"Despite Israel Gaffe, Bernie Sanders Still Likes Diane Rehm"

[sabrina 1]

Despite Israel Gaffe, Bernie Sanders Still Likes Diane Rehm

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday shrugged off NPR radio host Diane Rehm repeatedly asking him whether he was a citizen of Israel during an interview a day earlier.

"I like Diane Rehm. She is a good radio interviewer," Sanders said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. "I suspect what happens is her staff gives her a list of questions and someone screwed up pretty bad."

Bernie said he has heard the question before. When asked about that

Sanders shrugged without elaborating about that interaction.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said.

He is a remarkable human being, it's clear he wants to focus on issues and is anxious not to allow anything to distract from that.

In that spirit I believe that the interview with Diane Rehm is well worth listening to because Bernie excelled in my view and demonstrated that he is truly worthy of the support he is getting.

Bernie Sanders on the Diane Reme Show

I didn't count the number of questions he responded to or the number of topics covered, there were so many. Questions came from Diane Rehm herself, good questions all of which he answered without hesitation.

Then there were some good questions from listeners, from email received by the show, from twitter covering a wide range of topics.

Bernie answered each and every one of them in a way that no one could doubt how much thought he has devoted to the issues over the decades of his career.

On the I/P situation eg, he destroyed any claims that he is 'rabidly pro-Israel' and showed that, as with all the issues, he is fair, thoughtful and for equality for all people.



Bernie wants to move away from distractions and continue to focus on the issues.

If he can do that, I believe we should also.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Once again, Bernie demonstrates style and grace that is missing in too many of his DU supporters.

I truly wish that the DU Sanders crowd would realize that, not only are they big fans, they are also ambassadors.

Lead by example, people.

[sabrina 1]

6. Bernie now has millions of supporters. To broadbrush all of them who are mostly busy

talking about HIM and what he stands for, is exactly what causes division.

I agree with him, we do not need to try to undermine other candidates, right or left, because he is such a rare politician who has been right on pretty much every important issue from the beginning of his career AND unwavering from those positions, such as eg, Gay Marriage which he supported decades ago and voted against DOMA.

Or the Patriot Act which he also voted against and recently pointed out that the reasons he did so then, have been proven to be true.

Iow, the man has such good judgement AND foresight that we never have to try to defend him for not doing the right thing at the right time, other than to correct any false statements about his positions. He makes that easy because all we have to do is post a link to the facts.

Iow, when you have the genuine article, that is pretty much all you need.

Pointing out the differences between candidates on the issues is not 'bashing' btw. It is a requirement in order to show voters the facts so they can choose their candidates armed with knowledge about where they stood, where they now stand, on the issues.

And if the supporters of other candidates do not want us to that, what that says is that perhaps their candidate can't hold up to such comparisons. THAT is not the fault of Bernie's supporters, it is the fault of their candidate.

[Buzz Clik]

19. Jesus Christ, sabrina! Read my post! I didn't broad brush Sanders's supporters.

And thanks for the alert, btw, to whomever pounded the button. It was great validation.

[sabrina 1]

23. Just so you know, I did not and would not alert on your post, I prefer to discuss things rather than

censor people and your post did not deserve to be alerted on.

If I misunderstood, I apologize. Maybe we should all refrain from the use of group phraseology such as 'Bernie's or Hillary's supporters, and I do see that you said 'some of'.

And now both of us have been distracted from what is really important.

So I am going to see what is happening regarding the TPP and what actions might help to prevent it from passing.

[Buzz Clik]

24. That works for me. Let's start with a clean slate.

[sabrina 1]

27. I like that idea!

[tammywammy]

8. Alert results

On Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:53 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

Once again, Bernie demonstrates style and grace that is missing in too many of his DU supporters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6816440

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Broad brush statement about "the DU Sanders crowd" is transparent attempt at shit-stirring. User is trolling for a reaction.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:59 PM, and the Jury voted 1-6 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I would say the EXACT same thing to the other crowd, both sides need this lesson.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: ehh, he's right.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Agree with the alerter, but would not hide the comment - don't think it's hide-able per TOS.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Uh, yeah. I rest my case.

