In the Fiscal Debate, an Unvarnished Voice for Shielding Benefits - Bernie in the NYT!
Here's a good read to take our minds off of Connecticut:
"
He is emboldened by his recent re-election with more than 70 percent of the vote — “Seventy-one percent, but who’s counting?” Mr. Sanders said — and he appears to be making a little headway.
Mr. Sanders has been pressing Mr. Obama to take Social Security off the negotiating table, and
the White House now says changes to the retirement program should be considered on a “separate track” from a deficit deal.
“I think maybe he has learned something,” Mr. Sanders, 71, said of the president, who is 20 years his junior. “After four years he has gotten the clue that you can’t negotiate with yourself, you can’t come up with a modest agreement and hope the Republicans say, ‘That’s fair, you’re O.K., we’ll accept that.’ He’s reached out his hand, and they’ve cut him off at the wrist.”
....
“Do we really say we’re going to balance the budget on making major cuts in disability benefits for veterans who have lost their arms and legs defending America, while we continue to give tax breaks to billionaires?” he thundered, without pausing for breath. “Is that what the American people want? They surely do not, and only within a Beltway surrounded by Wall Street and big-money interests could anyone think that is vaguely sensible.” .......
“I think Senator Sanders represents the majority of our caucus,” Mr. Harkin said. “Not all of it, but the majority. They may not be saying it in the same way that Sanders says it, not as aggressively as Senator Sanders. But I think that’s where they are.” "
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/us/politics/bernard-sanders-a-voice-for-shielding-entitlements.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=sherylgaystolberg