Bernie Sanders sparks a debate over socialism -- and Trump is happy to engage

[RandySF]

DES MOINES — A handwritten sign posted inside a Bernie Sanders campaign office tells volunteers how to respond to concern about something that sets Sanders apart from all of his presidential rivals — his identity as a socialist.

“Affirm —> I get that! Labels can be intimidating,” the sign instructs them to say, especially “those unfamiliar to us.” It encourages them to say Sanders stands for “social equality” and “equal opportunity for all” and ends with a suggestion to “redirect” prospective supporters to other topics.

Three miles across town, in a Thursday-night rally here, President Trump was eager to talk about socialism, bringing it up in the first two minutes and returning to the theme over and over. “This November, we’re going to defeat the radical socialist Democrats that are right down the street,” he blared.

As Sanders closes in on a potential win in Monday’s Iowa caucuses and Trump sharpens a general election message designed to portray Democrats as radical leftists, a heated debate is emerging over whether America is ready to embrace at least some aspects of socialism — if not a socialist president.

Sanders is portraying his agenda as a modern liberal movement, while Trump wants to conjure images of the old Soviet Union and oppressive foreign leaders such as Nicolás Maduro and Fidel Castro. The president intends to return to the topic during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to a senior administration official.

The conflict over socialism is far from settled — even within the Democratic Party. Former vice president Joe Biden, one of Sanders’s top rivals, alluded this week to Sanders’s political affiliation, which critics have long used to portray the senator from Vermont as disloyal.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-sparks-a-debate-over-socialism--and-trump-is-happy-to-engage/2020/01/31/24c8cd66-4440-11ea-b5fc-eefa848cde99_story.html

[denem]

1. How is 'radical left socialist Democrats' going to play if the nominee is Bloomberg?

[highplainsdem]

3. Or Biden, or Klobuchar, or Buttigieg? Even Warren has inoculated herself to some extent

from being attacked that way by making it clear she's in favor of regulated capitalism, though her support for MFA, especially when she was simply saying she backed Sanders' plan, makes her more vulnerable than the other four.

[highplainsdem]

2. You know your candidate is on thin ice when you have to tell his supporters to "redirect"

potential voters away from that "intimidating" label your candidate has proudly clung to for decades.

"Please pay no attention to that socialist albatross hanging from Bernie's neck...and ignore that socialist elephant in the room."

[Thekaspervote]

4. Ouch!!

[denem]

9. Couldn't resist, HPD :)

[highplainsdem]

10. LOL!!!

[comradebillyboy]

13. God, I had to memorize the Rime of the Ancient Mariner when

I was in 8th grade.

[highplainsdem]

15. Ditto.

[Scurrilous]

6. The GOP will kill him with this if he gets the nomination. Absolutely kill.

It's been soft peddled for years. No one wants to be a Joe McCarthy. Except maybe Republicans. Especially in an election.

NY Times - 2/6/2016 - 'Bernie Sanders's Kibbutz Found. Surprise: It's Socialist.'

Noam Chomsky (who actually visited) - "...in those days they were split between Stalinist and Trotskyite..."

(redacted) - 2/9/2016 - Bernie Sanders Kibbutz Admired Communism, Flew Red Flag

September Stalin surprise anyone?

A portent:

Bernie Sanders Stint at 'Stalinist' Kibbutz Draws Red-Baiting From The Right

Feb 5, 2016 - "The Democratic presidential candidate’s stint at Kibbutz Sha’ar Ha’Amakim in northern Israel proves to conservatives that he isn’t just a “socialist” but a hard-core Marxist or even a “Stalinist,” far outside the American mainstream." - Forward (no link, pay walled)

Haim Saban loves every Democratic candidate . . . except Bernie Sanders, who he thinks is turning Dems against AIPAC

"We love all 23 candidates. No, minus one. I profoundly dislike Bernie Sanders, and you can write it. I don’t give a hoot. He’s a communist under the cover of being a socialist. He thinks that every billionaire is a crook. He calls us ‘the billionaire class.’ And he attacks us indiscriminately. ‘It’s the billionaire class, the bad guys.’ This is how communists think. So, 22 are great. One is a disaster zone.”

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/democratic-candidate-sanders/

They won't mince words. There won't be a debate about socialism. It will be 'communist.' 24/7

The fact that Bernie Sanders refused to name this place and it took an Israeli newspaper in 2016 to reveal the truth, means he knew this shit was bad. 2016 was also when Politico revealed he was lying about the true mother of his son Levi. What will be revealed next?

[Thekaspervote]

7. +1000

[BannonsLiver]

8. It's a target rich environment for sure

[empedocles]

11. Target rich candidate

[BannonsLiver]

14. That's what I meant.

However when you get specific it attracts the alert squadrons. So careful with that.

[highplainsdem]

12. Stalinist kibbutz, huh? And he was on a ballot as a presidential elector for the Trotskyist

Socialist Workers Party, twice, in the '80s.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287432257

[Scurrilous]

16. This should play well in Peoria.

[highplainsdem]

17. Wow.

[Scurrilous]

18. Oh, boy.

We are heading toward an abyss. Hopefully Joe can pull us out.

[Scurrilous]

19. ...

[Gothmog]

20. trump would love to run against a weak socialist candidate like sanders

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

21. Socialism polls poorly

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Baclava]

22. "Bernie Sanders is a Communist", that's what he said first, then he called him a socialist

Has Bernie said anything yet?

[Gothmog]

23. Former Biden advisor: Socialism 'has no chance of beating Trump in 2020'

Link to tweet

And Moe Vela, the former Director of Administration for Vice President Joe Biden and current CEO of the Vela Group, is critical of Sanders’ self-proclaimed socialist ideas.

“I feel relatively confident that socialism, or anything close to it, has no chance of beating Trump in 2020,” Vela told Yahoo Finance. “If Bernie Sanders is his opponent, [Donald Trump] will use the word socialism. And polling shows very clearly that centrist, moderate Democrat doesn’t like the word socialism. And in particular, Latino voters in Florida, for example, they see the world socialism, they run the other direction. Because many of them, either their families or they, themselves, have come from countries where they were victimized by socialism.”

Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have both proposed forms of Medicare for all as their solutions to the current health care system in the U.S. And according to a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, more Democrats support building upon the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — which is basically Biden’s plan — rather than replacing it with a type of Medicare for all.

[Gothmog]

24. Steve Schmidt warns that the sociopath will beat the socialist.

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

25. The grandson of GHW Bush is running this ad attacking socialists

TX CD 22 is an open seat with Pete Olson retiring. The DCCC has targeted this seat for flipping. There are 15 candidates in GOP primary including the grandson of GHW Bush. Another candidate, Kathleen Wall, is running in the GOP primary and she spent $6 million in 2018 running in GOP primary for TX CD 2 and did not make GOP primary runoff. I have had Wall block walkers come to my house twice (I live in a very GOP neighborhood) and I have found Wall doorhanger on my door twice now.

Pierce Bush is running against socialism

Link to tweet

Sri Preston Kulkarni is the leading Democrat for this seat (Sri has a GOP type and another person running against him in the Texas Democratic Primary) I texted this ad to Sri and he knew about it already. Sri Preston Kulkarni is a great guy and we need to flip this seat

If sanders is the nominee, we can forget about this seat and we will have Kevin McCarthy as speaker

[Bluepinky]

26. Start talking about the Republican Fascist Party.

Explain in simple terms the difference between fascism and socialism. Socialists believe in health care for all, living wages, fair taxes, good quality of life for every citizen, and the fascists don’t.

Fascism is corporate control of the agenda, socialism is individual control.