[sabrina 1]

29. It was a bad alert and good jury decision. Had it succeeded Buzz Click and I would not have been

able to resolve the misunderstanding I apparently, and the alerter, had of the comment.

[randys1]

9. Both sides are guilty of this.

And what worries me is will the losing side refuse to vote D because their feelings were hurt?

[Buzz Clik]

15. Let's hope this can change. Today.

[LittleBlue]

2. He is forgiving

Let's be honest, he could have roasted her alive if he'd wanted.

I like that he seems to have no time for personal politics, only the issues

[bigtree]

3. aside from whether he's a 'remarkable human' for still liking her

...there's absolutely no reason not to. She's a good interviewer, and on the basis of listening to her for years and years, I believe she's a good person, as well.

[sabrina 1]

4. 'still liking her' is NOT why he is a remarkable human being. You completely misunderstood. He is a

remarkable human being because of his consistency in being right on the issues, in not allowing anything to distract from focusing on those issues.

And if any other politician had been ambushed like that they would have USED it to further their own political ambition as much as possible.

That is how the game is played.

But to Sanders, this is not a game, it is deadly serious what is happening to this country so he will not play the usual games that do nothing other than distract from what is important.

It happened, now he wants to move on because he is an ADULT, something very rare in DC.

[bigtree]

10. I'm not sure how remarkable he is for not exploiting the mistake

...and I don't think he'd say that if he felt he was 'ambushed.'

Otherwise, it was an incredibly ignorant blunder which will likely tarnish an otherwise stellar career as an interviewer. I guess I might be expecting too much for most people to put all of that into the perspective; especially those of Jewish ancestry who may feel slighted or slandered by the assertion she made. I would say, however, that I encounter incidents of racism weekly, sometimes daily - some directed at me, most directed at individuals other than myself - and I use the incidents of verbal slights or slander as opportunities to set the record straight, recognizing that not everyone has the same perspective or understanding of the issue of racism (from my pov as a black American) and that life is for learning.

[sabrina 1]

14. You don't seem to read what people say. So let me repeat, he is NOT remarkable for not

exploiting the situation, he is remarkable because of his ability to remain focused on what is important which goes back decades.

Good for you for using opportunities that present themselves to educate rather than lose such opportunities. I certainly can relate to being judged wrongfully simply because of things that were not under my control and agree, education is always better as a cure for ignorance.

[bigtree]

18. I'm sorry

...I did conflate the two ideas you expressed.

[sabrina 1]

25. No problem we all do it!

[pangaia]

45. Hey there, Sabrina.

I enjoyed the discussion between you and buzz clik and how you resolved it.


We need more like you.

[sabrina 1]

47. Aw, thank you. And more like Buzz Click too! And YOU, pangia!

[2banon]

5. Thanks Sabrina, I agree, this matter is really a distraction..

I'm thankful for the reference wrt I/P was given a mention, it reminds me to read more onhis position as regards the M.E, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, NATO, to Domestic Spying, etc etc etc.

I know that his focus has predominately been on Domestic which I fully support and agree, but as Prez, he'll need to address Foreign Policy matters, naturally..

I have a certain perspective which some might consider as "isolationists", and though I'm not going to get into quibbling as to fairness of that .. I think it's important that we have it all on the table and I intuit Sanders has no problem laying it all out there.

[sabrina 1]

12. Well, on FP he has proven himself to be eminently qualified to the POTUS. Eg, he voted against

The Iraq War and all the policies put in place by the Bush/Cheney regime to ensure we will be engaged in forever war, the fearmongering Patriot Act eg.

On the I/P situation, he supports the two state solution stating that Palestinians have a 'right to their own country, their own economy etc. He clearly cannot stand Netanyahu, which makes sense, considering that Bibi is such a far right warmonger and the polar opposite of Bernie.

The fact that he foresaw all the problems our foreign wars would create back when the country was being lied to, and voted accordingly shows that he is in possession of two most important qualities necessary in a good leader, the ability to consider consequences AND be right about them, foresight iow, and Good Judgement.

We need a leader with those qualities, not one who fails to see consequences, or ignores them or is in possession of the necessary judgement to make right decisions at the right time, NOT after it is too late. We need that badly.

