Can Bernie Feel the Bern yet?

Sometimes, politics can be hilarious..

We just had Cher turn Trump supporter, and now we have the illustrious Bernie Sanders complaining about... wait for it... Bernie Sanders!

Yes, that's right. Good ol' Bernie Sanders, the bane of the "top 1%," is still at it attacking success. This time, though, there's a twist: Bernie Sanders is in the top 1% himself! Of course, he has an explanation for why that happened, as reported in, of all places, the New York Times!

“I wrote a best-selling book,” he said. “If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”

Wow... so all anyone has to do to become a member of the top 1% is to write a book about running for President. It's so simple! Oh, wait, how can I, as one of those underprivileged, underappreciated 99%ers, write a book about running for President when I have never ran for President and have no possible way to actually mount a noticeable campaign?

I have known for quite some time how the Bern was out of touch with reality, but it sounds as though he's also out of touch with his own fantasy now. Let's quickly break this down, shall we?

Bernie believes the top 1% are responsible for all the ills of society because they don't give enough to the rest of us. Bernie Sanders is now a member of the top 1%. Let's see... how much does he give? Well, he released his tax returns, so we know how much he gave: about 26% in taxes and about 5% in charitable contributions. That's 31%. How much does Trump pay? Well, thanks to Rachal Maddow, we now how much he paid in 2005: $38M on $153M income, or about 24.8%. Pretty close to Bernie. How much does he give to charity? The Washington Post claims he gave $102M over a 5-year span, so we can figure about $20M a year on average... that's a hair over 13%. So, based on all that, Donald Trump gave almost 38% of his income in takes and charity, while the enlightened Bernie Sanders gave 31%.

Wow. Donald Trump gives more than Bernie Sanders, and they're both top 1%ers.

The real reason Bernie released his taxes was to show that he wasn't as rich as Trump... that much is obvious. The DNC primary seems to be a race between candidates as to who can be the poorest rich person. That in itself makes no sense; if the objective is to improve the country, it makes no sense to hire the person who has demonstrated the worst record in their personal success. But in this case, things seem even more backwards: Bernie just showed that not only is he in the same financial classification (which is a classification he himself created) as Donald Trump, he showed that he likely gives less than Donald Trump... not more. That makes Bernie Sanders the object of Bernie Sanders' own scorn. In effect, Bernie is running against Bernie!

I tell you, you just can't make this up!

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Waiting for the liberal excuses to defend the un-defendable.

a reply to: TheRedneck

There was a question asked of him at the Fox town hall... that since he supported a 52% tax hike on the 1% and according to his tax returns he is one of them, then why doesn't he now just voluntarily pay that?

He spun and dodged that question... lol.

Gotta love socialists.

It isn't about THEIR money... it's about everyone else's money.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Says it all:

a reply to: TheRedneck

I like Bernie. I hope he wins!

originally posted by: panoz77
a reply to: TheRedneck

Waiting for the liberal excuses to defend the un-defendable.

Waiting for the Republican mud slinging to begin. Oh, wait no longer!

originally posted by: TheRedneck
Sometimes, politics can be hilarious..

We just had Cher turn Trump supporter, and now we have the illustrious Bernie Sanders complaining about... wait for it... Bernie Sanders!

Yes, that's right. Good ol' Bernie Sanders, the bane of the "top 1%," is still at it attacking success. This time, though, there's a twist: Bernie Sanders is in the top 1% himself! Of course, he has an explanation for why that happened, as reported in, of all places, the New York Times!

“I wrote a best-selling book,” he said. “If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”

Wow... so all anyone has to do to become a member of the top 1% is to write a book about running for President. It's so simple! Oh, wait, how can I, as one of those underprivileged, underappreciated 99%ers, write a book about running for President when I have never ran for President and have no possible way to actually mount a noticeable campaign?

I have known for quite some time how the Bern was out of touch with reality, but it sounds as though he's also out of touch with his own fantasy now. Let's quickly break this down, shall we?

