Comrade Bernie Sanders Campaigns In a Church

The Burlington Free Press reports:

Bernie Sanders leaned into the lectern, waved his fist, raised his voice and asked an audience of 400 gathered Friday evening at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Burlington to join him in a campaign to win a seat in the U.S. Senate and wrest control of government from "one party rule and Republican right-wing extremism."

"Our goal will be to help revitalize American democracy, to allow young people to once again experience the idealism, the hope and the vision that have made our country so great," declared Sanders, an independent who has represented Vermont in the U.S. House since 1990.

The supportive crowd interrupted his 20-minute speech repeatedly with clapping and hooting as Sanders formally launched a Senate campaign that has been under way for a year -- ever since Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., declared he would retire.

"I loved it," a youthful John William Myer of Shelburne declared when the rally ended. Myer said he'll be voting in his first election in November and will cast his ballot for Sanders.

James Wanner of Burlington turned out, too, for the first of several rallies Sanders will hold this weekend to kick off the campaign season. "I voted for Bernie when he ran for governor from the Liberty Union Party," Wanner said. That was in the 1970s. "He's terrific."

Sanders attacked the Bush administration for giving tax breaks to billionaires and allowing the national debt to hit record levels. "Hear me loud and clear," he said. "I believe that it is wrong and an embarrassment to our country that we continue to have, by far, the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth and that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider every day."

He also criticized the administration's record on health care, environmental protection and energy policy.

He brought the crowd to its feet when he reminded them that he had never supported the war in Iraq, but he cautioned that there were no simple remedies now. "There are no right answers. There are no decisions without consequences," Sanders said. Still, noting that polls suggest the Iraqi people believe they would be safer and more secure if U.S. troops left, he argued, "We should honor their feelings and bring our troops home as soon as possible -- within the next year."

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., joined a firefighter, nurse, law professor and businessman in endorsing Sanders' candidacy. "Bernie Sanders came to Washington to fight for us," Leahy said, "and he kept his word."

This is interesting for two reasons.First of all,admitted socialist Bernie Sanders is campaigning in a church.Where's the MSM outrage about separation of church and state? Secondly,notice how long time,established Democrats like Pat Leahy are supporting an outright socialist candidate.No word yet from the New York Times on this story they hope you don't read.