[2banon]

13. Indeed! Agree Completely!

[Cheese Sandwich]

7. She did make a decent apology...

Diane's on-air apology to Sen. Bernie Sanders and her listeners:

"On yesterday's show, I raised the issue of dual citizenship with Senator and Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. This is an issue that has come up over the years in American politics. One of our listeners suggested via our Facebook page that I ask Senator Sanders about Internet speculation that he has dual citizenship with Israel.

But instead of asking it as a question I stated it as fact. That was wrong. He does NOT have dual citizenship and Senator Sanders immediately corrected me. I should have explained to him and to you why I felt this was a relevant question and something he might like to address. I apologize to Senator Sanders and to you for having made an erroneous statement. However, I am glad to play a role in putting this rumor to rest."

https://www.facebook.com/thedianerehmshow/posts/10153330178580390

[smokey nj]

11. It's a lame apology. The problem isn't how she phrased the

question, the problem is that she thought it was appropriate to bring up at all.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. Agreed.

It is also classless in how she credits herself with putting the rumor to rest.

[sabrina 1]

21. I think, like Bernie, it was more likely someone else who thought it was important. Clearly

whoever it was, he said 'staff member' was someone she felt she could trust or her initial statement would not have been so certain 'you are in possession of dual citizenship'.

He is wisely moving on and will probably be on her show again. Showing how wise he is, not burning bridges, not reacting angrily, saying honestly that he was offended by the false claim but not holding a grudge. And then back to what is important to all the people, handling what others might have wanted to exploit, with grace and intelligence.

In fact this may have positive results for him. People who do not know him yet, can now listen to that interview, which as I said, was excellent for most the hour. And if they do, I feel confident they will be truly impressed. As one caller stated 'what I like about you Senator, is how directly you answer questions'. That cannot be missed in this interview, no prepared answers, no avoidance or ducking of questions, and when he feels he isn't informed enough to comment intelligently on an issue, he says so 'look, I do not know enough about this issue, I need to learn more before offering my opinion'.

Honesty, integrity and a long record to prove this is not just for a campaign. I hope people do listen to the interview.

[smokey nj]

26. There's no denying that Bernie's a class act.

But it's really kind of disturbing that the people at the Diane Rehm Show are so clueless as to what the problem is in this situation.

[sabrina 1]

30. Yes, it is. Maybe this will be a lesson for them. I hope so.

[bigtree]

31. here's a reasonable report

...I'll just leave this here in your friendly thread:

How Diane Rehm came to accuse Bernie Sanders of being Israeli citizen

The awkward exchange with Sanders stemmed from a post on the radio show's Facebook page, which promoted the upcoming interview with the Vermont senator and said, "What do you want to ask?"

...One of the responses, from a user named Ryan, said, "Senator Sanders -- you hold dual Israeli/American citizenship. Why should the president of our country be allowed to maintain full citizenship in another country at the same time?"

That comment -- "liked" by several other Facebook users -- is what triggered the on-air error.

Producer Denise Couture included the comment (and three others from Facebook) in the prep material that was given to Rehm before the interview...

Yore said the producer did do "further research" on the comment from Ryan...


On Thursday, Rehm explained it this way: "One of our listeners suggested via Facebook that I ask Senator Sanders about Internet speculation that he has dual citizenship with Israel. But instead of asking it as question, I stated it as fact. And that was wrong."

She went on to say, "He does not have dual citizenship. Senator Sanders immediately corrected me. I should have explained to him and to you why I felt this was a relevant question and something he might like to address."


http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/11/media/diane-rehm-bernie-sanders/index.html

[BeyondGeography]

33. She's been doing this for so long, amazing that she would wing it like that

Forgetting that it was Internet speculation and then stating it as a fact. Really careless at best. Then again, I've been at my job a long time and I do stupid shit, too, even at times when I'm supposed to be, "on." Especially once you're in a conversational flow with someone. You can drop your guard or skip over the "right" way to phrase something if you're not properly focused.

[bigtree]

35. it does betray a lack of sensitivity to the slander perpetrated behind the dual-citizenship question

...I'll bet she understands now how important this issue is to the Jewish community and others. A bit of enlightened consideration from Rehm would have set off her inner alarm and prevented her from repeating that offensive assertion from her prepared material.