Bernie believes the top 1% are responsible for all the ills of society because they don't give enough to the rest of us. Bernie Sanders is now a member of the top 1%. Let's see... how much does he give? Well, he released his tax returns, so we know how much he gave: about 26% in taxes and about 5% in charitable contributions. That's 31%. How much does Trump pay? Well, thanks to Rachal Maddow, we now how much he paid in 2005: $38M on $153M income, or about 24.8%. Pretty close to Bernie. How much does he give to charity? The Washington Post claims he gave $102M over a 5-year span, so we can figure about $20M a year on average... that's a hair over 13%. So, based on all that, Donald Trump gave almost 38% of his income in takes and charity, while the enlightened Bernie Sanders gave 31%.

Wow. Donald Trump gives more than Bernie Sanders, and they're both top 1%ers.

The real reason Bernie released his taxes was to show that he wasn't as rich as Trump... that much is obvious. The DNC primary seems to be a race between candidates as to who can be the poorest rich person. That in itself makes no sense; if the objective is to improve the country, it makes no sense to hire the person who has demonstrated the worst record in their personal success. But in this case, things seem even more backwards: Bernie just showed that not only is he in the same financial classification (which is a classification he himself created) as Donald Trump, he showed that he likely gives less than Donald Trump... not more. That makes Bernie Sanders the object of Bernie Sanders' own scorn. In effect, Bernie is running against Bernie!

I tell you, you just can't make this up!

TheRedneck

Liberalism means never having to apply to yourself what you want others to do...

If Bernie voluntarily paid 70% tax rate on his $1 million, I'd have more respect for him.

Bernie is also unknowingly verifying what many of us have tried to get across to the leftist money grabbers. Anyone can find themselves in the top 1% if you get a windfall. Bernie wrote a book. Some people sell a house. Some people a business. The point being is that income groups are not in stone. The vast majority of people who make it to the top 1% don't stay there very long... just as the vast majority of people in the lower tax brackets find themselves in higher tax brackets.

a reply to: TheRedneck

The upcoming election should be about issues and not how much money someone has.

What's next? Elections based on genital size?

a reply to: DBCowboy


Didn't you just write him a letter? Did he get back to you yet?

Maybe's he's too busy having his personal assistant cash his royalty checks for him. I know I have that problem as well.

a reply to: TheRedneck

So you mean to tell me, that Bernie found financial success by providing a product that other people were willing to pay money for?

Hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like capitalism. And we all know Bernie would never participate in such an unfair system. This must be some kind of Russian scam.

a reply to: dfnj2015

So you don't find the fact that he doesn't put his money where his mouth is disingenuous?

He just seems like any other self serving lying politician to me.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: TheRedneck

So you mean to tell me, that Bernie found financial success by providing a product that other people were willing to pay money for?

Hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like capitalism. And we all know Bernie would never participate in such an unfair system. This must be some kind of Russian scam.

The irony is thick...

I'm always bemused by the people who constantly whine and moan about Trump's "dangerous" tweets and yet say nothing when O'l Bernie gets on his twitter and makes a cri de coeur for a cultural revolution.

He is either so brazen to think that the American people are so ignorant of history that he can get away with saying such things or he himself is woefully ignorant of his own ideology. Either way is frighteningly dangerous.

Yeah, let's just make passionate cries for a movement that killed and harmed multi-millions. What a schmohawk.

a reply to: dfnj2015

I like Bernie too. He''s funny.

But I don't want him to win. I don't vote for people based on whether I like them, nor whether I respect them. I vote for people based on their ideas and what I think they will do for the people in the country. You want to talk respect and admiration? Let's talk Jimmy Carter! That man has more morals in his little finger than most politicians have in their entire constituency! He deserved the Nobel Prize he received. He is IMO a great man, but would I vote for him to be President again?

NO!

He wasn't a good President.

In contrast, I think Donald Trump is an egotistical maniac. If I were to meet him, I would constantly be watching my back. But I also think he has done good for the people, and that's what I care about in a President. Whether I like him or not is about as irrelevant as it can get. That's what I mean when I say I am voting for a President, not a friend. Heck, I have good friends who I wouldn't hire if my life depended on it... I like them, but I don't put a lot of faith in their ability. On the other hand I know some engineers who are total assholes, but they're good at what they do. I would hire them in a New York heartbeat, but I wouldn't want to spend time with them after work hours.

