Reality: Bernie has the best human rights and foreign policy record in the field.

[DanTex]

There are people who won't care, because for them it's all about the "gotcha" of Bernie saying something positive about Cuba's literacy program (which Obama also said).

But for people who actually care about human rights, Bernie is hands down the best candidate. He opposed MFN with China. He's been the most critical of Saudi Arabia, and the US arming them. He's been the most anti-war candidate.

And then there's the elephant in the room: the US and regimes it has propped up. Nobody who cares about human rights can ignore this. The US-backed coup in Iran in 1953, in Chile in 1973, the death squads and terrorist groups the US supported throughout Latin America, nobody has been more critical of these actions by the US than Bernie. And then there's Israel, which has quite a poor human rights record, Bernie drew the ire of AIPAC by pointing out that Palestinians have human rights too, whereas nobody else the race will go anywhere near that.

It is true that Bernie is out of step with the "Beltway consensus" on foreign policy and human rights. That's because the Beltway consensus is crafted by people like David Frum and Max Boot, and either minimizes or completely ignores the role of the US in propping up murderous tyrants, particularly in Latin America.

[Me.]

1. So How Is He On Gun Rights?

[JudyM]

9. March for Our Lives co-founders just endorsed him, and he has a D- from the NRA.

The activists touted Sanders as the best candidate to push for progressive change on gun reform.

“The truth is we need a President who can do it — who can build a populist movement, who can create structural change, and who can speak to the intersection of every American issue,” Delaney Tarr, co-founder of March For Our Lives, said in a statement. “Bernie has created a movement that I not only believe in, but I fight for. I am so excited to join in creating a campaign to be proud of — and an America to be proud of.”

Along with Tarr, several March For Our Lives co-founders announced they would be backing Sanders. The young activists announced their support in a roughly two-and-a-half minute video released by the Sanders campaign.

“I support Bernie Sanders as the candidate best suited to take on corruption — throughout his career, Bernie has denounced the oversized interests of the wealthy and well connected,” Ryan Deitsch, co-founder of March For Our Lives, said in a statement. “I know he will also focus on implementing initiatives to reduce and eliminate the everyday gun violence that plagues our communities, nationwide."

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/483915-march-for-our-lives-co-founders-endorse-sanders
Are they worth listening to

[lapucelle]

27. Three of them. Oh, and there's this as well.

Link to tweet

[Me.]

33. There You Go

So easy to ignore what's not convenient

[JudyM]

74. I don't see a need to completely end gun manufacture in the US...

You think that’s what’s necessary?

[lapucelle]

78. Wait...what? Your rhetorical question seems to imply that the NRA/RW talking point is true.

The NRA isn't being honest when they push the story line that failure to pass the PLCAA would "completely end gun manufacturing as we know it".

Column: Sanders got the gun makers’ liability issue dead wrong (and got an attaboy from the NRA)

“The theories being brought against the gun industry are primarily negligence theories,” Lytton says. “And there are many things the industry could do to satisfy the standard of care in a negligence claim and therefore not be liable. Industries police their distribution channels all the time to protect themselves from liability, and it doesn’t drive them out of business — it just makes the industry less risky.”

snip==================================================================

PLCAA arguably made the gun industry more dangerous by removing any incentive for manufacturers to pay attention to how their products get sold, and to whom. “Sen. Sanders voted for a bill that had these exceptions” to immunity, Lytton points out. “So he did accept that there should be a certain amount of liability exposure in the gun industry. He just wanted to roll it back to the early 1980s.”

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-holding-gun-makers-responsible-20160307-column.html

[George II]

64. Some will be endorsing him, not all of them.

[JudyM]

67. How many cofounders are there?

[George II]

68. I don't know, but your except said "several of the co-founders", and one had already endorsed...

...Yang and hasn't re-endorsed anyone yet.

[sheshe2]

13. Voted against the Brady Bill 5 TIMES.

[Squinch]

2. .

