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Admiral Loinpresser

(3,859 posts)
Thu Jul 2, 2015, 11:53 AM Jul 2015

Bernie and the Bulworth Effect

WARNING: The linked youtube video contains racial epithets and profanity. It is in the vein of farce or satire, but it may be offensive to those with no tolerance for such language.

The Bulworth movie premise is that a politician becomes so desperate in his personal life and physically debilitated that he starts telling the truth about what is wrong with America and why it stays that way. Because he tells the truth he starts to rise in the polls. But of course, the political “experts” regard the meme of this movie (i.e. that honesty is the best policy in politics for both pragmatic and moral reasons) as pure fiction as they continue to chuckle and deride Bernie Sanders on the TV venues for the chattering class.



Bernie is telling the truth on the stump, just he has been his entire adult life. And he is rising in the polls. And he is attracting more money from real people than anyone else. And he is drawing bigger and more enthusiastic crowds than anybody else, wherever he goes.

Still they say he can’t win the nomination or the general election. Let’s put aside his chances for the nomination for a second and assume he gets it. What kind of people he would attract in the general? How about Republicans?

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/23/1395700/-Republicans-for-Bernie-Sanders

Why do those conservative Republicans support Bernie? Because he tells the truth and they agree with most or all of it. There is a populist strain in the Republican Party that responds to his message. He connects with all kinds of people. A majority of Americans support most, if not all his platform. Another quick example, veterans:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/06/27/bernie-sanders-surge-partly-fueled-veterans/e1qNTpzFpIaoxIGKygKa9J/story.html

Even our current President wrestles with the Bulworth dilemma.

Yet Mr. Obama also expresses exasperation. In private, he has talked longingly of “going Bulworth,” a reference to a little-remembered 1998 Warren Beatty movie about a senator who risked it all to say what he really thought.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/politics/new-controversies-may-undermine-obama.html?pagewanted=2&smid=tw-share&pagewanted=all

Well, Mr. President, when the ACA came to the floor, Bernie had your back. When you are fighting for time and a half for more overtime workers, Bernie has your back. And he can put together a diverse coalition and win the general election, just as you did.

Bernie is telling the truth and it’s working. Americans want the truth. Americans can handle the truth. At this desperate hour in our nation, Americans need the truth.
12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Bernie and the Bulworth Effect (Original Post) Admiral Loinpresser Jul 2015 OP
K&R peacebird Jul 2015 #1
What is the difference between what Hillary and Bernie are saying on the campaign trail? boston bean Jul 2015 #2
TPP and foreign policy Admiral Loinpresser Jul 2015 #3
Bernie is speaking of things like... bunnies Jul 2015 #4
Three more things. Admiral Loinpresser Jul 2015 #5
I'll let others point out all the differences. LWolf Jul 2015 #6
Bernie is believable! immoderate Jul 2015 #7
He didn't need to consult 200 advisors to decide what he supported? n/t winter is coming Jul 2015 #8
How could I forget this?? Admiral Loinpresser Jul 2015 #9
Bernie wants to invest a trillion dollars in infrastructure to create jobs. Hillary wants ... Scuba Jul 2015 #10
Good movie BuelahWitch Jul 2015 #11
Hey, girlfriend! n/t Admiral Loinpresser Jul 2015 #12

Admiral Loinpresser

(3,859 posts)
3. TPP and foreign policy
Thu Jul 2, 2015, 12:21 PM
Jul 2015

for starters. If you listen to the movie clip you will hear about neoliberal policies, such as implemented in the Clinton White House. Policies which especially betrayed black people but ultimately betrayed all the people. Policies which can only be overcome by a grassroots movement, imo. I do not hear HRC calling for a grassroots revolution in this country.

But the larger point is not just what you say, it's also what you do. The truth is not just about talking the talk. In politics it's more about walking the walk. Nobody in this race walks and talks like Bernie.

 

bunnies

(15,859 posts)
4. Bernie is speaking of things like...
Thu Jul 2, 2015, 12:24 PM
Jul 2015

Single payer healthcare, rejecting the TPP, breaking up the banks, ending corporate control of government and the turning of our Democracy into an Oligarchy, to name a few.

Has Hillary touched on any of these things?

Admiral Loinpresser

(3,859 posts)
5. Three more things.
Thu Jul 2, 2015, 12:37 PM
Jul 2015

I don't hear Bernie defending himself from charges of corruption (a plus in the general!), I hear Bernie freely railing against Super Pacs (he doesn't have one) and he has pledged not to take money from Big Oil and Big Coal (the only candidate who made that pledge in either party!).

LWolf

(46,179 posts)
6. I'll let others point out all the differences.
Thu Jul 2, 2015, 12:48 PM
Jul 2015

I'll point out that whatever Bernie is saying is backed by a steadfast record on the issue over the decades of his life.

In other words, he walks, he lives, his talk. Whatever he is saying is not just words on the campaign trail after triangulating the probable reception of listeners.

Admiral Loinpresser

(3,859 posts)
9. How could I forget this??
Thu Jul 2, 2015, 05:43 PM
Jul 2015

On the critical issue of the 21st century, the environment, HRC is terrible!!!!

Where is she on fracking, Tar Sands and climate change? Just listen to Naomi Klein:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/01/vatican-may-consider-divestment-from-fossil-fuels-despite-popes-call-to-arms

She also said she had no “high hopes” for Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic contender in the 2016 race for the White House. “When she was secretary of state she rarely talked about climate change and it was her State Department that was set to rubber stamp Keystone,” she said, referring to the controversial trans-American pipeline.

“So, just judging her on her record, I don’t think there is any reason for optimism about Hillary on climate change,” she said.
 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
10. Bernie wants to invest a trillion dollars in infrastructure to create jobs. Hillary wants ...
Fri Jul 3, 2015, 08:27 AM
Jul 2015

... tax credits for corporations who take on interns.



See the difference?

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