Thom Hartmann: Will Bernie Be the Beginning of a Revolution?

[thomhartmann]

Jeff Cohen, Roots Action/Park Center for Independent Media-Ithaca College joins Thom Hartmann. Fresh off a great month on the polls and on the campaign trail - Bernie Sanders appeared on "Meet the Press" Sunday morning. Why did host Chuck Todd asked more questions about Hillary Clinton's campaign than he did about Bernie's plan to grow the middle class? And what should that tell us about what the establishment media really cares about?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

[yuiyoshida]

1. K&R

[willbee]

2. I'm worried about Bernie

Apart from his age and obvious excite-ability, I'm worried.
The Democratic establishment is not going to take kindly to having their agenda commandeered, nor is the Clinton election machine going to just lay down and give up in the face of yet a second surprise obstacle between Hilary and the glass ceiling.
I hope Sanders is not only taking excellent care of himself physically, but that he has the highest caliber security around him, preferably one not supplied by the Democratic Party. Bernie is going to need professional help just to survive, let alone begin a revolution.
I think he has the right message. I think he's saying the right things. I think a ticket with him on it, especially if accompanied by someone like Elizabeth Warren, could be a juggernaut. I think Bernie alone can shake the footings of the American electoral system.
However, I know for fact, that what Eisenhower warned about is still a woe-some presence in the USA, and anyone who dares bang at the footings of the military industrial complex is likely to get blown right out of the picture before they even get started.
Unlike Barack Obama, Bernie is a real Washington outsider. He's raising millions, not from super pacs or billionaires, but from working people. He's scary to the powers that be. They don't want him around.
I hope Bernie makes it. I hope America starts to embrace people like him.
However, I fear it may well take a revolution though, before someone like Bernie ever gets to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House on a cold January afternoon.

[libdem4life]

3. I think Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul have one thing in common...they are unafraid to stand up for

their non-2-party messages. I think the Revolution may have already started. Bernie suggesting that they remake the "rules" of the debates and go at it like they do in England...face to face. But it is also correct that the two parties are not going to stand back...but what are they going to do? Fire them? This isn't The Apprentice.

Who carries enough weight to sponsor it? That's the question. Maybe?

[Kalidurga]

4. I saw the beginning of this Revolution in Minneapolis.

There were many more people outside the auditorium than inside of the auditorium. The bleachers outside were packed and people were sitting in the grass also. There were people two deep on the outside of the fence and people still arriving as of 10 am, because the line was 3 or 4 blocks long on two sides I believe. People were signing up to volunteer for Bernie's campaign and almost everyone took a donation envelope to either donate on the spot or later.

This is not good news for people who want to uphold the status quo.

[Dustlawyer]

5. K&R!!! Sad and sickening at the same time!

I read all of the comments about drinking games involving every time Chucky asked a question about Hillary, and I knew it would be bad going in. Watching it though still really pissed me off, and it was worse than expected. It is watching your country spiral down the toilet! That is what this is. When a voice of reason and a class act is treated as a loon to protect the ultra greedy, connected bastards, it's time for us to show them we ain't having it anymore!

[INdemo]

8. I started a thread yesterday and asked the question

"Have we become a Corporate State a Right Wing Country?"

I believe we have and listening to the reasoning on this video we are now.We aren't just headed that direction, we are a nation whereby our government is owned by corporations and billionaires and the Wall Street mafia.

People are taking notice with Bernie Sanders and I really predict that if he doesn't win Iowa it will be damn close.
Then What? Well on to NH and I think he will win there and at that point I think he can win many more primaries because the funding from the grass roots will flow even larger.

[Dustlawyer]

9. ^^^^This^^^^^!!!!

[panfluteman]

6. Both Chuck Todd and Katie Kouric Dragged That Skeleton Out of Bernie's Closet

That old article he wrote, and new cherry-picked passages from it, may be dogging Bernie in the lamestream media until the very end. But if Bernie stays on message and continues to deliver substance on the issues that American voters really care about, he can win.

The parallels between Bernie and Dennis Kucinich are obvious, but the times have changed radically from then until now. Back in the day, before Citizens United and the tsunami of corporate money in politics, it was a lot easier to dismiss someone like Kucinich as being merely a candidate for the Birkenstock tree huggers with stars in their eyes, and not a serious contender. And supporting a candidate like Kucinich was more optional in those days when our political system was not so totally dominated by corporate special interests, and the more mainstream candidates had more truthfulness and integrity than they do now. But now, ironically, thanks to Citizens United, the battle lines are much more starkly drawn between the real candidate - Bernie Sanders - and the rest of the gang of corporate posers and whores. And this fierce reality is something that Bernie can exploit to his great benefit. And it makes voting for a real progressive like Bernie not just a nice option, but an urgent necessity if our country, and our democracy, are going to survive.

Regarding Hillary and the threat Bernie poses to her campaign, it would be the second cruel irony for her if Bernie came out of left field and, lo and behold, snatched the White House from out of her grasp! It would be another campaign soap opera that would be impossible to ignore. The lady who plays Hillary so well in the Saturday Night Live skits would have a real field day with that one! But beyond the inevitable soap opera that such a campaign rivalry would generate would be a very serious political truth: that those who aspire to serve We the People in the highest elected office in our land need to rise above their personal ambitions if they are to truly serve our great nation and ALL its people.

[Dustlawyer]

10. If I was thinking of supporting Hillary there would be one question she would have to answer,

What do you have to do for all that $$$$$$$?
I am pretty sure I know the answer in a general sense, she has to do things those donors support at the expense of the rest of us. Those that say, "....but there is no quid pro quo", are not being intellectually honest and ignore history.
Most people finally get it! Like they always do they got too greedy! They have been too open with the corruption, too one-sided. No banker going to jail, lying us into war fro profit, and again W and Cheney don't go to jail. I see a theme here.
People can tell that for once they won't have to worry about those things with Bernie. The pundits are totally out of touch with regular Americans. They hold us in such disdain because we have been asleep at the wheel and swallowed their crap for way too long. Their chickens have now come home to roost, and they came back with the bird flu!

[SmittynMo]

7. The timing is right

There is a reason Bernie Sanders is running in this time, in this election. And thank God he is. This country has had it with the way politics has been run in the past 40 years. It's so corrupt now, I don't know if we'll ever stop it. Citizens United took care of that.

For someone to stand up to the corruption in politics and all the power and money, takes some real balls and a drive that most of us could never imagine. I often wonder why he is doing this. The drive and love for his country must feel tremendous. Perhaps he is the chosen one.

It's time we took our country back and make this the great country it once was. If not, the middle class will most likely disappear forever. There will be no retirement plans, social security, or medicare, and the economy will most likely collapse. You will have to work until your dead.

So, don't think about just yourself. Think about all the children and grandchildren and their future. I am so thankful that someone stepped up to the plate and addressed the true issues of our future.

Do I foresee a political revolution? Yep

GO Bernie, GO!!!