You can hope for your 'friend' Bernie to win all you want. He doesn't know you're alive, and I don't think he cares. He's trying to get something from you, just like Trump. Don't fall for it. Vote with your head, not your heart.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Guessing he discovered he is masochistic and has returned to the sadistic DNC to get Berned again. Then again, with some of his proposals, perhaps he is showing more sadistic characteristics too. Hmmm.

Will have to await til after the primaries when the DNC bitsh slaps his Independent derrière again and applies all of his fund raiser monies towards their chosen one.

a reply to: Edumakated

Liberalism means never having to apply to yourself what you want others to do...

If Bernie voluntarily paid 70% tax rate on his $1 million, I'd have more respect for him.

In 2016, I actually had some respect for Bernie. I disagreed with almost all of his policies (almost, a few I liked), but I at least could respect him for being real. Then, when confronted with actual corruption (aka Hillary), he backed down like a little whipped puppy... and worse, accepted the corruption with open arms by endorsing her. Had he simply not endorsed anyone I could have maintained respect for him.

Now he's on the campaign trail again, and he's now a millionaire... and he's still preaching against millionaires, while at the same time telling people how to become a millionaire! That's a level of cognitive dissonance that is epic. It tells me that he is not only supporting a lot of policies that I disagree with, but he's also out of touch with reality... and that is dangerous with any President. Just look what 8 years of unicorns and rainbows got us with the last one: increased racism, continual recession, lack of jobs, higher deficits, loss of freedoms, poverty... do you think Obama experienced any of that in his life?

TheRedneck

a reply to: DBCowboy

The upcoming election should be about issues and not how much money someone has.

What's next? Elections based on genital size?

Marco Rubio already went there. Didn't turn out so well for him, if I remember correctly.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: dfnj2015

In contrast, I think Donald Trump is an egotistical maniac. If I were to meet him, I would constantly be watching my back. But I also think he has done good for the people, and that's what I care about in a President. Whether I like him or not is about as irrelevant as it can get. That's what I mean when I say I am voting for a President, not a friend.

TheRedneck

That's what I tell my lib friends here in California. They say, "He's an A-hole!" and I say "Good! Name one other country in this world that is not run by an A-hole. If A-holes run the world, I want ours to be the biggest, best A-hole of them all." That usually shuts them up good.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Oh please Red. First, Cher is not a Trump supporter even though that ''thread'' suggested in it's convoluted manner that she is.

But more to the point of Bernie, we both know that he rails against the 1%. But the one percent he rails against are not those who manage to have a windfall income such as he has with the sale of his books. Those he rails against are the ruling elite whose wealth is not defined by how much income they have in a year but by the accumulated ''wealth'' of ownership.

The plutocrats, those extremely wealthy whose power derives from their manipulation of their wealth rather than power derived from the votes of citizens. So sure, in the last two years since he has become a popular figure, his book has barely moved him into the 1% of ''income'' earners yet leaves him still way out in the cold as far as ''real wealth'' accumulation. Suggesting that he is now one of the 1% he has railed about only minimizes the real truth that our economy and our nation are run by a handful of families using their wealth for power rather than the will of our citizens.

And even the MSM and the'' libera''l press are pushing this notion as well, that Bernie is now one of the 1% and that makes him look foolish. Have you seen any of that going on? Even the nightly comics are making the same joke about it.

originally posted by: TheRedneck

The DNC primary seems to be a race between candidates as to who can be the poorest rich person.

Thats pretty funny.

Very nice, thoughtful write-up.

Heres Bill Weld running for the GOP nomination vs. Trump.

No idea why he previously ran on the libertarian ticket.

Hes a Trump type gun grabber:

Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts reversed course this week and proposed some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country.

Mr. Weld, a Republican who will run for re-election next year, called for a statewide ban on assault weapons -- a proposal he opposed during his 1990 campaign -- as well as a waiting period for buying handguns and a prohibition on handgun ownership by anyone under 21. His proposed legislation would also limit the number of handguns an individual could buy...