article_snippet.sent: Let me add this, as someone who has followed Sen. Bernie Sanders closely (and with admiration) for a long time:  
article_snippet.sent: When people stop to listen to Sen. Bernie Sanders, people realize that -- whether or not people agree with Sen. Bernie Sanders ideas -- Sen. Bernie Sanders is, without a question, an authentic voice who speaks without fear.
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders was never a Democrat -- and isn't yet.  
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders's a progressive, holding Sen. Bernie Sanders seat in the U.S. Senate as an independent, although Sen. Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats on major issues.
article_snippet.sent: I remember hosting a fundraising event at my farmhouse, where Sen. Bernie Sanders held the floor for almost two hours, answering questions with a forthrightness that stunned those who had never encountered in person Sen. Bernie Sanders fierce, funny, entertaining, passionate voice.  
article_snippet.sent: This was typical of Sen. Bernie Sanders:
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders would certainly work hard for universal health care, which has been a passion of Sen. Bernie Sanders.  
article_snippet.sent: I've heard Sen. Bernie Sanders rail against the efforts of insurance and drug companies to undermine a system -- the single-payer system -- that has worked well throughout Europe for decades, reducing the costs of health care and actually improving it as well.
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders would not be Wall Street's best friend.  
article_snippet.sent: Indeed, Sen. Bernie Sanders didn't support President George W. Bush in Sen. Bernie Sanders efforts to bail out the bankers, and wrote an open letter to Henry Paulson, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, protesting that bailout.  
article_snippet.sent: Famously, on December 10, 2010, Sen. Bernie Sanders gave an eight and a half hour speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate opposing the reinstatement of Bush-era tax cuts, a vivid piece of rhetoric worth looking at closely by anyone who wants to understand Sen. Bernie Sanders's views.
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders is a socialist, of course.  
article_snippet.sent: And what does Sen. Bernie Sanders really mean by that term?
article_snippet.sent: By proclaiming Sen. Bernie Sanders a socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders is drawing attention to the fact that large corporations and banks, many with international bases, have controlled American public policy for a very long time, usually to the detriment of working people.
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders has been one of only a few voices in the U.S. Senate in the past decade who has consistently pointed out that extreme right-wing factions funded by "millionaires and billionaires" (one of Sen. Bernie Sanders's favorite mantras) have held sway over American politics for as long as anyone can recall.
article_snippet.sent: As president, Sen. Bernie Sanders would also stand up against those who wish to deny climate change.   
article_snippet.sent: Indeed, Sen. Bernie Sanders co-sponsored with Barbara Boxer the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007.   
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders has, for years, been a tireless advocate for the environment, aware of how the environment degradation has deeply hurt working people at home and abroad.