Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumWill Bernie Sanders' long-ago praise of Socialist regimes hurt Democrats in November?
WASHINGTON In October 1985, a few months after Bernie Sanders traveled to Nicaragua to celebrate the sixth anniversary of that country's socialist revolution, the Soviet-backed government suspended the civil liberties of its citizens, including the rights to free speech, free assembly and labor strikes.
A few days later, Sanders, then the socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont, received a pointed letter from a constituent. How, the letter-writer wanted to know, could Sanders continue to embrace a "another in a long line of dictatorships, whose only true concern is its length of stay in power"?
In a written reply, Sanders who had praised Nicaragua's leaders upon his return from the trip made no apologies. The Nicaraguan government was fighting a "brutal war" funded by the United States, he wrote, which made the situation "complex." Didn't the U.S. government, Sanders wrote, intern Japanese Americans during World War II? Didn't Lincoln curtail basic rights during the Civil War?
Thirty-five years later, Sanders is leading in national polls to become President Donald Trump's Democratic opponent in the 2020 election. Sanders has staked out positions that are clearly to the left of the rest of the field on trade, troop deployments and military action.
Both Republicans and Democrats are already using the c-word to blunt his appeal. In Wednesday night's Democratic debate, Mike Bloomberg described Sanders stance on wealth as "communist." Trump, meanwhile, has already called Sanders a Communist.
If Sanders wins the nomination, some Democrats worry that Trump and the Republicans will hammer him on long-buried words in defense of repressive governments in Nicaragua, Cuba and the Soviet Union.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/will-sanders-long-ago-praise-socialist-regimes-hurt-democrats-november-n1139811
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
still_one
(92,219 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
David__77
(23,421 posts)The US should not have supported the contra insurgency.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
RandySF
(58,911 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
David__77
(23,421 posts)...
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Callado119
(171 posts)...theyll easily portray him as an anti-American communist, and it will stick very quickly because its all there in countless videos and writings in his own words...every democrat will be tarred by association..all of those suburban voters who hate trump will end up sticking with the devil they know and punish down ballot Dems for putting up such an awful candidate...itll be a bloodbath..
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)There isn't a good way to turn praising America's greatest enemy at that time as insignificant. Maybe some political operative can come up with something creative, and I'll be interest to see if it can be done. If James Carville wasnt anti-Sanders, maybe he could come closest. I've always considered him the best "political hack" (a term he likes, by the way).
But, yes, expect the Republicans to ride this like a dime store pony!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
comradebillyboy
(10,154 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
counting
(69 posts)ill still vote and support blue, even if they say he's an axe murderer...
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
cerebrate2006
(32 posts)Ill be first in line to vote for Bernie if hes the nominee, but I dread the billion dollars in attack ads starting the day after the convention showing him in his videos praising ruthless dictators. Hell end up with even lower approval ratings than Hillary after the ad and MSM bashing she took in 2016. If we want Bernies solutions with a lot less risk of losing everything, go with Liz.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Maru Kitteh
(28,341 posts)But apparently, the Russian federation is pleased with his history.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden