Senator Bernie Sanders. (photo: Matt Rourke/AP)
24 February 16
readersupportednews.org
readersupportednews.org
emocratic
White House hopeful Bernie Sanders knocked Donald Trump on Tuesday over
his outspoken support for false claims that President Obama was not
born in the United States. Sanders said the so-called birther movement
is partly motivated by racism — but stopped short of saying that’s what
drove the bombastic mogul to be its champion.Sanders’ comments came in a CNN town hall event at which he was asked about Senate Republican promises to block any Obama nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat long held by the late Antonin Scalia.
“What you are seeing today in this Supreme Court situation is nothing more than the continuous and unprecedented obstructionism that President Obama has gone through” at the hands of Republicans, the Vermont senator said.
“This is on top of the birther issue, which we heard from Donald Trump and others, a racist effort to try to delegitimize the president of the United States,” Sanders continued.
Sanders said his father came from Poland but, “Guess what? Nobody has asked for my birth certificate. Maybe it’s the color of my skin, I don’t know.”
CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked the senator whether Trump was motivated by racism.
Sanders demurred.“You know, I’m not a psychoanalyst — and boy, would a psychoanalyst have an interesting time with Donald Trump,” he said, to laughter from the crowd. “I’m not going to speak to Trump, but do I think that at least in some parts of that Republican base there is race involved in that? Absolutely. Absolutely.”
Back when Trump was fueling speculation he might run for president in 2012, the real estate developer repeatedly questioned whether Obama was born in Hawaii, at one point saying he had sent private investigators there. The president responded to the rekindled rumors by releasing his long-form birth certificate in April 2011.
Comments
+6
#
2016-02-24 13:41
Hail! Hail!
The Republican Party is dead!
Long live the Businessman Party!
Out of the ashes of greed, bibles quotes, and military representatives comes Businessmen!
Show us your scams. Show us your selfishness. Show us your cooked books. Rise to the front and lead us. For you can sell anything at double its value. Go! Here, there, and everywhere. Run fast! Strength and Power. Sell us a dime for a dollar.
And don't forget to mash down the poor. Because who the fuck needs them.
The Republican Party is dead!
Long live the Businessman Party!
Out of the ashes of greed, bibles quotes, and military representatives comes Businessmen!
Show us your scams. Show us your selfishness. Show us your cooked books. Rise to the front and lead us. For you can sell anything at double its value. Go! Here, there, and everywhere. Run fast! Strength and Power. Sell us a dime for a dollar.
And don't forget to mash down the poor. Because who the fuck needs them.
+6
#
2016-02-24 13:47
Quoting PeacefulGarden:
Sadly, the same goes for the Democratic Party.
More Sadly, the same goes for America generally.
Dead. Old, cold and already folded.
Trump and Hillary aren't doing it, they are only possible because of it.
Hail! Hail!
The Republican Party is dead!
Long live the Businessman Party!
Sadly, the same goes for the Democratic Party.
More Sadly, the same goes for America generally.
Dead. Old, cold and already folded.
Trump and Hillary aren't doing it, they are only possible because of it.
0
#
2016-02-24 14:29
Yes, I'm thinking
that the reason the Democratic Party isn't surging is because they're
selling a crappy product too. They're pretty much what the Republican
Party was 30 or 40 years ago.
+8
#
2016-02-24 14:13
How many "dog
whistles" have there been over the past seven years, implying racism, in
an unspoken manner. There has never been any doubt, I'm sure, in
anyone's mind, that race was the big factor in the Republican's
obstinate refusal to acknowledge Obama as our President. It is not only
demeaning, it is grossly unconstitutional.
Bernie comes the closest to saying it out loud. But then Bernie speaks
the truth, about all things; from the heart and with integrity, I can
see no scenario where the Republican party would not do the same to him,
if we were fortunate enough to have him as President. But I'll bet they
won't stonewall Hillary!
+7
#
2016-02-24 14:19
Dog whistles. Nobody
wants to admit in public that he or she is a racist. But there are a
1001 (and counting) ways in the US to introduce "race" without ever
admitting that's what you're doing.
Obama's birth certificate - 100% a racist dog whistle. So convenient to the whistlers that Obama's father was born in Africa and his non-black mother in Kansas so to question his legitimacy had "nothing" to do with race.
Same with discussions of the various versions of the Confederate flag that are part of flags in some southern states. Has "nothing" to do with slavery or the Civil War, it's just our "tradition" (of racism.)
So the refusal of the most of the Republicans to deal with Obama in a straightforward way is all about "dog whistle" racism.
Obama's birth certificate - 100% a racist dog whistle. So convenient to the whistlers that Obama's father was born in Africa and his non-black mother in Kansas so to question his legitimacy had "nothing" to do with race.
Same with discussions of the various versions of the Confederate flag that are part of flags in some southern states. Has "nothing" to do with slavery or the Civil War, it's just our "tradition" (of racism.)
So the refusal of the most of the Republicans to deal with Obama in a straightforward way is all about "dog whistle" racism.
+3
#
2016-02-24 14:25
Wow! This is both a sincere statement, and a deft political move. And thank goodness someone had the guts to state the obvious.
Let's see Sanders talk explicitly and frequently with the Black community - maybe this effort will be enough to give him entree.
Let's see how Clinton responds to this. My guess is Clinton would either have to agree with Sanders or she will not answer questions along that vein, and then her numbers will really start dropping.
Let's see Sanders talk explicitly and frequently with the Black community - maybe this effort will be enough to give him entree.
Let's see how Clinton responds to this. My guess is Clinton would either have to agree with Sanders or she will not answer questions along that vein, and then her numbers will really start dropping.
