- Instead of spending
money for food production,
for education, for all the
things that human beings need,
healthcare, we spend it for weaponry.
And that is, and I'm glad
we started this discussion off by saying,
"What would you deal with
"if you were running for president?"
I think probably, in my own mind,
that's the most important issue.
- [Narrator] That's
Bernie Sanders in 1987.
A former mayor, Congressman,
friend to punks everywhere.
- That's an interesting hairdo.
- [Narrator] And current
U.S. Senator from Vermont.
In 2020, he is running for president
and saying the exact same things.
But who is he?
I'm comedian Mo Welch and this is a story
about a democratic socialist
who's a serious contender
to become the President
of the United States.
Bernard Sanders was born in
1941 in Brooklyn, New York,
to a lower middle-class Jewish family.
They lived in a rent-controlled
apartment in Flatbush.
His father, Eli, emigrated from Poland,
escaping prevalent anti-Semitism,
but almost all of his family
were murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust.
- I learned a great deal
about immigration as a child.
Because my father came from
Poland at the age of 17
without a nickel in his pocket.
- [Narrator] In high school
Bernie ran for class president.
No wonder the man had a heart attack.
He's been running for
office since the late '50s.
While attending the University of Chicago
he organized a sit in against segregation,
protested police brutality
and the Vietnam War.
Later, he attended the historic
1963 March on Washington
where Martin Luther King, Jr.
gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
During that same summer,
Bernie was arrested
for resisting arrest after
he crossed a police line
while protesting segregated schooling.
He spent the night in
jail and was fined $25.
After college, Bernie moved
to Vermont full time in 1968,
where he initially worked as a carpenter.
Only he wasn't that good.
As one local put it, "He
was a sh*tty carpenter."
in the '70s he ran for U.S. Senate
and the Vermont governor's seat,
twice each, under a third-party ticket.
He lost.
But he became the mayor of
Burlington, Vermont in 1981,
winning the race by just 10 votes.
As an independent he
beat the two party system
and caught the nation's attention.
- The leadership of the Democratic party
and the Republian party are tied
to big money interests and
that neither of these parties
will ever represent the
people in this country
who are demanding the real
changes that have to take place.
- [Narrator] He was
re-elected mayor three times,
serving eight years.
Although Bernie is a
self-described socialist,
his tenure as mayor was more
pragmatic than you'd think.
He worked with big business
and compromised on things
to get most of what he wanted
accomplished, accomplished,
like revitalizing the waterfront.
While mayor, he also
hosted a public access show
called "Bernie Speaks With The Community".
This show would end up serving
as a record for his consistency.
Take a look.
- You're talking about the
problem with the ozone layer,
that people see in the paper every day.
When they're talking
about climatic changes
that are measurable
within a few years time,
you're talking about wrecking
havoc with the entire planet.
If we can't bring the
entire world together,
then the planet we're
gonna be leaving our kids
and grandchildren will be
increasingly unhealthy.
- [Narrator] That crazy consistency,
depending on how you look at it,
is either very good or very bad.
As mayor Bernie champion,
what the UN recognized
as an award winning sustainable
affordable housing program
and was named one of America's
top 20 mayors in 1987.
In 1991, he won a U.S. House seat
for the Green Mountain State.
He was declared an honorary
woman by Gloria Steinem.
- That progressive movement, thanks to you
and thanks to people like
Bernie has increased.
There are subjects in
the public opinion polls
that weren't there at all 35 years ago.
- [Narrator] And among other issues,
Bernie voted against the Iraq war,
which resulted in the deaths
of hundreds of thousands
of human beings.
- I have not heard any estimates
of how many young American
men and women might die
in such a war or how many
tens of thousands of women
and children in Iraq might also be killed.
As a caring nation, we
should do everything we can
to prevent the horrible
suffering that a war will cause.
- [Narrator] But at other times,
Bernie was further to the
right on certain issues,
although he's never risen
above the grade of a C minus
from the NRA.
He did do some things in
Congress that pleased them.
He voted against the Brady Bill,
a gun law, making sure everyone
who wanted to buy a handgun
had to wait five days
while law enforcement
ran a background check, so that sucks.
- Back in 1988 when I first ran
for the United States
Congress, way back then,
I told the gun owners
of the state of Vermont
and I told the people
of the state of Vermont.
A state which has
virtually no gun control,
that I supported a ban on assault weapons.
- [Narrator] He voted for
Joe Biden's crime bill,
which helped contribute to the
rise in mass incarceration,
that disproportionally
affected Black Americans.
