About that Bernie-Russia video: It has been public for years

[Yosemito]

A few thoughts about a video of Bernie Sanders praising a few aspects of the Soviet Union. Namely, that the transportation was good and he liked the puppeteers and the cultural programs (including the puppeteer) for youth are positive.

Does that sound alarming to you?

I just saw not one, but several instances of that video dated 2016 or earlier. Which means the Hillary camp was well aware of it and decided it was not worth using as a political weapon.

Now that the right wing is nervous about Bernie possibly being the nominee, this video begins to be circulated much more widely. They're experts in turning a Nothingburger into a fake scandal. The right wing could have used it against Bernie Sanders but they didn't want to help Hillary in 2016.

This is not some just-unearthed footage.

With Bernie raising 10 million dollars in less than a week, we need to leave open the possibility that Bernie will be our only chance to keep Trump from packing the SCOTUS with 9 young Kavanaughs.

[Mjolnir1956]

1. Still a long way to go

Bernie might be the nominee but then again he might not be the nominee. We're a year out from Iowa and that's a lifetime in the political world. I see Kamela Harris setting the table to use the earlier California and South Carolina primaries to establish a numerical and emotional advantage that none of the other candidates can overcome. Bernie generated the same fevered online support and fund raising last time and we all know how that turned out…If Bernie were to be the nominee I'd walk barefoot over broken glass to vote for him but I don't see him being the nominee at this point in time….

[TomCADem]

2. Who Needs a Video? Bernie's Votes Are Problematic

While Bernie has been progressive domestically, Bernie has been oddly pro-Russian oligarch. He famously was one of the very few no votes on the Magnitsky Act. Then in the wake of the 2016 election, he was a rare no vote against sanctions against Russian election meddling for the 2017 sanctions bill. Finally, last month, in a close senate vote to block Trump from lifting sanctions on a Russian oligarch, Bernie ditched the vote.

Bernie just has an inexplicable blind spot when it comes to Russia where it counts. In his voting record. This does not even address the fact that he has been hostile to NATO and even advocated transforming into an anti-terrorist coalition with Russia as a member, rather than a bulwark Against Russian expansion.

So, who cares about a video? People are ignoring Bernie’s actual record. Compared to other candidates Bernie is getting a huge free pass on this, particularly given how it affected his campaign in 2016.

[ehrnst]

4. +1000.

[NurseJackie]

9. There are MANY MANY "problematic" things that I'm not permitted to discuss.

[tinrobot]

14. Why would one vote against the Magnitsky act?

I would love to hear a valid reason.

[tinrobot]

18. Look it up? That's sure helpful.

I was honestly curious.

Now I assume you're either stonewalling or a troll. Funny how perceptions can change.

[tinrobot]

29. Because you're going out of your way to give non-answers.

You could have answered the question... or not posted at all if you had nothing to contribute.

Instead, you went out of your way to tell me to "look it up". That's pointless and a waste of bandwidth.

Not cool.

Good day.

[Maru Kitteh]

46. Do yourself a favor and learn how to defend positions or "facts" you spit forth.

People will be more inclined to assign a moment's consideration to them.

[still_one]

35. It has been explained before? Really? Welcome to DU by the way

[Cha]

26. You're not the only one who wants to know..

Link to tweet

[Hortensis]

49. Sanders' votes regarding Russia and NATO do have

a surprising number of similarities with Trump's actions toward NATO and Russia, as do those of a number of other Republicans.

All beneficiaries of Russia's interventions in our elections and donations to American politicians should be asked a whole lot of questions by the electorate, by their colleagues in government, by investigative journalists, and by formal FBI and DoJ investigations where all questions have not been adequately set to rest.

[MrsCoffee]

21. You keep telling yourself that.

He is going to get hammered about this on the campaign trail. His explanation was bullshit. His skipping a vote was even more bullshit.

Bernie has a Russia problem. No amount of cognitive dissonance is going to make it go away overnight.

[MrsCoffee]

23. I lol'd.

Bookmarking.

[BannonsLiver]

57. If you think his votes on Russia sanctions won't come up you are mistaken.

Last edited Wed Feb 27, 2019, 02:02 PM - Edit history (1)

Especially against the backdrop of the Mueller findings. It will ALL be on the table.

[TomCADem]

31. Are They The Same Reasons as Trump?

After all, Bernie appears to be siding with Trump when Russian sanctions have come up in 2017 and last month? Trump’s supporters also insist that Trump had valid reasons.

Again, it is one thing to vote with Russia in isolation, but to repeatedly do so over a long period of time coupled with a hostility to NATO, which is similar to Trump’s?

I looked it up as you suggest, and Bernie’s statements on such issues sound similar to Trump’s. So, do you agree with Trump on these issues or do you think that Bernie has different reasons for his pro-Russia, anti-NATO statements and votes.

