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Fun new issue in NYC mayoral race: Is the Democratic nominee an actual communist?
Hot Air ^ | 9/24/2013 | Allahpundit

Posted on 09/24/2013 5:11:33 PM PDT by markomalley

Granted, the fact that he became an “ardent supporter” of the Sandinistas while working as an activist in Nicaragua in the late 80s and chose Cuba as his honeymoon spot after he got married is troubling but doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a communist now. Luckily, a local news show in NYC put the question to him this morning, sort of:

This morning, during an appearance on PIX 11 news, he was asked whether he was a “radical, left-wing Democrat.”

“I’m a progressive and I’m a Democrat, that’s right,” he responded, describing his philosophy in the tradition of President Franklin Roosevelt.

So, yeah, he’s a communist. Alternate headline: “De Blasio’s huge lead in mayoral race expected to widen.”

Bill de Blasio, then 26, went to Nicaragua to help distribute food and medicine in the middle of a war between left and right. But he returned with something else entirely: a vision of the possibilities of an unfettered leftist government…

Mr. de Blasio became an ardent supporter of the Nicaraguan revolutionaries. He helped raise funds for the Sandinistas in New York and subscribed to the party’s newspaper, Barricada, or Barricade. When he was asked at a meeting in 1990 about his goals for society, he said he was an advocate of “democratic socialism.”…

In a recent interview, Mr. de Blasio said his views then — and now — represented a mix of admiration for European social democratic movements, Mr. Roosevelt’s New Deal and liberation theology.

Mr. de Blasio remained supportive of the Sandinistas, often referred to by their acronym, F.S.L.N., even after they lost power. “People who had shallow party sympathies with the F.S.L.N. pretty much dropped everything when they lost,” said Jane Guskin, a fellow activist in the solidarity group. “Bill wasn’t like that.”

He did tell the Times that the Sandinistas were “not free enough by any stretch of the imagination” because of their crackdown on opposition radio stations and newspapers, but precisely when he figured that out is unclear. He was still moon-eyed about them circa 1990, when the Times interviewed him for a story about American leftists who were wistful for the group after its defeat. Quote:

Joe Lhota, the GOP nominee for mayor, took the easy lay-up this morning:

“Bill de Blasio needs to explain himself — and explain himself now — to the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who escaped Marxist tyranny in Asia, Central America, and from behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe,” he said in a statement.

“Mr. de Blasio’s involvement with the Sandinistas didn’t happen in 1917; it happened 70 years later when the cruelty and intrinsic failure of communism had become crystal clear to anyone with a modicum of reason. Mr. de Blasio’s class warfare strategy in New York City is directly out of the Marxist playbook. Now we know why.”

I’m curious to see if red-baiting this guy moves the polls even a little. In fairness to the liberals who run New York, they’re much more Bloombergian than de Blasian, I think. They’re happy to micromanage the hoi polloi’s soda consumption, but they also love, love, love their limousines. Having a Sandinista fan in charge of the heart of American capitalism won’t sit entirely easy with them. But then, the demographics are what they are: Per the latest poll, de Blasio leads Lhota … 65/22. This Nicaragua business may be just the trick the underdog needs to secure a respectable 30-point loss, my friends.

Oh well. If New York needs to re-learn a lesson about the glories of having a full-fledged liberal as mayor, it’s fitting that they choose a guy who didn’t learn his own historical lessons. And by the way, just for fun: Obama chose the very day that the Times’s story about de Blasio’s romance with the Sandinistas dropped to endorse him for mayor. They’re meeting tonight in NYC since O’s in town for the UN General Assembly. Exit question: de Blasio/Warren 2020?


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: billdeblasio; newyork; newyorkcity

1 posted on 09/24/2013 5:11:33 PM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

If he wasn’t could he carry Manhattan?


2 posted on 09/24/2013 5:12:43 PM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF (Because 2 terms with Jerry Brown as Governor was all I could take.)
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To: markomalley

Another reason I’m sad Weiner didn’t get the nomination, in addition to the pure comedy value he would have brought to the Mayor’s office.


