Breakfast with Bernie: NHIP Politics and ‘Quiche’ draws full house

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Bernie Sanders speaks at Politics and Eggs at the Executive Court.
Bernie Sanders speaks at Politics and Eggs at the Executive Court.

MANCHESTER, NH — There was no wind up.

Bernie Sanders started pitching his top talking points to a packed house in Manchester, as soon as he hit the podium Friday morning.

For those who’ve been following Sanders’ rise,  from relative obscurity as a third-party U.S. Senator from Vermont, to the last guy standing next to the Democratic monolith, Hillary Clinton, you know the drill.

On the campaign trail Sanders sticks to a short-list of talking points which revolve around reigniting democracy among the people, getting “big money” out of politics, stabilizing life for working families who are underpaid and under-insured, investing in education, and rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire voters will decide which candidate speaks their language.

During Thursday night’s televised debate, Sanders and Clinton spent some time talking about what it means to be an “establishment” Democrat. On Friday, Sanders, who is a self-described democratic-socialist, spoke briefly about wealth redistribution in America.

“There has been a massive redistribution of wealth in the past 30 years. What’s gone on? Trillions of dollars have flown from the middle class to the richest,” said Sanders, setting up the rest of his hour-long talk to more than 300 business and political leaders at the Executive Court.

Sanders said he’s been described by his critics as Santa Claus, “they say I want to give away a bunch of free stuff, but don’t want to pay for it. Well that’s not true. We do,” said Sanders.

He said part of the nuts-and-bolts would be to spend $1 trillion over five years to rebuild roads and bridges and transport systems, making the U.S. safer and more efficient, while creating 13 million jobs. The money would come, in part, from closing “loopholes” that currently exist to allow big businesses and rich Americans to find off-short tax havens, he said.

“We have a large corporate loophole that allows multi-nationals and the rich to stash money in tax havens. In a given year, they’re not paying a nickel in income taxes. We’re  losing $100 billion a year on that one loophole, and with that we can rebuild infrastructure and jobs,” Sanders said.

He also talked about funding his free public college plan by taxing Wall Street speculators, noting that when Wall Street was in trouble, it was hard-working Americans who bailed them out; now it’s their turn, Sanders said.

This campaign is about “talking truth” in a straight-forward way to the American people, said Sanders, and that no president, “not Bernie Sanders or anyone else,” can bring about changes without a “political revolution.”

He asked attendees to “think big, not small,” when it comes to what’s possible in the future.

“When it comes to politics in America, the media sees this as a football game or a soap opera. Maybe I’m an old-fashioned New Englander, but I see it as going to the doctor’s office, and saying, ‘Doc what’s the diganosis and how do I get better? That’s what politics in a democracy is — how do we solve problems,” Sanders said. “We spend far, far too little time discussing this.”

Sanders fielded a few questions — on how important the issue of Social Security is to him as a candidate (“very important”), on climate change and New Hampshire’s endangered moose population (also concerning) on what becomes of private colleges under his “free for all” plan (more Pell grants and work-study programs), raising the minimum wage and how that would affect businesses like Wal-Mart (“consumers have tough choices to make”) and also on New Hampshire’s heroin crisis (time to hold pharmaceuticals responsible for the proliferation of pain pills, and support recovery efforts).

Sanders was introduced by Neil Levesque, Executive Director of the NH Institute of Politics, who described Sanders as someone who “devoted his whole life to income inequality and serving our veterans.”

The political speaker series is co-sponsored by the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. The New England Council has for more than 80 years represented the business interests of the Granite State. According to OpenSecrets.org, last year the New England Council spent $90,000 lobbying in Washington, D.C., on business matters.

If you’re interested, below is a list of where the candidates will be buzzing around, between Friday and Election Day, via Governing Under the Influence website.

Fri 02/5 8:30am Coffee with Carly Carly Fiorina Millyard Museum Manchester
Fri 02/05 9:00am Town Hall Chris Christie Strafford Farms Restaurant Dover
Fri 02/05 10:00am Town Hall John Kasich Atkinson Country Club Atkinson
Fri 02/05 10:00am employees-only town hall Carly Fiorina Dyn Manchester
Fri 02/05 10:00am Politics and Eggs Bernie Sanders Executive Court Manchester
Fri 02/05/2016 11:30am Employees only event Chris Christie Timberland Stratham
Fri 02/05/2016 12:00pm Town Hall Carly Fiorina Upper meeting room in the Epping Town Hall Epping
Fri 02/05/2016 12:15pm Manchester Canvass Kick-Off Hillary Clinton YWCA Manchester
Fri 02/05/2016 12:30pm Town Hall Donald Trump Londonderry Lions Club Londonderry
Fri 02/05/2016 12:30pm Town Hall John Kasich Lawrence Barn Community Center Hollis
Fri 02/05/2016 1:00pm Get Out the Vote Rally Bernie Sanders Exeter Town Hall Exeter
Fri 02/05/2016 2:30pm Town Hall Chris Christie Bruchetti’s Pizzeria Sandown
Fri 02/05/2016 2:30pm NH Rebellion Jim Gilmore Veterans Park Manchester
Fri 02/05/2016 3:30pm speak with employees Carly Fiorina Fidelity Merrimack
Fri 02/05/2016 4:30pm Rally Marco Rubio Hood Middle School Cafeteria Derry
Fri 02/05/2016 5:00pm McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Celebration Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders Verizon Wireless Arena Manchester
Fri 02/05/2016 5:30pm Town Hall Jeb Bush Abbot-Downing School Concord
Fri 02/05/2016 6:00pm Town Hall Chris Christie Mary A. Fisk Elementary School Salem
Fri 02/05/2016 6:00pm 100th Town Hall John Kasich Southeastern Regional Education Service Center Bedford
Fri 02/05/2016 6:00pm Town Hall Carly Fiorina Merrimack America Legion Merrimack
Fri 02/05/2016 6:00pm Town Hall Ted Cruz Lancaster School Salem
Fri 02/05/2016 8:00pm Greet returning service members Jim Gilmore Pease Airport Portsmouth
Sat 02/06/2016 8:15am Tour and Employee Forum Ben Carson BAE Systems Company Nashua
Sat 02/06/2016 9:30am Town Hall Chris Christie Harvest Market Plaza Bedford
Sat 02/06/2016 10:00am Meet & greet Ben Carson Campaign headquarters Manchester
Sat 02/06/2016 10:00am Town Hall Carly Fiorina Maple Avenue Elementary School Goffstown
Sat 02/06/2016 10:30am Retail Stop Ben Carson Airport Diner Manchester
Sat 02/06/2016 11:00am Town Hall Jeb Bush McKelvie Intermediate School Bedford
Sat 02/06/2016 11:30am Rally Hillary Clinton Rundlett Middle School Concord
Sat 02/06/2016 5:45pm Portsmouth Get Out the Vote event with Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton Great Bay Community College Portsmouth
Sat 02/06/2016 8:00pm GOP Debate Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Ben Carson,Jeb Bush, John Kasich St. Anselm College Manchester
Sun 02/07/2016 8:00am Pancake Breakfast Marco Rubio Londonderry High School Cafeteria Londonderry
Sun 02/07/2016 10:00am Town Hall Jeb Bush Woodbury School Salem
Sun 02/07/2016 10:00am Town Hall Chris Christie Hampton Academy Cafeteria Hampton
Sun 02/07/2016 10:45am Town Hall Marco Rubio McKelvie Intermediate School Cafeteria Bedford
Sun 02/07/2016 12:30pm Town Hall Jeb Bush Broad Street Elementary School Nashua
Sun 02/07/2016 12:30pm Town Hall Marco Rubio Hudson VFW Hudson
Sun 02/07/2016 1:00pm Rally Donald Trump Plymouth State University ALLWell North Holderness
Sun 02/07/2016 1:00pm Town Hall John Kasich Nashua Community College- Cafeteria Nashua
Sun 02/07/2016 1:00pm Town Hall Carly Fiorina Cheshire County Historical Society Keene
Sun 02/07/2016 1:30pm Town Hall Ted Cruz Peterborough Town House Peterborough
Sun 02/07/2016 3:00pm Super Bowl Pre-Game Party Carly Fiorina The Yard Restaurant Manchester
Sun 02/07/2016 3:30pm Town Hall John Kasich Concord High School-Cafeteria Concord
Sun 02/07/2016 4:15pm Meet & Greet Ted Cruz Pedraza’s Mexican Restaurant Keene
Sun 02/07/2016 4:30pm Super Bowl Watch Party Marco Rubio Derryfield Country Club Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 8:30am Coffee with Carly Carly Fiorina Blake’s restaurant Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 9:00am Town Hall Chris Christie Gilchrist Metal Company Hudson
Mon 02/08/2016 10:00am Town Hall John Kasich Plaistow Public Library Plaistow
Mon 02/08/2016 10:30am Town Hall Ted Cruz Turbocam Barrington
Mon 02/08/2016 11:30am Town Hall Chris Christie BeanTowne Coffee House Hampstead
Mon 02/08/2016 12:00pm GOTV Organizing Event Hillary Clinton Manchester Community College Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 12:00pm Rotary luncheon Jeb Bush Nashua Country Club Nashua
Mon 02/08/2016 12:30pm Town Hall John Kasich Searles School and Chapel Windham
Mon 02/08/2016 1:30pm Meet and Greet Ted Cruz Tuckaway Tavern and Butcher (Barn Room) Raymond
Mon 02/08/2016 3:30pm Fidelity Investments Employee Town Hall John Kasich Fidelity Investments Merrimack
Mon 02/08/2016 3:30pm Meet & Greet Ted Cruz American Legion Henry J. Sweeney Post Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 5:00pm Rally Donald Trump Verizon Wireless Arena Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 5:30pm Rally Marco Rubio Nashua Community College (Automotive Building) Nashua
Mon 02/08/2016 6:00pm Town Hall Chris Christie St. George Greek Orthodox Church Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 6:00pm Town Hall John Kasich Derryfield Restaurant Manchester
Mon 02/08/2016 6:30pm Town Hall Carly Fiorina UNH Law School (Rudman Center) Concord
Mon 02/08/2016 7:30pm Election Eve Rally John Kasich Robie’s General Store Hooksett
Mon 02/08/2016 7:30pm Town Hall Jeb Bush Frank Jones Center Portsmouth

About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!