@edgarblythe,
Who ever picks Sanders pics like to get him when it looks like he is screaming. Not sure what is up with that and am watching for more information.
LOS ANGELES – Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wrapped up a three-day West Coast swing on Monday with a stem-winder speech to an arena packed with sign-waving supporters cheering his call for a political revolution.
He was introduced by comedienne and actress Sarah Silverman. “I give you, if we’re all very smart and a little bit lucky, the next president of the United States,” she said. The crowd roared its approval.
And there were more thunderous cheers and applause when Sanders walked up a catwalk onto the stage and proclaimed, in a hoarse shout, that “this country belongs to all of us and not a handful of billionaires. We need a grassroots political revolution.”
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena officials said there were 27,500 people inside the arena and watching on giant TV screens in an overflow area outside. The tremendous turnout – five times bigger than the largest crowd any other presidential candidate has attracted – capped a three-day weekend of big rallies that drew 28,000 people to see Sanders in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday after 15,000 saw him in Settle on Saturday.
The rallies provided new hard evidence of a Sanders surge. “This is a campaign that is on the move,” Sanders said, “and, together, this is a campaign that will end in victory.”
He spoke for about an hour about domestic and foreign policy issues.
On foreign policy, Sanders reminded the audience that he voted against the war in Iraq. They cheered. Then he said he spoke with President Barack Obama last week and assured him that he will support an agreement with Iran to stop it from developing a nuclear weapon. There was more applause. But the audience really erupted when he added, “War has got to be the last recourse, not the first.”
He was cheered when he called for public funding of campaigns. “This campaign is not a billionaire-funded campaign. It is a people campaign,” he said. “We don’t take money from billionaires. We don’t take money from corporations. Yet we have received more individual contributions than any other campaign. We don’t have the money but when people stand together there is nothing we can’t accomplish.”
Angelenos approved when Sanders congratulated the city for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He has a Senate bill to put the federal hourly minimum wage at $15 by 2020. They applauded his call for a massive road and bridge project to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure and create 13 million good-paying jobs.
Perhaps the biggest crowd reaction of the night came when he called for tuition-free public colleges and universities, something the University of California system once offered to qualified students.
“The reason why we are doing well in this campaign is because we are telling the truth. We are talking to the reality of American life today. We are talking about a reality in which almost all of the wealth and income in this country is going to the top 1 percent. We are talking about the United States having more wealth and income inequality than any other major country on earth and we are going to change that.”
You can't put pictures like this up for any other candidate, no matter the party.
@edgarblythe,
Now I love Sarah Silverman even more than before. :-)
@snood,
I think Frank and I are the only ones on the site that dont think Sanders can be elected. If he becomes the dem candidate you will hear communist to describe him from day one and it will resonate with most voters because we have been taught from grade 1 up to graduation that communism is bad. That alone will beat him and produce a conservative Supreme Court. And after watching this court that scares me more than a republican congress.
I think you overate the epithet "commie." The World War II generation has almost died out, and the Korean War generation is well on the way. The veterans of Vietnam are in their 60s or past 70. Most voters alive today did not go through that BS.
@edgarblythe,
Giggling. I think the news media will probably have to respond to what's happening. Twitter is on fire calling out news orgs for the Bernie Blackout. When they finally have to start talking about him, the name recognition is less and less of an issue. That's when he'll start steamrolling.
He really was wonderful last night. BLM activists opened the show; he had reps from the nurses union in Oakland on stage - telling why they endorsed him. I was so damn proud to be on his side last night.
@hawkeye10,
It's part of his charm. He's constantly projecting his voice and jabbing the air like an exasperated professor. I love it.
@RABEL222,
Suspected ignorance of the masses is no reason to throw your hands up, betray the cleanest politician in modern history, and support a dirty corrupt machine.
I mean - how do you think progress happens?
Get off your ass and educate people. Support the progressive.
@Lash,
Quote:BLM activists opened the show
That story went very wrong....a black campaign staffer opened the show, somebody who supports BLM but who was not representing them.
@edgarblythe,
One reason is that Bernie is out drawing not only Hillary but he's out drawing all other candidates and not only that, he's outdrawing them all added together including Hillary.
@Olivier5,
Two good comments in a row. I think I'll start voting you up.
@Lash,
Lash, Rabel and I truly and fundamentally disagree over Hillary and Bernie, it would never occur to me to say Rabel is betraying anything. I'll read anything Rabel feels compelled to write here and know its honest and thought out. Rabel is part of the solution already,
Although I will probably be accused of just repeating myself over and over...
...I gotta say that it appears the Democrats have tired of shooting themselves in the foot...
...and are now aiming at the roofs of their mouths.
They appear to have tired of harming themselves...and want to make sure they have inflicted a mortal wound.
Really too bad that!
Bernie Sanders' Eye-Popping West Coast Swing: 3 Days, 70,000 Cheering Supporters
Source: Bloomberg
Some 27,000 people descended Monday night on the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, which has hosted acts such as Madonna and Pink Floyd, to hear from a raspy-voiced 73-year-old who has become the 2016 political season's breakout star.
For Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Democrat and self-proclaimed socialist, it was the third staggeringly large crowd in three nights that capped a west coast swing that put his political rivals on notice. From fellow white-haired activists to youth wielding signs depicting him as "Bernie Man," his head grafted onto a stick figure representing the counterculture Burning Man festival in Nevada, his fans turned out in numbers that other candidates might only dream of at this early stage in the race.
Read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-11/bernie-sanders-eye-popping-west-coast-swing-3-days-70-000-cheering-supporters
@bobsal u1553115,
bobsal u1553115 wrote:
Two good comments in a row. I think I'll start voting you up.
Please don't. I wear my low votings as a badge of honour.
Edited: and Sarah Silverman's sense of humour is pretty close to Charlie's, mind you...