in standing up for his principles (nt)

[bvar22]

31. DURec for The Bern.

!

[SaranchaIsWaiting]

33. Bernie keeps getting better and better.

I have great hopes that he will win the primary and the General. It looks possible. A month or two back I would not be saying this.

I am happy.

[Stuart G]

34. Good News...nt

[olddots]

35. Bernie works without a net

What he says comes from him not a bunch of campain coaches .