[Jose Garcia]

3. And yet he voted against the Magnitsky Act

[pnwmom]

4. How do you rank him as "the most critical of Saudia Arabia"? And which murderous tyrant

has Elizabeth Warren been trying to prop up?

[rzemanfl]

5. NTSA. n/t

[uponit7771]

6. Sanders 3 month swing stat numbers vs Trump suck, that's what matters in the GE and after 3 months

... the GE numbers aren't going to change that much.

[Fiendish Thingy]

41. Actually, head to head polls this far out aren't very reliable nt

[uponit7771]

69. Historically this is false

[Fiendish Thingy]

70. I await your evidence nt

[uponit7771]

75. Link to 2008 RCP Swing states inside, Obama's numbers didn't start changing till a shock event

... occurred after Aug convention

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/battleground_cheat_sheet.html

[WA-03 Democrat]

7. Haha

I try to not smoke my own shit.

[zentrum]

8. Thanks for posting this.

[mcar]

11. You think it's ok for a parent to let their child suffer?

Really?

I don't care that his former girlfriend and mother of his child were on welfare. People need to be willing to be poorer, because the Earth cannot take how we want to live on it.

[xmas74]

21. And now you mention wife beating.

Are you sure you're at the right place?

[xmas74]

14. I think someone who didn't pay child support

And allowed their child to live in poverty is a dirt bag but that's just me.

I wouldn't go further on changing my mind. I see this happen far too much with the difference being the deadbeat isn't running for president.

[mcar]

15. Oh but children need to suffer, xmas

Because the planet, blah, blah.

[xmas74]

17. Exactly nt

[xmas74]

18. If they were receiving services

They were living at the federal poverty level. You can't be well off and receive services unless you're a corporation

My source is the federal government guidelines to qualify for TANF

[xmas74]

19. And now you're defensive of a deadbeat parent.

Is it personal?

[Me.]

35. +1

[sheshe2]

24. Welp.

I don't think he has to. I don't care that his former girlfriend and mother of his child were on welfare. People need to be willing to be poorer, because the Earth cannot take how we want to live on it. Period.

If you can't care for your own child, then you can't take care of an entire nation. I thought BS was for bringing people out of poverty. Yet here you are saying people "need to be willing to be poor,because the Earth cannot take how we want to live on it."

Perhaps if fewer Millionaires and Billionaires stopped jetting around on their private planes because of their perceived self importance then the problem might be resolved. At the very least it is a small start.

[mcar]

25. Yep, children need to suffer because Earth

and it's totes OK for parents to ignore their children because Earth.

Makes perfect sense.

[Squinch]

29. If this is your position, you SHOULD be backing the candidate with the best record of real

climate accomplishments. Guess who that is?

Hint: Its not Bernie.

[Squinch]

34. Yes I know all that. But forgive me if I look at Bernie's record of climate accomplishments, in

30 years in Congress, and notice that they amount to zero. Nothing. Not a damn thing.

"I mean to do stuff someday," seems to be Bernie's plan, and to me that is what seems beyond inadequate.

If you think it's enough, YOU don't understand the environmental issues

I can spout facts about the climate too. What has Bernie EVER done to improve the climate?

PS: you seem to be big on telling people they don't understand you. In this thread, you've said that to everyone who has not agreed with you. If no one understands you, maybe it isn't their fault.

[Me.]

37. But He Did Get A Couple Of POst Offices Named

[Squinch]

39. See, I get that post offices need to be named, and I DO have sympathy for all the

poor post offices that are STILL nameless to this day.

But it seems to me that oligarchs and corporatists benefit from named post offices just as much as the poor do.

I just think he might have put all his eggs in a losing basket with this post office naming thing.

[Me.]