[George II]

65. So he knows better than 92 other Senators for one vote...

... and 98 Senators for the other?

Do you know why he did that?

[George II]

64. Sanders is the only Senator out of 100 to vote against BOTH...

the Magnitsky Act AND the Russia sanctions. Can you explain why?

[Eliot Rosewater]

39. Of course. Very problematic.

[TomCADem]

48. Bernie actually voted NO on the 2015 Magnitsky Act...

The text of that bill was incorporated into S2943 and Bernie was one of 7 no votes on the bill.

2. Sanders voted YES 2015 Magnitsky Act because it was MORE robust. Note: this was an unanimous vote.

Again, one vote in isolation is excusable, but to keep on coming on the side of Russian oligarchs?

To put this into context, even Dana Rohrbacher voted yes on the S2943 even though he loudly complained that Russia was being unfairly targeted. Yet, we condemn Dana as a Russian sell out, but Bernie gets a free pass.

As you point out, facts and votes matter.

[TomCADem]

56. Did the other Senators also vote with Russia...

...on all of the other items you listed?

Let me ask you this, doesn’t that concern you at all? If Bernie just had one isolated vote, this would not be an issue. Under your analysis, Dana Rohrbacher could be painted as being unfairly targeted so long as someone else voted with him.

Is that your position? I just want to make sure I am not misinterpreting your argument, which can just as easily apply to Rohrbacher.

[ehrnst]

68. +1000.

[ehrnst]

3. There may be a lot more that comes to light about Senator Sanders in the coming months.

As you said, his previous opponent decided not to go negative on him, and he wasn't vetted very thoroughly by the Democratic Party.

What vetting the GOP has done remains to be seen.

Ambition to the Oval Office comes with a very harsh spotlight.

[still_one]

5. Odds are very unlikely that Sanders can win in the South, and unless we have a candidate who can win

the South the prospects for 2020 in the WH are not very good.

and while it is still very early, the latest 2020 poll in South Carolina, at least at this point in time, that Sanders, who is a known, still does not appear to have much traction there.

"Fifty-five percent of the likely S.C. Democratic primary voters surveyed were African-Americans, who account for more than 60 percent of the state’s Democratic voters.
“When we only asked about already declared candidates (not including Sanders who hadn’t yet declared), black voters overwhelmingly supported Booker (38 percent) and Harris (37 percent),” said polling firm chief executive Mike Greenfield. “But with Biden, Sanders (and) Beto in the race, Biden has a clear lead among black voters, with 43 percent,” and Booker, Harris and Sanders all at 13 percent.

Read more here: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article226541900.html#storylink=cpy

[pnwmom]

6. Why would you think that's all there is, knowing that the Russians WANTED Bernie

to be the one running against Trump? They clearly thought he'd be the weaker candidate. And they could easily have more to put out from that trip. We won't find out unless he's our nominee.

The rightwing isn't nervous about him being the nominee. They'd welcome it. They think they'd have a win against the Democratic Socialist who honeymooned in the Soviet Socialist Republic and came back singing its praises.

Three years latter, the USSR that he'd praised collapsed.

[Trenzalore]

13. Putin wanted to embarrass Hillary

They had a bad relationship when she was SOS. Trump being so amenable to doing Putin's bidding was probably a happy surprise for the Kremlin.

[tinrobot]

15. Uh... Bernie wasn't on the ballot in Nov 2016.

[George II]

25. It's all contained in Mueller's February 2018 indictment of 13 Russians/3 Russian entities....

...I see you told someone else here who asked a question to "look it up".

You also didn't read the entire post to which you responded. It's there.

[still_one]

36. They wanted to divide the Democrats so trump would win, but you knew that

[pnwmom]

45. Yes, they did want Trump to win. And they want the Democratic opponent to be

whoever they think will have the hardest time against them and Trump.

[ehrnst]

54. Winning a primary and winning a GE are two very different things.

Wanting someone to win a party primary and wanting someone to win the GE can mean wanting two different people to win those elections.

If the GOP and Russia could choose a Democratic candidate, do you think they would would want the strongest candidate to win the Democratic primary?

Does that make things clearer?

[brooklynite]

7. The Hillary campaign had to pull it's punches to maintain Party unity...

Republicans will be under no such obligation.

You are a political activist. The average voter has never see this.

[LongtimeAZDem]

34. And the Democrats will not do so this time

[brooklynite]

55. But Trump and the Republicans will if he's the nominee.

[blue cat]

8. The video

Concerns me.

[Trenzalore]

12. Hillary treated Sanders with kid gloves

It wasn't close. There was a hard calculation made that going all out attack on Senator Sanders would lead to his supporters turning on Hillary in the general election.

