Sanders in the Senate: Vermont set to look even nuttier

Manchester Union Leader ^ | May 18, 2005 | Editorial

[billorites]

IT IS BECOMING harder and harder to believe that Vermont was once ideologically similar to New Hampshire. In the land of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, a real-life socialist is the front-runner for U.S. Senate.

A poll by Burlington TV station WCAX found that U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, a registered independent and self-proclaimed socialist, would win 60 percent of the vote against either of the two Republicans considering the race, including the lieutenant governor. It is early, but Sanders’ support is so solid that Howard Dean, former Vermont governor and now chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has endorsed him rather than try to find a Democrat to challenge him.

Sanders is running for the seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Jeffords, the liberal-leaning independent who left the Republican party in 2001 after the Democrats offered him a committee chairmanship. If he wins, Sanders reportedly would be the only independent ever elected to the Senate.

Vermont is where Calvin Coolidge, one of America’s most conservative Presidents, was raised and where he got his values. It used to be a land of common-sense conservatism much like New Hampshire. Now it is run by liberal refugees from New York who have turned the state into a hippie haven. Both Sanders and Dean were born and raised in New York City.

Sending Sanders to the Senate would make Vermont look even kookier than Howard Dean did. And most Vermonters don’t seem to have a problem with that.

[gulfcoast6]

I use to order Vermont syrup from there but stopped because of him.

[grania]

It used to be a land of common-sense conservatism much like New Hampshire

This is a NH paper being delusional. NH got strange when people "escaping" Boston moved up and brought their expectations with them.

[who knows what evil?]

I use to order Vermont syrup from there but stopped because of him.

Good for you! I actually live here and boycott New England as much as possible.

[who knows what evil?]

If he wins, Sanders reportedly would be the only independent ever elected to the Senate.

Sanders isn't an independent; he is a communist.

[DM1]

unfortunately too many Mass refugees brought that mentality with them. THat being said we still do have two Republican Senators and two Republican congressmen. At best i would say we are right leaning to moderate now as opposed to Granite COnservative that we used to be.

[who knows what evil?]

This is a NH paper being delusional.

Ditto. The poor Union-Leader (one of America's few decent newspapers) doesn't even realize it's over. They are the LAST bastion of conservatism in New England. Sad.

[Koblenz]

Vermont is made up of essentially two groups of people: natives and immigrants from other states ("flatlanders"). It's NYC and Mass. liberals that have really screwed up the place, I think...

[who knows what evil?]

Sanders CLAIMS to be a champion of the poor, but there are areas of squalor in Vermont that rival Tijuana for sheer filth. Geez, Bernie...all that dedicated public service, and nothing to show for it. Amazing how this useless idiot keeps getting re-elected.

[who knows what evil?]

Lots of socialist Europeans have flooded into the area, as well...primarily Scandanavians.

[Cowman]

The loonies started in Beantown and when they turned it into a corrupt, Liberal hell hole they escaped north and west. The John Birch Society was once headquartered outside Boston and the Worcester Telegram and the Worcester Gazette were rock ribbed, anticommunist, conservative newspapers.

The trouble is that Liberal Utopians can't see that their town sucks because of the Liberalism they have implemented. I think we need to pen up the Liberals in there self-created Liberal pits of insanity and not allow them into the reasonably sane areas that they would destroy.

Sort of Escape from New York meets the Minuteman Project

[who knows what evil?]

Sort of Escape from New York meets the Minuteman Project.

Great idea. Give the conservatives a year to escape, then shut the door to keep the cancer from infecting the rest of the country. :-)

[Nateman]

This is actually a good thing. By running a RAT the liberal vote would be split and a true republican could get the seat for six years in an otherwise lost state. If no genuine RAT steps up to the plate we should run some unknown lady and have her pretend to be a RAT. It would be an easy sell, just have her get talking points from the New York Times

[putupjob]

Vermont is the nuttiest state in the country.
Bernie Sanders, Howard Dean, Jim Jeffords, Patrick Leahy.

Crackpotsville. And you can tell if you are talking to someone from Vermont: they'll be looking down their noses at you. I'm convinced Vermont has been overrun by New York trust funders.

Vermonters contribute nothing to the nation yet they expect all the benefits and priveleges of protection by the nation. And, of course, they consider themselves independent.

[Cowman]

The only problem is this would have to be a national effort. We would have to fence off the perimeters of all the Liberal counties and that would mean most of the cities.

Which leads to a question; Why are the centers of Liberal whackoism in urban areas? I have long thought that the closer one is to the land the less likely he is to fall for the stupidity of the left. Most of the city dwellers I meet tend to support this theory.

[DM1]

"Sort of Escape from New York meets the Minuteman Project"
I LOVE IT
i already escaped to NH just have to get the rest of my conservative family to apply for political asylum and we are back in business

[ladyjane]

Boston moved up and brought their expectations with them.

Not all of Boston, mainly the yuppies with trust funds who want to wear LLBean outfits and get their kids away from drugs and crime in the big cities.

[sirchtruth]

Sanders isn't an independent; he is a communist.

He's a friggin' hippee socialist! The only thing I'll say about "Bernie" is he's a straight shooter and doesn't hide the fact of who he is or what he believes.

Vermont is all about CRUNCHIES, they're almost bearable socialist because most of them are wacko NICE!

Vermont is a state that thinks Clinton's heart is pure as the driven snow.

[Gay State Conservative]

Lice-infested trust fund hippies of the 60's (at least the East Coast variety) made a conscious effort to flip Vermount during the 70's and 80's.They've succeeded.

[tom h]

"It used to be a land of common-sense conservatism much like New Hampshire

This is a NH paper being delusional. "

I disagree. Vermont did used to be conservative. I'm too young to remember directly but it you listen carefully to Bing Crosby in "White Christmas" you'll hear him make a joke, on the train to Vermont, that it's hard to find any Democrats up there. [Another example of Hollywood trying to make a joke out of conservatives. You never hear in a movie a joke about finding Republicans in the inner city.] So, as recently as the 1950s, Vermont was known as a conservative bastion.