Bernie Sanders reminds CNN host: You can slam Obama, but Bush’s ‘blunder’ created ISIS

[Triana]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Sunday told CNN host Candy Crowley that it was easy to criticize President Barack Obama’s fight against ISIS in Iraq, but he reminded her that it was President George Bush’s “disastrous blunder” that allowed the extremists group to get a foothold in the first place.

. . .

Crowley wondered if the Vermont senator agreed with the president’s handling of the conflict so far: “Is that too far for you or just about right?”

“It is very easy to criticize the president,” Sanders replied. “But this is an enormously complicated issue. We are here today because of the disastrous blunder of the Bush-Cheney era, which got us into this war in Iraq in the first place, which then developed the can of worms that we’re trying to deal with right now.”

“We have been at war for 12 years, we have spent trillions of dollars,” he added. “We have 500,000 men and women who have come home with PTSD and [traumatic brain injuries]. What I do not want, and what I fear very much is the United States getting sucked into a quagmire, and being involved in perpetual warfare year after year after year. That is my fear.”

THE REST:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/bernie-sanders-reminds-cnn-host-you-can-slam-obama-but-bushs-blunder-created-isis/#.VDq75yt6OUU.twitter

[valerief]

1. Never-ending war is our fear and the PTB's wet dream. nt

[kelliekat44]

50. If only more Dems would speak out like this. nt

[AikidoSoul]

77. I wonder if it's true that most Dems are more timid about creating conflict and so they don't say

things very often that will make people upset. I didn't used to be that way, and was up to taking the flak that was inevitable.

Here in bible belt country the hate for Obama is palpable. I do argue against some of the idiotic opinions that are being fostered by the right wingers, but when it comes to talking to people who actually emit spittle when talking about Obama.... I just listen, and then change the subject.

I'm told that I'm a courageous person, but now I think I'm getting too old to fight.

I think Obama has done a great job, but there are many things that I wish he hadn't done. As a president who oversaw eight years of difficult decisions ... I think he MOSTLY made the right ones. And some were absolutely wonderful.

“I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear my trousers rolled." Was that written by Dylan Thomas? I think there were others who claimed that beautiful line. I relate to it more than ever now.

Now I love to watch movies that are not stressful. That wasn't true for most of my life... I couldn't wait to get the facts no matter how horrible, stressful or grisly. I wanted to know the truth no matter how difficult or ugly. I even movies that were stressful. But not now.

The other night I turned off "Hannibal" just as Anthony Hopkins was putting on black gloves after a visitor, who had just discovered that "Hannibal" was on the Most Wanted List, had arrived for a visit. I suspect he was going to murder, then nibble on his victim. I switched the channel to Saturday Night Live.

Am I done? I think so. Am just trying to survive under unbelieveable stressful personal circumstances.

Sorry for the ramble. Needed to get it out of my system I guess.

[malaise]

64. +1,000

Follow the money - it's all they follow

[L0oniX]

2. Why don't we hear this from Obama or Hillary?

[VanillaRhapsody]

4. You need Obama to tell you that Bush started this mess? Seriously?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. Sensible Centrists and Republicans need the reminder.

And Hillary played along with Dubya, so she really can't say it, can she?

[VanillaRhapsody]

7. Do you think Republicans will change their minds about that if Obama says it?

seriously? (and EVERY democrat knows it) Bernie said it to remind President Obama's critics from the Left and YOU know it!

You just want to complain about Pres. Obama on Democratic Underground....go ahead and admit it!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. Drill it into their heads.

Why are so Sensible Centrists so eager to just roll over and play dead?

[VanillaRhapsody]

9. Oh really? I thought you considered Obama a "Sensible centrist"?

Is he a Liberal to you now?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. Yargle bargle away, 'Nilla! (n/t)

[VanillaRhapsody]

19. Yeah I would answer with nonsense if I held your position too!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

21. Go, 'Nilla, go!

?w=500

[VanillaRhapsody]

23. thanks....I take being compared to Hillary as a compliment!

I hope I have her energy when I get to be her age!

[DisgustipatedinCA]

12. He said this to remind his natural constituency--the left?

do give us some more examples of your peerless thought processes. The world needs your brand of intelligence, now more than ever.

[VanillaRhapsody]

14. what are you talking about

at least if you are going to rudely interrupt a conversation....please make your point more clear!

but he said this to remind the "critics from the Left" who are Bernie Supporters yes and who criticize President Obama endlessly

[Hissyspit]

27. "Bernie said this to remind President Obama's critics from the Left"

Wha...?

[VanillaRhapsody]

33. Bernie also said "we must protect the progress we have made".

but you all seem to think we haven't had any of the progress stuff at all the last 6 yrs!

[democrank]

31. George W. Bush`s "disastrous blunder" needs to be talked about, over and over and over.

I don`t care whose mind gets changed or doesn`t get changed, who already knows or doesn`t know. This is about a calamity that has affected MILLIONS of people. Our leaders should be talking about this in no uncertain terms. No focus groups, no consultant-engineered talking points, no poll-testing, just the straight facts....the truth.

[VanillaRhapsody]

34. that is not what was asked......and what I was responding to...

this conversation was about whether or not it was necessary for President Obama to have to "say it" as if he would be admitting to something.....

[JDPriestly]

18. DUers don't need to hear that, but most of America does.

Yes! Obama needs to accuse Bush directly of starting this mess, and he needs to do it over and over and over. Bush did start this mess, and his spokesfolks, Cheney, etc. should be so ashamed by the revelations that Obama makes about the lies and wrongs of the Bush folks that they dare not show their faces on national TV.

Yes! America needs to hear the truth about what is going on in the Middle East. Thanks to Bernie Sanders for telling us. Several of the nations of the Middle East are talking out of both sides of their mouths with regard to ISIS and Muslim fundamentalist violence. They need to be exposed for their hypocrisy and double-dealing. Thanks to Bernie for setting the record straight.

Candy Crowley is one of the worst conservative spokespersons in our media. Bernie showed how to deal with her. You could sense the respect that she felt for him after she tried to trip him up and could not.

There is no better, more experienced candidate for president than Bernie Sanders.

Hillary would have flubbed the questions. That's because she wants to win foremost and first. Winning is not the goal in 2016. Living integrity and speaking and working for the American middle class has to be the goal in 2016. If it isn't, our country is doomed. Maybe the whole planet and its environment is doomed. Quite possibly so.

I realize this sounds like hyperbole, and exaggeration, but it is the cruel truth.

[INdemo]

22. Because of the war machine

The defense contractors that pad the pockets of the war mongers in Congress.That is why Obama or Hillary would never make a statement.
We need Bernie Sanders in the White House because if we ever expect to have a chance of saving our Democracy we cannot allow
a/the corporatists in power.

[NobodyHere]

38. Because Hilary is also responsible for the Iraq war

I don't think Hilary wants to remind people of that fact.


As for Obama, it's difficult to say without coming across as whining.

[still_one]

52. how do you know he didn't. our illustrious media is selective in what they report as

Evidenced by his chuck toad interview

[Skittles]

83. WTF

you remember being told to LOOK FORWARD?

you don't remember the critical thinkers on DU demanding Bush Inc be held accountable?

[still_one]

84. I remember there are different groups on DU, those who dislike Obama because he doesn't fit a perfec

Mold, and those who believe he can do no wrong

Critical thinking is not always high on either side since neither side listens to the other

[Skittles]

85. omg, a black and white thinker

here's a tip - we did not demand accountability because we "DIDN"T LIKE OBAMA" - we demanded it because we knew if he didn't IT WOULD COME BACK TO BITE HIM (AND AMERICA) IN THE ASS

AND WE WERE RIGHT

GOOD DAY TO YOU

[still_one]

86. good day critical thinker

[Cha]

56. Good for Bernie saying it.. “It is very easy to criticize the president,”

“It is very easy to criticize the president,” Sanders replied. with right now.“But this is an enormously complicated issue. We are here today because of the disastrous blunder of the Bush-Cheney era, which got us into this war in Iraq in the first place, which then developed the can of worms that we’re trying to deal ”

[Skittles]

82. BECAUSE

then they would have to explain why they failed to hold the bastard accountable

[Babel_17]

3. The facts are not conducive to a beltway pundit friendly narrative

Our mass media pretty much sat on their hands when the tenth anniversary of the Bush/Cheney invasion came and went. So, there's that blind spot that they have, collectively, which keeps getting bumped into by people who actually want to include the relevant facts in discussions like this.

Go Senator Sanders, give them the truth, let them think that it's hell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_%27em_Hell,_Harry!

[zipplewrath]

5. This falls primarily to Wolfowitz

At the end of the day, it was the disbanding of the military that lead to much of this. It was a multidimensional mistake that continues to screw up that country.

[Spazito]

16. Yep, some of the senior officers of the disbanded Iraqi military are now...

senior leaders of Isis. This falls directly on the Bush admin and decisions made by Wolfowitz et al.

[brush]

48. And Bremer, don't forget him. nt

[Diremoon]

10. narrowly defined

I prefer a much broader claim: If Bush II hadn't been appointed by five supremes, it wouldn't have happened.

[freshwest]

11. Thanks, Bernie, for the truth and denying CNN another tool to use. And Crowley?

Still on the air, after wailing piteously about the future of gang rapists? But not a word about the drugged teenage girl who was left to freeze to death on her parent's lawn?

NOT ONE WORD.

That angst told me all I needed to know about Crowley. She has major credibility issues, yet still has a job because many MSM punditry get their jobs through nepotism. They are related to someone who may or may not have had the mental equipment to be maintaining a position of power such as they have. Almost no reporting by those who went to school or have life experiences that would make them see things in a human context. Just get up there on the most powerful medium on the planet, lie, distort and degrade humanity in general, and get paid a fortune, no matter what.

If one's not in the club, and dares to interject a sense of justice or some humanity, such as Rather, Donahue and Olbermann did, they will be smeared and run off the airways. There are few more vile pits of corruption than Crowley, and Sanders surely knows who he is talking to there.

Yet our elected leaders, like Sanders and Obama, face this bottomless pit of depravity on a daily basis in order to save the masses. Let's hope that the same they believe in helping can be inspired to get off their bum and vote and give these leaders a bit of positive feedback on election day.

Cranky Sunday Morning Commentary from Me.

[JDPriestly]

20. As an aside, what is the story on Candy Crowley?

drugged teenage girl who was left to freeze to death on her parent's lawn? Are you sure?

I don't like her, but what connections are you suggesting got her where she is? What are you saying? I have never heard these accusations. Are you sure?

[HubertHeaver]

29. The Steubenville, Oh rape case.

The shortened version: In 2012 a 16 year-old girl was drugged and gang-raped by members of the football team. Candy Crowley was more worried about the rapists' future if they were to be put on trial than she was concerned about the victim. She needn't have worried. The convicted rapist is back on the football team as of August, 2014.

[JDPriestly]

35. OK. Thanks for clarifying. Candy Crowley is just not much of a reporter.

She thinks she is being fierce, but . . ..

The one good thing she did was during a Romney debate when corrected him and let everyone know that Romney did not know what he was talking about.

[LawDeeDah]

44. That was the high point of her entire career.

I don't think we will see anything like that again.

[HubertHeaver]

45. I am surprised she survived the Romney incident

Her method of operation, back as far as at least 2004 was, when talking about democrats, to act oh! so even-handed until the last bit and then give a quick shive to the gut followed by a couple of twists and a smugly self-satisfied expression on her face. I grew to intensely dislike her.

[BlueMTexpat]

62. Ditto!

And I still do dislike her intensely.

What I most regret is that CNN, when created, was a decent news station but has not been since at least 2000.

[KansDem]

75. I remember that...

...drugged teenage girl who was left to freeze to death on her parent's lawn?

She lived but didn't she have to have some extremities amputated? Or am I thinking of another incident...

[Enthusiast]

13. Well said, Senator Sanders! K&R!

[WillyT]

17. K & R !!!

[zeemike]

24. Now that is the kind of president we need.

But Hillary is the kind the MIC needs.

[orpupilofnature57]

51. + 1000 !!!

When will people start seeing actions as opposed to being hypnotized by image .

[supercats]

25. That's Right Bernie....

You and everybody thats not a republican or tea bagger needs to shout from the rooftops that we are in this mess solely because bush/cheney mistakenly and disastrously put us here!

[JDPriestly]

26. And Hillary Clinton went along with them. She, too, failed to do her research.

[secondwind]

28. I AGREE FIVE HUNDRED PERCENT WITH BERNIE.

[msanthrope]

30. Can he come post it here on DU? nt

[adirondacker]

32. NO! He Is NOT a Democrat! Let him post on Socialist Underground!

[A Simple Game]

39. Try reading the mission statement in the about link at the bottom of each DU page.

Then get back to us about whether Bernie should be on DU.

[adirondacker]

40. I forgot to add something that I thought most would figure out...

(I thought Evil Grin was a dead giveaway, plus the fact that I've posted numerous pro Bernie OP's)

[A Simple Game]

43. Sorry, my mistake. I rarely look at the smilies, they are used way too much.

I don't really keep track, or care to, of who posts what except for a few really blatant conservatives so I don't know your posting history.

Have a nice day and again, sorry for the mistake.

[santamargarita]

36. That smirking shitstain, Bush, has a legacy of nothing but damage and destruction.

If the GOP steals another election, I think we're doomed!
Thanks, Bernie

[Triana]

37. Absolutely no doubt about that. n/t

[adirondacker]

41. I was reminded of "Crypto Nazi's" while watching Vidal's documentary. The entire party is loaded

with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr's.

[santamargarita]

46. How true.

[grahamhgreen]

42. Remember Neil bush and his "Ignite!" software used by the Saud's in their Madrasses?

[ReRe]

47. K&R

It is impossible to intimidate Bernie Sanders. Even the queen of snide cannot ruffle him.

[jen63]

66. That's because he's genuine.

He says what he means and means what he says. If you do that, it's impossible to be ruffled. That's the difference between him and a few others and every other pol out there.

[ReRe]

67. That's right...

... in any other country, Bernie would be elected in two shakes of a squirrels tail because he speaks truth to power. But in this country, where people with questionable intelligence in the first place have been so propagandized by the Republican Party, Fox TV, and Rush Limbaugh radio, when an honest politician stands up and speaks the truth they call him a bold-faced liar. This isn't a country. It's an insane asylum!

[jen63]

81. Yep, it's quickly becoming one.

The republican party has moved so far to the right, they've lost touch with reality. Their meme that our President is a far left pinko, commie, liberal is repeated so often that they actually believe it to be true. Oh, and let's not forget the conspiracy theories either. Armed government agents taking our guns, killing us with bio weapons and putting the survivors into FEMA camps. Derp de derp. This place helps me keep my sanity, I can't openly say I'm a liberal where I live, without hearing what a Marxist, fascist, et al I am. I am in a sea of redneck GOTPers, who are convinced they will become millionaires if only a repub was in the White House. Boy that felt good; end of rant!

[ReRe]

89. I know of what you speak.

I used to live in a foreign land right here in this country too.

[cantbeserious]

49. Preach It Brother Bernie

eom

[baldguy]

53. If only Bernie's fans here on DU would follow the same advise.

[Fumesucker]

54. It's great when Democrats point out the truth about Dubya

Oh wait... That wouldn't lead to bipartisan comity, best let a Socialist do it and take all the resulting flak.

[Cha]

55. Ha! Bernie: “It is very easy to criticize the president,”..

“It is very easy to criticize the president,” Sanders replied. with right now.“But this is an enormously complicated issue. We are here today because of the disastrous blunder of the Bush-Cheney era, which got us into this war in Iraq in the first place, which then developed the can of worms that we’re trying to deal ”

Mahalo, Triana

[MontyPow]

57. Bush wrecked many things and spurred many other things.

Many need addressing. ISIS is not one of them.

[Cha]

58. Yes, ISIS is exactly a Big Fuck up of george w. bush and dick fucking cheney.

[MontyPow]

59. It is not a fuck up that needs addressing.

ISIS represents no threat to the US or its interests, frankly. It is a repellent organization created by Republican war mongering and blue dog support, but it is no threat to us. And a military response will not disappear this group, only generate another.

[MontyPow]

73. Agreed.

But what I had attempted to communicate was that they were a fuck up that didn't need unfucking as ISIS posed no threat.

[Botany]

63. ISIS is the direct result of w and Dick Cheney's unneeded war in and on Iraq.

n/t

[MontyPow]

65. But they are not worth addressing at this time.

[Botany]

70. Please!

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

Edmund Burke

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edmundburk382368.html#1cMiDq5j0rlxr1eF.99

Failure to understand what bought about ISIS and not acknowledging Cheney's lust for that war in Iraq
(in part so he could make $$$$$$) and W's stupidity of not knowing the difference between Shia and
Sunni Muslims only makes a massive problem worse. The media and the right wing's amnesia about
what caused this mess and at the same time criticizing President Obama's handling of this problem
really stinks.

[MontyPow]

72. There is no amnesia here as to who brought ISIS about.

The amnesia is in thinking that bombing a nation into the Stone Age we've already bombed them into is going to do anything other than help the next ISIS to emerge.

I can't believe my original comment was that hard to understand. But three out of four seemed to have concluded that I stated ISIS was not a result of Bush/Dick when I thought I was stating that ISIS was not worth fighting.

Oh well.

[Botany]

78. Well this thread is not about what you think should or should not be done about ISIS but .....

.... about what Sen. Sanders correctly stated that the world's current problem w/ ISIS
is a direct result of w & Cheney's unneeded war. Failure to understand how we "got here"
only makes a really bad problem all the worse. Our slaughter of the people of Fallujah
in Nowember and December of 2004 no doubt helped to swell the ranks of ISIS fighters.

BTW we are not bombing a nation but some very bad people who need to die.

[MontyPow]

79. I understood the thread was about what Bush and company hath wrought.

But to pretend our current response is not part of the discussion is unwise. And to pretend that we are bombing bad people vs bad nations is a distinction without a difference to the good people in those nations, particularly when these good people become collateral damage.

And there are May bad people in the world that don't threaten the US and we also don't bomb them.

All I am saying is lets clean up the messes that need cleaning and let's not create new messes where none existed before. I think this discussion is perfectly valid for this thread.

[DallasNE]

60. Why Don't We Hear More From Gen. Wesley Clark

He is probably our top General in the last 25 years.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

61. CNN wants to film a mushroom cloud.....

There or here,...just give them time to set up first.

[HoosierCowboy]

68. Wasn't a Blunder

Take a look at the map of ISIS and take a look at the last remaining untouched oilfields in Syria and Iraq. They overlay perfectly. It's still about oil.

[heaven05]

69. Sanders is a rational, sane

voice out there that shames the whining centrist LW and ALL of the lying, agitating RW. Period.

[Progressive dog]

71. Bernie is often a good spokesman

for the President. If the president blames Bush, it can be called whining by his opponents. If Bernie does it, it can't.
From the same "Sanders agreed that ISIS had to be defeated."

[George II]

74. FINALLY someone has it right! ISIS was created by baby bush, just like.....

....Osama bin Laden, who was an ALLY of the United States at one time, was converted into a murderous enemy by the un-hearing GHW Bush.

Had the first Bush observed the Islamic religious beliefs and not encamped US troops on holy land in Saudi Arabia before the first gulf war, most of what we've experienced since the early 1990s would never have come to pass.

[Man from Pickens]

76. That's right, it's Bush's fault once again

Could this highlight any more the complete absence of material differences between the "Bush foreign policy" and the "Obama foreign policy"?

Still run by MIC lobbyists, not a damn thing changed with our "Peace President".

Makes me sick!

[sheshe2]

80. Thank you Bernie Sanders!

Lay the blame where it belongs at Bushco's feet!

Thanks Triana.

[roamer65]

88. It's not a "blunder".

It's a war crime. Bu$h and his cabal lied us into a war of aggression.