Bernie Sanders is making a mistake in ignoring foreign policy in his speeches.

[yardwork]

This is not a wise campaign strategy, and it's a clue about how he might handle foreign policy as a president. It's not a priority to him.

It began with the last debate, where he tried to ignore the attacks in Paris and stick to his economic policies. It's continuing in his stump speeches. This won't work.

People in the U.S. are easily panicked by terrorist attacks. They do vote based on who they think will keep us safe. Voters here don't like candidates who appear to be pacifists. We can bemoan this and complain about this and say that the voters are ill-informed, but there it is. U.S. voters like hawks.

Bernie ignores this at his peril. Just saying.

[msrizzo]

1. He's thinking about the primary

Not that foreign policy doesn't matter to Dems, but we don't tend to vote out of fear so much. But should he become the eventual nominee he will have to definitely shift gears to make the foreign policy case.

[Romulox]

2. He just doesn't have *gravitas* to do the "We came. We saw. He died!" schtick!

[silenttigersong]

12. This always disturbs and sickens me

The narcism that she expresses being about her and the revelation of her friend Sids email,is cringeworthy.

[yardwork]

13. What about Blumenthal's emails bothers you?

[silenttigersong]

15. Oops

My bad thats right wing lies Benghazi Benghazi so difficult to keep up with the lies .So difficult to discern the lies and spin.

[yardwork]

17. The Republicans' lies and spins about Benghazi are indeed hard to keep up with.

How many hearings have they had, in both the House and Senate? And nothing seems to have come of them.

[silenttigersong]

19. Dont

forget the spin cycle,the truth be told .

[silenttigersong]

41. oh here found it take credit for Libya combined with video we came we saw he died yuck

][link:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/us/politics/benghazi-emails-put-focus-on-hillary-clintons-encouragement-of-adviser.html?_r|

[HerbChestnut]

3. Apparently you didn't hear his Georgetown speech

Where he dedicated the last quarter to foreign policy.

[yardwork]

5. I didn't. Is it available online?

[HerbChestnut]

6. Oh yes

A quick youtube search should do it.

[yardwork]

9. I'll check it out. Thanks.

[BootinUp]

4. Maybe he's just looking for a cabinet post? nt

[NCTraveler]

7. As long as he is going around as a democrat I wish he would leave it alone.

Repeating the phrase "those countries" and the "leaders of those countries" doesn't sound very good for us. Clinton and O'Malley have shown they are very educated with respect to world events, geography, and leaders. Sanders made it clear in the last debate he doesn't know the names of the countries or their leaders. I think he should stick to what he really cares about; economics or bust.

"Bernie ignores this at his peril. Just saying."

He isn't in it to win it. That is clear. It's not at his own peril, he will continue to be a lifelong politician and activist after the primary.

[yardwork]

8. Ok, if he's not in it to win, his strategy makes sense.

[brooklynite]

10. Clinton is able to speak authoritatively about foreign policy...

...and beat up intolerant bigots like Donald Trump AND talk about economic issues.

Multitasking.

[NurseJackie]

23. She'll put them all to shame.*

*Assuming they possess the ability to feel such things. (I'm looking at you DT and BC and TC.)

[MineralMan]

11. Agreed. Right now, people are worried about this.

Ignoring it is not an option for a presidential candidate. If it continues, we will see further results in upcoming polling. We've already seen a bump for Hillary coming from it.

[silenttigersong]

14. I think Sen.Sanders

did well,summing up he is not about "Regime change"siting a few examples,any more elaboration would require lots of time.Furthermore foreign policy affects domestic policy.Hillary is the one who invoked 911 that to me spells more of a problem then Bernie Sanders has with foreign policy.I fully believe Sen Sanders to give a
policy speech just not on yours or Hillary Clinton's schedule.

[yardwork]

16. Well, the schedule is set by the election calendar.

My observation is that voters in the U.S. tend to get nervous about terrorist attacks when they hear about them. Candidates who can be portrayed as "weak" don't do well when terrorism is in the news.

For instance, it was easier to steal the election from Kerry because his campaign ignored a "wolves are gathering" TV ad that Rove ran days before the 2004 election. Poorly informed voters actually believed the stupid ad and undecideds broke for W. It's stupid, it's ignorant, but it's a thing.

[silenttigersong]

18. Limited debates

for an intellectual such as Bernie Sanders is a serious issue for his campaign,now I guess we will have to wait,since the debates are so few.

[noiretextatique]

20. disagree

the american people have been losing since the election of raygun. it is long past time for an american president to focus on americans and our shattered domestic policy.

