The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class [Paperback]

Bernie Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2011

In the wake of President Obama’s deal with congressional Republicans to preserve Bush-era tax cuts—tax cuts that gave colossal breaks to the wealthiest Americans— Senator Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, publicly denounced the deal as an “absolute disaster” and decided to do something about it.

On Friday, December 10, 2010, Senator Sanders galvanized millions of Americans with an eight-and-a-half-hour filibuster decrying the tax deal and all it symbolized: the bankrupting of the middle class, corporate greed, and the impotence and corruption of today’s Congress. As Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel noted, “The good Senator from Vermont spoke for millions of struggling working and middle class people who feel their voices aren’t being heard in a system dominated by well-funded lobbyists and corporate insiders.”

Reprinted in its entirety and with a new introduction, The Speech is a People’s State of the Union address, an anatomy of working and middle-class America rarely heard in the rarefied walls of the Senate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
“Bernie Sanders is such a rarity, and people should appreciate what he’s doing not just for his home state of Vermont, but for the reputation of all politicians in general.”

About the Author

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont, is the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books; First edition, second printing edition (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568586841
• ISBN-13: 978-1568586847
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States > Legislative Branch

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 134 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love Bernie Sanders March 8, 2011

By David Studhalter

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Bernie Sanders tells it like it is. He is the only real representative of the interests of ordinary people in the Senate today. He lays out, not only how the specific proposal at issue (whether to pass President Obama's lopsided compromise with the Republicans wherein the Democratic caucus acquiesced in incredibly foolish, economically destructive, and pro-elitist extension of tax cuts for the rich and uber-rich demanded by the Republicans, but got precious little in return) was a really, really bad idea, but how for years the Republicans, and far too many fellow traveling Democrats, have sold out the interests of their middle class and working class constituents in favor of the 2 Party Dictatorship of the Rich and Corporations that now rules the United States.

Hooray for Bernie Sanders. If only we had 100 of him in the Senate.

68 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It Is What It Says It Is April 2, 2011

By C. E. Selby

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Before purchasing this book, the reader should be aware that this book is exactly what it says it is: the well-known--and for some of us the much respected--speech progressive Senator Bernie Sanders delivered on the Senate floor back in December. So if you are not interested in reading what he said, then you certainly don't want to buy this book. However, if you, like me, are a great admirer of Senator Sanders and would like to be more informed about why he is against so much of what is being enacted in Congress, then by all means buy the book.
In the introduction he says that the reader will experience redundancies, purposeful ones, because, after all, it is "the speech." And the senator wanted to keep hitting on cerain points such as the complete unfairness of extending the tax breaks to the filthy rich in this country. And since it is a speech, the syntax is what one should expect of a speaker. Those who have heard him speak--I once lived in Vermont and voted for him every chance I could--can almost hear that Brooklyn accent as we progress through his well articulated points.
By the way, know this, too, if you purchase the book. And I quote from the book: "All authorial proceeds of this book will go to charitable, non-profit organizations in the State of Vermont--mostly relating to the needs of children."

77 of 87 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sen. Sanders is a special person March 11, 2011

By Matthew

Format:Paperback

Sen. Sanders will be remembered in the history books for his warnings about the new Gilded Age we are experiencing. Both parties are responsible for the corporate theft that has taken place since 1980. Hopefully more people will wake up and realize that we must become active and say enough. I am ashamed that President Obama would call a press conference to deflect attention from this speech. Senator Sanders please continue to fight for us, we are praying for you.