Freyne Land

Just when we were wondering if the mainstream American press was ignoring Vermont's favorite socialist, Independent United States Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ol' Bernardo popped up "live" on two programs Thursday, the day of the Summer Solstice, the longest "day" of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Sanders started out in the morning as a half-hour "live" in-studio guest on "Washington Journal" on C-span. Here's a taste, as the Vermont leftist set a Republican caller straight:

I think you’re missing the main point about what goes on in Washington, DC.

The reason that the middle class is shrinking; the reason that poverty is increasing; the reason that the United States has by far the most unfair distribution of income of any industrialized country on Earth; the reason we are the only major nation on Earth that does not have a National Healthcare Program guaranteeing health care to all people is, in fact, the power of Big Money over the political process!

And you talk about taxation, well, under President Bush we have given hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and it took us until last week to raise the minimum wage to $7.25-an-hour over a three-year period!

We have children in this country who are living out on the streets and our veterans are not getting the type of health care that they need.

So I think when we look at what’s going on in Washington the real issue to focus on is the power of Big Money, the power of Corporate America in settings an agenda that is certainly at odds with the needs of working families.

Yep, he was in the zone.

Then Thursday evening, Sanders of Vermont was a "live" guest from Capitol Hill with someone who really endorses where he's coming from - CNN's Lou Dobbs.

SANDERS: A growing number of Americans understand that what happens in Congress, to a very significant degree, is dictated by Big Money interests. Their whole ideology is based on greed. They’re selling out American workers. In fact, they’re selling out our entire country. And that is a major struggle that we have got to engage in to take back our country from these very powerful and wealthy special interests.