My campaign re the Vatican visit

[LAS14]

A lot of DU time is taken up with a day or so at a time of sorting out what really happened in some situation. Understandably there is partial information, second hand information, wishful thinking, etc. I sincerely doubt that there are anywhere near as many outright lies as people are accused of.

In the case of Sanders’ trip to the Vatican this syndrome repeated itself. But in this case we were presented with stark extremes of truth vs spin regarding whether or not Sanders met with the Pope. At the spin end, major outlets like ABC, NPR, CNN and the Washington Post took the Sanders campaign hook line and sinker. Sanders had a meeting (in one case “an audience”) with the Pope. At the truth end, some wonderful person got a video of the Pope explaining the circumstances of their polite handshake as he was leaving the building where they both spent the night.

I’m very frustrated by bad information and delight in clarification. So I undertook a campaign to post a response to everyone I could find who was under a mistaken impression about the encounter.

I got a lot of push back from people chiding me (to put it mildly) for putting so much importance on this relatively minor event. It’s true that the whole trip annoyed me. Sanders showed bad judgment in setting up a situation which the public could so easily misunderstand, even without the spin meisters’ efforts. I do think Sanders has a genuine interest in the Pope’s message about inequality, but his staff should have known better. But cynically go after the Catholic vote (to whatever extent that played into it) was not my motivation. Rather, I wanted to take the rare opportunity to correct misinformation in a really un-arguable fashion…. The Pope’s own words. Of course, I guess, this being DU, some will accuse him of lying…

And, in case anyone has missed it, here, in the Pope's own words, is what happened re "the meeting."

[Uponthegears]

1. It's not the Holy Father who is lying

It's the Hillabullies who insist that "just a handshake" must be taken literally and can not have included the brief five minute exchange of pleasantries DESCRIBED IN DETAIL by Senator Sanders. It's deceitful. It's cheap. It's desperate. What's more it became necessary solely because the the hills had resonated for days and days with petty lies about how Bernie had invited himself, how the Bernie "lied" when he said he would meet Pope Francis, and how American Catholics were following a misogynistic homophobe and the smear artists needed ANYTHING, even patent hogwash, to wash away the stench of their pre-visit tirade.

[LAS14]

7. Watch the video.

[Uponthegears]

8. Giving the same wrong answer

over an over again is another indication that the Holy Father was spot on with his medical advice.

The question is not WHAT Pope Francis said, that is essentially undisputed. The question is whether the Hillabullies' argument that "shaking hands" necessarily did not include the brief conversation described by Senator Sanders is is anything less than pathetic desperate semantic nonsense.

[kiva]

2. A campaign?

Do you have banners and hats and bumper stickers? What office are you running for? Are you seeking financing? I hear that you could pick up a few bucks in George Clooney's neighborhood, assuming Hillary's people didn't go back and scoop it up off the road.

Or is this a military campaign, where you sleep in tents and wear a tinfoil hat and stuff?

[Gothmog]

3. This is an hail mary pass by Sanders that is not going to work

[DisgustipatedinCA]

4. No, this was a case of some liars being put in their place and exposed as the dishonest people they

are.

[Uponthegears]

6. +1

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. And the butthurt continues for yet another day.

You know, the more you obsess over this trip and try to find new and increasingly "creative" ways to spin it as something negative, the sillier and more envious you guys look. So... Please proceed.