Vermont

Press Ignores How Sanders Is the Really Angry Candidate — and Person
By Tom Blumer | September 20, 2015 | 9:55 AM EDT

We've been told for over 20 years — at least since pundits falsely claimed that "angry white men" drove the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994 — that Republicans and conservatives have far more issues with anger than liberals and socialists. In the the 2016 presidential election cycle, current frontrunner Republican Donald Trump and especially his supporters have often been described in media reports as "angry," while the left's candidates and followers have largely avoided that tag.

So it's worth noting that Dan Hill, in a guest column at Reuters, claims that the really angry candidate in this election cycle is none other than socialist Bernie Sanders. What's more, an item published in August at SevenDaysVT.com confirms that Sanders is also a serially angry guy in his daily dealings.

NBC Touts Vermonters Pining for Single-Payer Health Care Like Canadian Neighbors
By Kyle Drennen | July 28, 2014 | 4:40 PM EDT

In a report for Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, correspondent Kevin Tibbles highlighted Vermont's effort "to push into unchartered waters and go further than ObamaCare." He explained the left-wing proposal: "Vermont's Democratic state government says it can deliver health care more efficiently and for less to every one of its 600,000 residents equally. All paid for with tax dollars to the tune of some $2 billion a year." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Tibbles noted how, "Doctors bills would go to the state government, essentially eliminating the need for people to purchase private insurance." He then posed the question: "A solution to America's healthcare crisis or the road to bankruptcy for Vermont?"

Kos: Right-Wing Resistance to Obamacare Is Futile, Only Helps the Future, Single-Payer Socialism
By Tom Johnson | April 12, 2014 | 12:39 PM EDT

On Friday, Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas contended that conservatives would benefit if they stopped opposing the Affordable Care Act, since their efforts actually increase the chance that one day, America will have what they would abhor: a single-payer system. He added that "luckily," righties won't take his advice and will keep trying to destabilize the ACA.
 
Moulitsas asserted the impending victory of single-payer as scheduled for arrival in Vermont in 2017: "This is the future of America, and Vermont is leading the way."

Cal Thomas Column: The 'Boring' 2012 Campaign
By Cal Thomas | August 8, 2012 | 11:25 AM EDT

PLYMOUTH NOTCH, Vt. -- Two of my pundit colleagues -- David Brooks of The New York Times and Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal -- have written about this "boring" and "inconsequential" presidential campaign.

Perhaps the reason is that we've heard it all before. "There is nothing new under the sun," wrote the author of Ecclesiastes, but that doesn't mean old ideas that worked in the past can't be updated and applied to our time.

New York Times Sides With Vermont Lefties Against Lockheed Martin's 'Greenwashing'
By Clay Waters | May 13, 2011 | 11:39 AM EDT

The lead story in Thursday’s National section of the New York Times treated with respect an anti-military temper tantrum from the left-wing town of Burlington, Vermont by Abby Goodnough, "In a Green Town, Activists See Red Over Lockheed Martin."

While Times stories involving conservative complaints are invariably overloaded with "conservative" labels, Goodnough included only one mention of the obvious ideological tilt of the opponents of Lockheed Martin, the military contractor proposing a clean energy project with the town. The leftists were balanced only by wishy-washy local officials and corporate boilerplate from a Lockheed spokesman.

The top half of the page was dominated by a picture of someone strumming a protest song on an acoustic guitar, and the Times also reprinted what looks like a pair of old-style woodcuts ("eye-catching") from a local artist comparing Lockheed Martin to both the Devil and the Trojan Horse.

Vt. Legislator Investigated for Lewd Acts, Local Media Ignore Party Affiliation
By Mike Sargent | August 18, 2009 | 5:01 PM EDT
A candidate for lieutenant governor of the great state of Vermont may be under criminal investigation for lewd acts in public.

Oh, and by the way, he’s a Democrat.

One might miss that fact by reading the NBC affiliate’s report too quickly – the party affiliation of state Senator Ed Flanagan is buried in the tenth paragraph.  One might argue that noting the party affiliation of Vermont politicians is somewhat redundant; however, one must also recall that Senator Bernie Sanders is an independent-leaning-socialist and the governor is a Republican.  Another local report completely omits his party affiliation.  