[BeyondGeography]

36. That's the tough part for her

People see she's a Christian Arab, put two and two together and, voila, evildoer. In his reaction today, Bernie did his best to be a great help to her, but it won't be enough for those who are unforgiving in such matters (which I'm sure she realizes).

[sabrina 1]

40. Thanks, that is a reasonable explanation for what happened. It would probably have not been so

controversial if she, or maybe her producers, had said something like, as she did with other questions, 'Sen Sanders, this is a statement from one of our listeners that we received on our FB page ... so let me ask you, do you have dual citienship as alleged in that comment'?

However this explains what she was referring to re the FB page. And the 'further research' produced the page with the list people have referred to. It really is the fault of the producers imo, who should have made it clear they could not find a reliable source so to clear things up, 'we are giving you an opportunity to clear this up'.

Anyhow, I do believe in some ways, it ended up being a good thing. That would have come up sooner or later by someone else, now it has been taken care of once and for all. And if it does come up again, we can point to this to debunk it if need be.

[oberliner]

37. No she didn't

It's actually completely disingenuous and self-congratulatory (she didn't put any rumor to rest).

[Recursion]

17. This isn't the first time Rehm has had a tin ear about Israel

But I think Sanders's response was very classy.

[riderinthestorm]

43. Diane's a Lebanese Christian Arab. I haven't heard her be super pro-Israel

that doesn't mean I've listened to every show but she tends to get guests from Al Jazeera and other Arab friendly news media instead of Israeli guests from what I've observed.

Interesting.

[Comrade Grumpy]

22. Someone should tell DU. n/t

[sabrina 1]

41. Well, that is what this OP is trying to do ...

[riversedge]

28. Thanks Bernie. You have class. time to put this issue to bed.

[MADem]

32. Torch, pitchfork sales plummet--film at eleven!!! nt

[sabrina 1]

39. I see very few pitchforks and torches and Bernie's reaction is likely to end anymore

attempts to keep it going. He is, as so many have said, a class act.

The entire interview is worth watching, the nature of the show gave many people to ask questions and gave him the opportunity to answer every single one of them.

Imo, this in the end, will not harm him at all, in fact I think it will help his campaign.

[MADem]

44. I saw calls for that interviewer's head--right here on DU!

This should not harm him at all. He did nothing wrong.

He handled the interaction adroitly!

This latest statement by Sanders will ruin the fun of the mob that's demanding the interviewer' s head on a pike, though--that was the point of my comment.

Hopefully the interviewer will triple check her staff and vet the hell out of Facebook submitted questions in future. She's got a clunker or two on her team.

If he wants airtime, though...she OWES him! He can go to the well a time or two, make no mistake!

[sabrina 1]

48. True, but there were also attempts to try to understand what happened without destroying

someone's career. I eg, was not familiar with her at all and when I first saw the story, thought it was from some right wing host. But reading the comments of those who do know her, I was influenced to reconsider my initial reaction.

Bigtree posted a link above that pretty much confirms Bernie's, and many of our, theories on what happened, iow, the producers gave her the statement from the Show's FB page from a listener. 'Further research was done' the link claims, and presumably that is where they found the anti-semitic page with the 'list'.

Why they took that to mean it was true, is anyone's guess. And she and they should have done what they did with the other questions on their FB page, stated that 'this was a statement on our FB page Senator, would you like to comment on it'? The comment on THEIR page stated it as a fact, and Diane Rehm repeated it that way, she did mention FB as a source, but didn't explain there were two FB pages, theirs and the one people tracked down as the likely source of the claim.

And btw, there are a lot of names on that 'list' not just Bernie's so it is safe to assume that they are all erroneous at this point in case it should come up re someone else.

Anyhow, I agree he probably will be on her show again and since the correction and apology came so quickly I believe there won't be any damage done to Bernie.

[riderinthestorm]

34. Diane Rehm is a good Democrat and is one of the few remaining Dems on air

Her shows are always excellent.

This was a horrible mistake that she's apologized for twice now.

Bernie is a class act but I think he also knows how completely out of character this was for her.

I hope DUers can get over this.

[pangaia]

46. +10000

[SoapBox]

38. Just keep on being Bernie, Bernie.

He is a class act.

[daleanime]

42. K&R.....