[Lans]

21. Dialog is the most important thing, coupled with international pressure

being a nation that escalates conflicts around the globe leads to leverage for nations like Russia and China to flux their international muscle. The failed policy that Clinton endorses in the middle east is exactly why the region is disarray and this type of policy will always lead to unintended consequences. There are dictators across the World that limit free speech, preach intolerance or even worse kill their own population. But society as a whole needs to reach a particular level before democracy can spread wings - what foreign policy should always be focused on is nudging countries in that direction instead of creating power vacuums which effect those less privileged the most.

How can the US address this issues while it doesn't hold the moral high ground - it cannot, until problems at home are resolved we cannot look outside and try to fix the Worlds problems. Until sensibility in the foreign policy is reached - the US will continue to be the World's boogeyman.

[yardwork]

31. Yes, but I'm talking about voter perceptions.

What motivates people when they vote.

[Lans]

34. That's a problem for the voters

if they can't look past demeanor into the real gritty facts, that getting entangled with Syria would lead to another 10 years of wondering why you put troops on the ground in the first place.
Propping up regimes and nation building hasn't proved to be an especially useful tool for spread democracy - unless that democracy is geared towards electing ISIS-lite.
The second quagmire is the region itself, you have Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan all enveloped in some sort of chaos. Than the regional power brokers all pulling the rugs in their own direction, while Turkey is playing with fire and possibly is deeply involved with smuggling ISIS oil to Europe and while Saudis, Kuwaitis, Qataris all finance ISIS and Iran backs Assad.
It's not going to end well and those trillions spend in a foray into the middle east could be better spend investing in green energy.

Unless everyone is striving towards a common goal the region would continue to breed chaos, but people's dreams have been stifled and their only opinion seems to be joining one extreme faction or another extreme dictator. There is no black or white there it's all gray.

[yardwork]

35. It's our problem. We all have to live with election results.

[Dawson Leery]

22. Foreign Policy will be the thing to sink Bernie in the GE.

[Ken Burch]

26. If HRC gets elected as a hawk, and carries out hawkish policies as president,

She will destroy the party again, just as LBJ did.

No amount of higher war spending and no greater military interventions anywhere could have prevented the Paris killings OR 7/7 in the UK OR 9/11. All of those things happened during hawkish presidencies.

[yardwork]

30. I don't see Hillary as any more likely to go to war than Obama has been.

My point is about the voters' perceptions, though. I don't believe - and I'm sad to say this - that anybody can get elected president now without coming across as a hawk.

I agree that it is ridiculous. But that's the environment we have here in this country now.

[Major Hogwash]

33. Then you had better read today's news.

Hillary is going to the right of Obama, trying to build a gap between him and her, as she wants to go after ISIS full throttle.

There's an article in LBN about what she said just today.

[yardwork]

36. It's the only way to win the GE. I'm quite serious.

Most of the country is getting ready to go full bore hysterical about terrorism.

[Ron Green]

37. Going full bore hysterical about terrorism is the problem.

Americans watch too much TV and pay too much attention to bad thinking, as well as doing a lot of it themselves.

We're not unsafe because of terrorism, but because of the toxic society we've allowed the .01% to create. To the extent we as voters can figure this out and start to act accordingly, we'll all have a chance at a safer world.

For Bernie to buy into the media version of "foreign policy" and start with all that fearmongering would be the wrong move.

[yardwork]

38. I agree with you that most of the public is wrong, but candidates have to be elected.

Candidates can't do anything until they are elected.

[Ron Green]

39. Right. And as long as they're elected by fear, we've got a problem trying to make things better.

It may be as basic as "human nature," in which case we'll never have a transformative presidential candidate like Bernie Sanders. Somebody like Clinton, as bad as she is, will be all we can hope for.

[Cha]

24. Good.

[Ken Burch]

25. It's no longer possible to be a hawk AND get progressive things done.

President Obama tried that(and made the best effort he could)but the "we can't ever cut the war budget, no matter what" crowd led by Rahm carried the day. The president apparently forgot that LBJ had made the same mistakes.

[NurseJackie]

27. Of course it's a mistake, but I'm not complaining.

Stay the course, Bernie! It's working so well! Look at those poll numbers! Watch those endorsements roll in! Heck of a job!

[randys1]

28. Bernie has a singular focus, and he has had it for so long I imagine

shifting attention elsewhere will be difficult at first.

I dont know his exact position on what he would be doing right now in the ME.

If someone has specifics, great.

I really believe Bernie thought he wouldnt be elected but he would cause such an uproar and shitstorm that whoever was would have to adopt his agenda to some extent

[yardwork]

29. That's been one of the good results of his candidacy, I think.

[MaggieD]

32. Another reason it would be a huge mistake

.... To nominate him. IMO.

[Todays_Illusion]

40. He does,that is just another anti-Bernie talking point His best statement, His vote against Iraq war