If it was a closer election it would have been a lot nastier.

[MistakenLamb]

17. These videos will cost Democrats Florida and give Trump a way to cross 35 percent of Latino voters

The attack ads write themselves, intercut Sanders praising Ortega and the Soviet Union self proclaiming himself a socialist with videos of people of Venezuela rushing to Columbia for food. There is a reason why Pence has been spending time in South America. Trump has a path to win enough Latino voters with Anti Socialism and Anti Abortion to win again in 2020 than people realize.

[still_one]

37. His recent visit to Florida he didn't endear himself to the Venezuelan community there

[Honeycombe8]

20. The RW is not nervous about Bernie Sanders running.

Just the opposite. They'd love to run against someone that they will say is a Socialist. That makes the choice clear, in their opinion. American values, or socialism (aka communism...to them).

It's not a correct argument, but that's how it will be played. And many voters will agree, IMO.

Those on the far left and far right will vote for either the Democratic or Republican candidate. No problemo. But all those millions in the middle, moderates on both sides, as well as Independents, will decide who will win.

[WeekiWater]

24. "Will be our only chance"

Give me a break. It’s offensive.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

28. The problem

The problem is these attacks are harder to make in a Democratic primary but they will be debilitating in a general election. As to myself I never found much to admire in totalitarianism and authoritarianism, whether they emanate from the left or right.

[still_one]

42. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[still_one]

41. The SC that the OP is referring to was helped along with the assistence of those self-identified

progressives who supported Sanders, but refused to vote for the Democratic nominee by either voting third party or not voting, and it didn't take many to achieve that either.

In those critical swing states, Hillary lost by less than 1%, and Jill Stein received 1% of the votes in those states.

Every Democrat running for Senate in those critical swing states lost to the incumbent, establishment, republican, and those Democrats were progressive by any standard.

Now suddenly some who seem to be leaning toward Sanders are so concerned about the Supreme Court? Where were they in 2016 when it DID MATTER. In fact I remember the discussions here at the time how some were saying the Supreme Court didn't matter.

Gee, what a difference a day makes

[Amimnoch]

27. Nope. NEVER BS!

Any Democratic Party candidate BUT BS.

[LakeArenal]

30. I'm waiting for the video of his taxes.

[LovingA2andMI]

38. Bookmarking This....

Right Here. Thanks for the information.....

[Garrett78]

40. The Clinton camp walked on eggshells. And the media fawned over Sanders.

I'm not saying anything one way or another about the video, but of course Clinton didn't use it. And the media was far too preoccupied with fomenting Hillary Hate.

[ehrnst]

59. And clearly the GOP and Russia wanted someone who was not as strong as HRC

as the Democratic candidate.

I'm sure that there was oppo in the waiting to drop on Sanders by Russia and the GOP had he won the Democratic primary. Waiting until then would have inflicted the most damage to the candidate's chances, and the most support for Trump.

Bernie got a pass on vetting last time. I don't think that will happen in 2020.

[lunamagica]

44. "Which means the Hillary camp was well aware of it" That proves what we've said all along

Hillary treated him with kid gloves.

This time he will not get a pass on that and many other things. He'll have to answer some tough questions.

[Skidmore]

51. Worried?

He needs to be fully vetted.

[Blue_Tires]

52. You need to ease the hell up on that "Bernie is our only chance" silliness...

Just sayin'

[Yosemito]

60. Where did I say Bernie is our only chance?

Was it in this life?

[Blue_Tires]

62. It's literally the last sentence in your OP:

A few thoughts about a video of Bernie Sanders praising a few aspects of the Soviet Union. Namely, that the transportation was good and he liked the puppeteers and the cultural programs (including the puppeteer) for youth are positive.

Does that sound alarming to you?

I just saw not one, but several instances of that video dated 2016 or earlier. Which means the Hillary camp was well aware of it and decided it was not worth using as a political weapon.

Now that the right wing is nervous about Bernie possibly being the nominee, this video begins to be circulated much more widely. They're experts in turning a Nothingburger into a fake scandal. The right wing could have used it against Bernie Sanders but they didn't want to help Hillary in 2016.

This is not some just-unearthed footage.

With Bernie raising 10 million dollars in less than a week, we need to leave open the possibility that Bernie will be our only chance to keep Trump from packing the SCOTUS with 9 young Kavanaughs.

[Yosemito]

66. Do you know what a "possibility" is?

You even highlighted my statement that it is a possibility that he will be our only chance. But you ignored your own bold letters.
Possible is even less than likely come out by the way.

[Blue_Tires]

67. Not to worry, because no "possibility" exists to speak of...

No way in hell is a non-party member getting the nomination