But his vote was more
complicated than that,
the bill included tons of provisions,
like a ban on assault weapons
and the Violence Against Women Act.
Bernie knew there were
bad aspects of the bill,
even spoke out against the
mass incarceration provisions,
but ultimately he decided to vote
for the controversial bill.
- I have a number of serious
problems with the crime bill,
but one part of it that
I vigorously support
is the Violence Against Women Act.
We urgently need the
$1.8 billion in this bill
to combat the epidemic
of violence against women
on the streets and in
the homes of America.
- [Narrator] In 2006 Bernie
ran for Senate and won.
He's chairman of the U.S. Senate committee
on Veterans Affairs, where in
2014 along with John McCain,
he passed a massive veterans bill
to improve their health care.
On December 10th, 2010, Bernie
took the floor of the Senate
and went to bat against
one of Obama's policies.
The extension of some of Bush's tax breaks
for the wealthiest Americans.
Bernie's speech lasted
eight and a half hours
or almost as long as the Irishman
and viewership crashed
the Senate video server.
- For those people were earning
a million a year or more,
they on average, on average,
will be getting about
$100,000 a year tax break.
- [Narrator] Critics of
Bernie's time in the Senate
claim he didn't get much accomplished.
In fact, he has to date,
sponsored over 200 bills
while serving in the Senate.
However, only three of
those bills were enacted.
And then Bernie decided to
run for president in 2016.
The primary was initially a tight race.
Hillary narrowly beat
Bernie in the Iowa caucuses,
but Hillary gained steam.
Then the night before
the California primary,
the associated press
released an article that read
Hillary Clinton has commitments
from the number of delegates needed
to become the democratic
party's presumptive nominee
for president.
Clinton had about four million
more primary and caucus votes
than Sanders, giving her a clear lead
going into the Democratic
National Convention.
Two weeks before the convention,
Bernie dropped out of the
race and endorsed Hillary.
And just days prior to the convention,
hacked emails were released by WikiLeaks
showing several members
of the Democratic National Committee staff
were pulling for Hillary and
we're annoyed by Sanders.
Critics of Bernie, like Hillary
claimed he waited too long
to drop out and endorse her.
- [Man] Bernie could have
endorsed you quicker.
- Are you kidding?
- After you beat him.
- He hurt me.
There's no doubt about he hurt me.
- [Narrator] Bernie went
on to hold 39 rallies
in 13 states for Hillary.
He also held 17 events in 11 States
in the last week of the
election in support of her.
Many in front of his supporters
who booed the decision.
In 2017 Bernie was back in the Senate
where he introduced Medicare for all.
- I wrote the damn bill.
- [Narrator] Bernie argues
that every other major
industrialized nation on earth
made healthcare right and he
believes the U.S. should too.
His Medicare for all proposes to replace
existing insurance plans
with a comprehensive government run plan
that covers more benefits.
Critics argue simply that it's too costly.
An estimate says Sanders Medicare for All
would cost roughly $34
trillion over a decade.
According to ABC news, new research
which analyzed nearly two dozen national
and state-level single-payer
healthcare proposals
made over the last 30 years
suggest that single-payer plans
are projected to save the
country money over time.
Opponents point out that
the plan would raise taxes
for most Americans.
However, Bernie believes Americans
would come out ahead on his system
because they're gonna be paying
high price premiums anymore.
- Are people gonna pay more in taxes?
Yes, but at the end of the day,
the overwhelming majority of people
are gonna end up paying
less for healthcare
because they're not paying
premiums, co-payments,
and the deductibles.
(clapping)
- [Narrator] Bernie decided
to run for president
again in 2020, with Medicare
for All as his centerpiece.
While, Bernie was on the rise,
he was suddenly slowed
down by a heart attack.
It scared many who looked at a candidate
in their late 70s hoping to oust
one of the most firebrand "Home Alone 2"
cameo stars of all
time for the presidency.
But just two weeks later he
was back on the debate stage,
pushing the field further to the left.
Bernie has shifted the
national conversation
as the 2020 race heats up,
his platform has taken center stage,
subsidizing college,
single payer healthcare,
a $15 minimum wage and
a federal jobs program
just to name a few.
Politics keep changing, but
Bernie stays the same, sure.
He's looked 70 since he was 25
but his views have been
consistent just as long.
It's pretty crazy.
But there is one thing
he's looking to change
at least since 2016.
- We are going to win this election
because we are going to put together,
the strongest grassroots coalition
in the history of our country.
(cheers)
(lively music)
