Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bad news: The big Democratic Socialist explainer has been postponed indefinitely
Hot Air.com ^ | November 17, 2015 | ED MORRISEY

Posted on 11/17/2015 7:01:32 PM PST by Kaslin

A month ago, Bernie Sanders tried to square a circle by claiming a political affiliation heretofore unnamed in the US. When pressed whether he supported capitalism at all or stuck to his Socialist affiliation, Sanders proclaimed himself a Democratic Socialist. When asked to explain what that means, Sanders offers only fuzzy platitudes and class-warfare sloganeering, but no ideological or economic details. When repeatedly asked how he will pay for his $18 trillion Democratic Socialist agenda, he grows even fuzzier, but promised to offer a detailed explanation in the near future.

He’s still looking for an explanation …. or enough OPM (Other People’s Money) to make it work:

Bernie Sanders' ballyhooed speech on socialism is now on indefinite hold.

Details about how Sanders would pay for his proposed single-payer national health insurance program to provide Medicare for all Americans have yet to be fleshed out even though a July 30 post on his campaign website says the Vermont senator would file legislation on single-payer "perhaps as soon as next week."

And with two-and-a-half months to go before the first votes of 2016 are cast, the candidate whose raison d'etre is ending income inequality has yet to unveil any details of his tax plan, such as whose tax rates would go up and by how much.

According to Politico's Annie Karni, Sanders keeps promising people an explanation, but has yet to even come up with the answers for himself. That certainly sounds like socialism:

"What we're probably going to do to begin with is hold a major speech in the not-too-distant future, to define exactly what I mean by Democratic socialist," Sanders said during a campaign stop in Iowa. “To me, Democratic socialism means democracy. It means creating a government that represents all of us, not just the wealthiest people in the country."

But it's been postponed indefinitely because Sanders has not yet finished writing the high-risk speech, or agreed that he is ready to deliver it. The delay highlights another issue facing the Sanders camp – an apparent disconnect between the candidate and his staffers, who say they are pushing the senator to give his speech sooner rather than later.

He hasn't finished writing the speech yet? Well, that's a confidence builder. Sanders has been in politics for most of his life, and in Congress and the Senate as a declared Socialist for almost 25 years. He's been officially running for President for almost seven months. And he still can't explain his ideology? Maybe that should be the first clue to voters, eh?

Maybe Sanders would be better off talking about foreign policy, where he's a bit more hawkish than one would expect from a Democratic Socialist, CNN notes, although largely in step with Barack Obama:

"Look, I think the President is trying to do the right thing. And what he's trying to do is put together a coalition of the Western democracies along with the Muslim nations to destroy ISIS, while at the same time making sure that we're not involved in a perpetual war in the Middle East," Sanders told CNN after a speech here.

"My own view is that the major issue that we have right now is to destroy ISIS. And I think we've got to work toward a political agreement to get Assad out of office," Sanders said. "But the highest priority right now is to work with Russia, to work with Iran, work with Saudi Arabia to destroy ISIS."

But make no mistake, despite Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, Sanders isn't changing his campaign's approach. For the Vermont senator, domestic policy is where it's at.

Yes, it is as long as he doesn't have to actually explain his domestic policy. It''ll be interesting to see how many media outlets note that Sanders wants to keep talking about his domestic-policy plans but hasn't yet figured out how they'll work. Prediction: Few. Very, very few.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Arkansas; US: Maryland; US: New York; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: 2016election; anniekarni; arkansas; berniesanders; communismkills; domesticpolicy; election2016; hillary; hillaryclinton; hitlery; leftwingextremist; martinomalley; maryland; nakedcommunist; newyork; politico; ratsocialism; socialismisslavery; speech; vermont; wipewater

1 posted on 11/17/2015 7:01:34 PM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Gee, I thought the headline meant Sanders quit. I’d rather he continues and Clinton quits. I’d love a Trump vs Sanders campaign.


2 posted on 11/17/2015 7:03:52 PM PST by Reno89519 (American Lives Matter! US Citizen, Veteran, Conservative, Republican. I vote. Trump 2016.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Democratic Socialists of America
3 posted on 11/17/2015 7:07:03 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Democratic Socialism is the same dream the liberals wanted when they demanded that some Republicans should vote for Obamacare so there would be ‘bipartisan support’.

By claiming it was a Democratic socialist revolution, they could always say “WELL, YOU ASKED FOR IT!”


4 posted on 11/17/2015 7:09:04 PM PST by a fool in paradise (The goal of Socialism is Communism. Marx and Lenin were in agreement on this.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Leftists don’t have to explain their insanity. They are smarter than the rest of us and you know, things just, happen you know?


5 posted on 11/17/2015 7:16:22 PM PST by vpintheak (Death before disarmament!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; Calpublican; cardinal4; ColdOne; ..
Plugs Biden or Moonbeam Jerry were the only two candidates who would immediately crater Hitlery's campaign. She's not a viable candidate -- despite the bigots who'll vote for her because of her chromosomes and the morons who always vote Demwit -- so nominating her will be a disaster. Sanders' spending program doesn't get the so-called scrutiny of tax cut plans from Pubbie candidates, but the source of this hatchet job is Politico, meaning P is in the bag for H. O'Malley is the most viable of the non-viable 1 percenter candidates running for the nomination. A.K.A. Deblasio could still emerge as a compromise candidate in case of convention deadlock, and might make a decent (below 50, but perhaps above 40 percent) showing a year from now, thanks to his freak show 'family', two aliases, and backing from corrupt 'business interests' (ahem) in the constrution business in NY and NJ.

6 posted on 11/17/2015 7:17:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

No difference whatsoever between marxist Sanders and marxist Hillary, except, Hillary is probably more corrupt. Communism is communism.


7 posted on 11/17/2015 7:38:43 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to to God!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
“Hey,” Bernie sniffed, “Øbama gets to say vague, underfined platitudes all the time and you never make him explain them. I thought I had a free pass.” And then he broke out crying.
8 posted on 11/17/2015 8:17:35 PM PST by NonValueAdded (In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Sanders has posted his plan to pay for the 18 trillion he wants to spend...

Most of it is economic illiteracy...

But it is a plan the “Bern” supporters can hang their hat on...

Wait until they figure out they are actually paying for it...


9 posted on 11/17/2015 8:23:52 PM PST by Popman (Christ alone: My Cornerstone...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Yes, it is as long as he doesn't have to actually explain his domestic policy. It''ll be interesting to see how many media outlets note that Sanders wants to keep talking about his domestic-policy plans but hasn't yet figured out how they'll work. Prediction: Few. Very, very few.

Well, the MSM knows how they'll work. And they agree.

10 posted on 11/19/2015 12:31:20 AM PST by rdb3 (SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SEWER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson