I’d like to bash Bernie Sanders for a moment.

[BuyingThyme]

He doesn’t work for me, but I’m fairly familiar with him, and have always seen him as a sharp guy.

On the Franken show today, Al played for Bernie an audio clip which we’ve all heard a brazilian times; the one where Chimpy says:

When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

Sanders had never heard the clip before Franken played it!

The people in DC, even the smart ones, have no fucking idea what’s happening to our country. They apparently task their aides with summarizing headlines from the Washington Post and the New York Times, thinking they’re staying abreast, while in reality being kept out of the loop on the real news.

Why can’t they listen to the goddamn radio? Why can’t they read a few blogs? Why do they know more about the spooge on a blue dress than they do about the current state of the United States Constitution? And I’m talking about the smart ones!

The Chimp clip must be played at Shill Specter’s upcoming NSA/spy hearing. It needs to be done on the first day, or as soon as props are permitted to be used, so that CNN just might pick it up.

Maybe I’ll mail some VHS tapes to some smart Senators in DC. Do you think staffers look at tapes? Or do packages just get tossed into a bottomless anthrax depository?

[OneBlueSky]

1. in "Fahrenheit 911," John Conyers admits that . . .

Members of Congress and Senators virtually never read the legislation they're voting on . . . that's why they need really sharp legislative assistants who can summarize reams of governmentese into a coherent page or two while capturing the salient points . . .

[BuyingThyme]

7. Sit down, my son...

[peacetalksforall]

2. DUers in Washington or their state who can afford the time should take

on the roll of an intern and prepare information for them gleaned from DU posts or links and condense it in a very appropriate factual way for them.

Not only have Dem leaning guests said they have never heard of xxxx, Franken, Schultz, and others have said it. I don't get to hear him anymore, but it seems Mike Malloy is always up-to-date. Randi is usually up-to-date. Sam Seder is savvy all the time.

It takes a lot of work. I can imagine those who work for these legislators have a lot of work to do and there is often a lot of stuff to wade through on DU. They have to manage the stuff that hasn't been released yet and the stuff that can't be released in addition to ALL the stuff that does get out - thanks to the greed laden, control heavy agenda of the right wing cabal and the barons who lead them.

Maybe they can use your volunteer help? Perhaps a way could be worked out to make sure nothing slips through?

[BuyingThyme]

5. Yes, we need a Greatest Posts pipeline to DC.

[endarkenment]

3. It is Democratic Disease

Our side never seems prepared for the debate. Franken tossed a huge softball at Bernie and Bernie appears to have been caught thumbsucking. This was a friendly interview!

[BuyingThyme]

4. It enabled me to understand why we (they) got such a slow start on Alito.

Because they're not listening, they don't know what to do until we start yelling really loud.

[SoCalDem]

6. They do it all the time on tv too..

I cringe every time I hear .."Um..I have not heard about/read/seen...(whatever).."..

BEFORE you go on a radio or tv show, it should be mandatory to study up on what's buzzing around.

The republi-bots are all OVER prepared.. they have 3-4 ready answers/comments/rebuttals to just about anything mentioned, and failing that, they have their talking-point filibuster spiel down pat.

Our people tend to sit there waiting to be interrupted, and then almost apologetic for not giving the interrupter more time.

[BuyingThyme]

8. A good case for issuing talking points.

Not to tell people what to think, but to inform people as to what's going on.

[BuyingThyme]

9. Yes. Slam dunk case, but nobody there to make it.

[killbotfactory]

10. It's second nature for me to go to the internet for information

Damnit, we need to school our politicians on information retrieval in the internet age. There is an endless amount of info you can tap right now, you just need a good bullshit filter.

[Selatius]

11. Republicans have the think-tank "apparat" working for them

Democrats have no such infrastructure. Unless somebody can point to me a Democratic equivalent of the Heritage Foundation, funded by private corporate interests, I don't think Democrats will win the information war anytime soon. The Republicans get their talking points, their marching orders, and their ammunition for debates pretty much pre-packaged and ready to go by these institutes and think tanks and such. Democrats have no such organization bolstering their efforts.

However, Bernie Sanders isn't a Democrat. He's an independent advocating democratic socialist policies, so he neither has the infrastructure or the support from any party to wage an information war. He has to do the footwork by himself, and judging by his past performance representing the working class interests of Vermont voters, he knows more shit about what's wrong with this country than most Democrats and Republicans do, and that's pretty damn sad given that others are wealthier and have more resources at their disposal than he does.

Give him the benefit of the doubt.