Oddly enough, this is not the first time the esteemed state senator has attracted complaints about this sort of thing:
Vermont Teacher Tells 4th-Grade Hunter She Won't Abide 'Killing' Talk
By Tim Graham | June 21, 2008 | 2:25 PM EDT

Cam Edwards at NRANews.com shared this story with me about how one Bennington, Vermont teacher demonstrated the state's clash between gun culture and "peace" culture in a fourth-grade classroom. From Dennis Jensen in the Rutland Herald:

The NewsBusters Weekly Recap: August 18 to 24
By Scott Whitlock | August 25, 2007 | 10:23 AM EDT

A ‘Beautiful’ Alarmist

NBC’s "Today" show continued its global warming alarmism this week. Reporter Bob Dotson profiled a polar explorer who is teaching, or indoctrinating, today’s youths about global warming. The "Today" crew couldn’t refrain from gushing over this "sobering," "beautiful" message from an "impressive guy." However, NBC doesn’t want viewers to get excited over every issue. Correspondent Andrea Mitchell recently told viewers that "internet writers" need to take "a breath" over reports that Michelle Obama was attacking Hillary Clinton during a campaign speech.

You Know What I Hate?

"Situation Room" reporter Jack Cafferty, CNN’s answer to Andy Rooney, this week concluded that conservatives are dumb and George Bush should be impeached. Discussing a new poll on American reading habits, Cafferty claimed, "Liberals read more books than conservatives. Why?" Earlier in the week, he railed against Democratic Senator Chris Dodd’s statement that impeaching President Bush would be counterproductive.

ABC Bashes Bush for Turning ‘Cold Shoulder’ to Vermont
By Scott Whitlock | August 24, 2007 | 11:39 AM EDT

On Friday’s "Good Morning America," reporter David Wright sought out a socialist, a liberal activist and a Democrat to bash President Bush for failing, thus far, to visit Vermont during his two terms in office. However, he didn’t discuss how President Clinton similarly neglected Nebraska for nearly eight years. Following up on a CNN report about Bush’s "snub," co-host Robin Roberts began the segment by asking why the Commander in Chief was giving the state a "cold shoulder." An ABC graphic continued the complaining, it read, "Vermont Feeling Left Out: Why Won’t The President Visit?

While Wright found time to note that the northern state is "eco-smart and gay-friendly," he managed to ignore the fact that Bill Clinton didn’t visit Nebraska until a little over a month before his term ended. (In its report, CNN did mention this point.) The ABC correspondent spent much of his segment discussing Bush’s absence with Vermont Senators Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, one a Democrat, the other a self-described socialist, and also Ben Cohen, a liberal activist and founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.

AP Story on Vt. Secession Movement Ignores Conspiracy Kooks, Liberalism
By Ken Shepherd | June 4, 2007 | 1:12 PM EDT

In April, NewsBusters contributor Dan Gainor criticized how the Washington Post puffed up a liberal secessionist movement in the state of Vermont. You know, the state that now has two very liberal independent senators, socialist professor Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy (D), and previously gave the nation RINO-turned-independent Jim Jeffords. [UPDATE: See "Little Green Footballs" for more on just how liberal the secessionist movement's leaders are]

Well, now the Associated Press is running with the story, and outlets like CBSNews.com are peddling the piece to readers. In CBS's case this morning, on the Web site's front page (see screencap at right).

Nowhere in the story does the AP describe the key players behind the secession movement as liberal or even as "progressive," (not to mention conspiracy nutjobs-- see bottom of post) nor is any pundit brought in to chalk up their rumblings about secession as hysteria driven by Bush Derangement Syndrome.

What's more, the AP doesn't address the unconstitutionality of secession until late in the article and even then in a misleading fashion:

Headlines on AP Story: Is High School Teacher Liberal, Or Just "Liberal"?
By Tim Graham | November 27, 2005 | 7:12 AM EST

Dave Huber explains at Oh, That Liberal Media that the Boston Globe erred in its headline in an AP story with the words "Teacher Under Investigation for Alleged Liberalism":