3 posted on 09/24/2013 5:13:37 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: markomalley

” Is the Democratic nominee an actual communist?”
_____________________________________________
Are not ALL of today’s Dimocraps Communist?


4 posted on 09/24/2013 5:17:25 PM PDT by AlexW
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To: markomalley
Bill de Blasio, a Sandinista and Danny Ortega supporter and probably a full fledged Communist. That would put him what, a half step to the left of most Democrats? And a little to right of most of the voters in New York City. So I figure he wins in a walk.
It should be fun to watch as NYC sinks back in to it's 1980s David Dinkins' morass.
5 posted on 09/24/2013 5:24:25 PM PDT by Tupelo (There are no Republicans or Democrats in Washington. Just Millionaires protecting their turf.)
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To: markomalley

So that’s a plus in NYC no?


6 posted on 09/24/2013 5:32:17 PM PDT by Kozak ("Send them back your fierce defiance! Stamp upon the cursed alliance! To arms, to arms.....")
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To: markomalley
A Communist running for mayor of New York City is best described as the right-wing candidate.
7 posted on 09/24/2013 5:34:59 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Kozak
Fun city NY.
8 posted on 09/24/2013 5:37:59 PM PDT by Bogie
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To: markomalley

NYC should have stuck with the Weiner .... he may have been stupid and obnoxious but he wasn’t an out and out FDR communist.


9 posted on 09/24/2013 5:44:29 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Excessive numbers of coincidences are known as patterns.)
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To: markomalley

The biggest secret from the American People...
“Communism “IS” Socialism”...

Its not almost like it, resembles it, or even acts like it..
They are the same.. but then socialism is just symptom of DEMOCRACY..


Democracy is the road to socialism. -Karl Marx

Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. -V.I. Lenin

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism .-Karl Marx


10 posted on 09/24/2013 6:00:34 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: markomalley
You mean an actual "card carrying" Communist (do they really carry cards these days) instead of just acting like one?

In a world without the Soviet Union in it, there's no practical difference at all.

11 posted on 09/24/2013 6:08:26 PM PDT by Salman
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To: markomalley

What’s the difference?


12 posted on 09/24/2013 6:19:41 PM PDT by Henry Hnyellar
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To: markomalley

Is there anybody who thinks he isn’t? Even some New Yorkers are getting a little freaked out by his ACORN connections.


13 posted on 09/24/2013 6:37:38 PM PDT by livius
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To: markomalley

“.....describing his philosophy in the tradition of President Franklin Roosevelt.”

I doubt it. FDR was not in favor of government employees forming labor unions. Private sector, yes, but not government employees.


14 posted on 09/24/2013 7:19:49 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (The Second Amendment makes all the other amendments possible)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks markomalley.
Bill de Blasio, then 26, went to Nicaragua to help distribute food and medicine in the middle of a war between left and right. But he returned with something else entirely: a vision of the possibilities of an unfettered leftist government... Mr. de Blasio became an ardent supporter of the Nicaraguan revolutionaries. He helped raise funds for the Sandinistas in New York and subscribed to the party’s newspaper, Barricada, or Barricade. When he was asked at a meeting in 1990 about his goals for society, he said he was an advocate of “democratic socialism.”... In a recent interview, Mr. de Blasio said his views then -- and now -- represented a mix of admiration for European social democratic movements, Mr. Roosevelt’s New Deal and liberation theology. Mr. de Blasio remained supportive of the Sandinistas, often referred to by their acronym, F.S.L.N., even after they lost power. “People who had shallow party sympathies with the F.S.L.N. pretty much dropped everything when they lost,” said Jane Guskin, a fellow activist in the solidarity group. “Bill wasn’t like that.”

15 posted on 09/25/2013 12:22:00 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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To: markomalley

This was the oddest news story; I thought the guy’s campaign speeches advertised that he was a communist.


16 posted on 09/25/2013 3:18:35 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (The talking heads have admitted is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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