44. Exactly The Point

all the honorary, and he did 3 or four, is important to the people connected. Fine and dandy. But how about school lunches and the homeless? Real concern about medical such as working to stop vets and military families being pushed out of VA hospitals? As for the environment...what about proposed emission changes that even car makers don't want, the denigration and tax issue for solar so to favor coal...and on and on it goes. I get so tired of the walks on water meme

[Squinch]

43. And your belief or disbelief is significant because....?

And I do see that you are avoiding answering the question: What has Bernie EVER done to improve the environment?

[Squinch]

49. So you admit that Bernie has NEVER done anything for the environment. Thank you.

[Squinch]

55. Well then please name anything Bernie has ever done for the environment. In 30 years in Congress.

[Me.]

36. OOOh, THe You Betters

Who made you boss?

[Squinch]

40. It appears someone has arrived to instruct us in our shortcomings. I'll get the popcorn.

[Me.]

45. I Think I'll Just Assume My...

[Squinch]

59. Looks like it didn't go well.

[Me.]

66. Hah!

Thanks for the update.

[Squinch]

47. Yes dear. That's it exactly.

You still haven't answered the question: What has Bernie EVER done for the environment?

Any time now.

[Squinch]

51. Yes. You admitted that in 30 years in Congress, Bernie has NEVER done anything for the environment.

Thank you.

[Squinch]

56. Oh. So Bernie HAS done something for the environment in 30 years in Congress? What was it?

[GP6971]

57. I'm in the mood for Pizza. n/t

[Squinch]

60. Aaaaand... YOU GOT IT!

[GP6971]

61. And it's delicious!! n/t

[highplainsdem]

31. Bernie can't do a damn thing about the problems you mention.

The main thing Bernie is capable of doing now is costing the Democratic Party the GE if he's the nominee. Not only losing to Trump, but hurting the chances of down-ballot Democrats so much that we'll not only fail to take control of the Senate but lose control of the House.

Bernie has specialized in revolutionary rhetoric since the 1960s. He talks a good game. He has few real accomplishments. Even if by some miracle he made it to the White House, it's unlikely he could get any of his major proposals through Congress.

As Krugman and others have noted, trying to allay Democrats' concerns about him.

Btw, it sounds as if you're in favor of a quick, drastic drop in population, and subsistence living.

I don't believe that's a goal to aim for.

[redstateblues]

58. Quick drop in population and subsistence living? Good comeback. I happen to like electricity

when it’s cloudy. I talked my first wife into living in the woods with no electricity for a year. That may have something to do with why we aren’t still married! I’m a classic minimalist but I like my hybrid car.

[Historic NY]

76. He should run as an independant....

or as a Socialist.

[George II]

20. Based on what?

[Celerity]

62. Cenk and Sirota told him so, they saw it in a krystal ball. nt

[George II]

63. Well played!

[Celerity]

65. ty, ty, I will be appearing at the Burning Bro Cafe all next week, 2 dollar Cuba libres all round

[Moderateguy]

71. Thank you for the laugh

[Celerity]

72. I strive to serve

[David__77]

28. I don't fully agree with all his foreign policy stuff- still, I think he's generally good.

Barbara Lee is more where I’m at.

Also, I think it’s good to have cooperative relations with China.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

52. Thank you for that reality check!!

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together & can't be bought!!
Jump on the Bernie Bandwagon & join The Revolution!!

[ehrnst]

73. "Record?" You mean of strongly worded statements and tweets?

[ForEverGlades]

77. Don't know about it all, but...

His Cuban comments are hell for the ticket down here in Florida from what I've seen.
Have a lot of friends who are themselves from or are children of folks from Nicaragua,Venezuela and Cuba.
They're not only not feelin' it and they're not havin' it when they go vote.
It's not a " gotcha " thing.
To these folks, saying how it was great that Castro set up a literacy program when his prisons were full of the political prisoners who weren't executed outright, just doesn't compute.
It's a little like saluting a plantation owner if he might've given his slaves a ham for Christmas.
Just ain't gonna fly.

[betsuni]

79. Bernie:

"I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort, that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary."

When asked if he'd use special forces and drone warfare: "All of that and more, ... Look, a drone is a weapon."