Discussion: Bernie Sanders Welcomes Pope Francis To The Socialist Family

system1 · February 23, 2016, 1:58pm

Discussion for article #246348

barbara63 · February 23, 2016, 2:27pm

I thought Sanders was a Democrat now yet he’s still talking up the Socialist stuff. No wonder the GOP is working so hard to get him the nomination.

ralph_vonholst · February 23, 2016, 2:40pm

Yes, Pope Francis. The popular pontiff and supreme leader of the Vatican People’s Popular Front.

wagonmound · February 23, 2016, 2:45pm

As usual, Bernie, you nailed it.

frankly_my_dear · February 23, 2016, 2:46pm

One can be both a Democrat and a Socialist. Unlike “Republican” and “decent human being” the two are not mutually exclusive.

mattinpa · February 23, 2016, 2:47pm

Liberation theology is a thing, but Francis has been fairly doubtful about it. And socialism as I remember it being defined in my college days isn’t just a safety net. And frankly, his having run as a socialist is one reason I can’t take Sanders seriously as a Presidential candidate. This country loves the thing, in its safety-net form, but hates the word and I don’t see how he changes that.

chammy · February 23, 2016, 3:01pm

He probably is. So now Bernie can compare himself to the Pope.

chammy · February 23, 2016, 3:04pm

I don’t belleve he thinks he has to change that. He seems to have a large swatch of the country who likes his message. I just wish HRC was a better candidate from the standpoint of her delivery. I know she is beyond qualified but her negatives (which seem to be real) bother me a lot. I just have this feeling about 2008 all over again.

chammy · February 23, 2016, 3:04pm

Hear Hear! Well said

blue_grit · February 23, 2016, 3:11pm

Bernie Sanders is more of a Christian than many of the GOP candidates.

ralph_vonholst · February 23, 2016, 3:19pm

Well, there’s been one Jewish Pope; Shimon, aka Peter, aka Simon the Rock; the first one, but none to my knowledge, named Bernie.

mattinpa · February 23, 2016, 3:22pm

No argument that many people like his message, but those aren’t the only people in the country, unfortunately. And if there’s one thing that can really open you up to the charge of being a socialist, it’s actually being a socialist. At least 40 percent of the country thinks “socialism” is nothing but taking their invariably “hard-earned” tax munnies and giving them to those undeserving you-know-whos.

ralph_vonholst · February 23, 2016, 3:25pm

Yup, Last I heard, Bernie wasn’t advocating the nationalization of the power grid, the airlines, or oil and minerals extraction industry.

mahniah · February 23, 2016, 3:28pm

He was asked in the interview to make the comparison, and he did it very clearly.

inlabsitrust · February 23, 2016, 3:31pm

No Bernie. He is just the “anti-Christ” or as NH Rep. Susan DeJeebus said yesterday:

“The Pope is the anti-Christ. [sic] Do your research.”… And the literature is rife with unscientific unproven wacky conjecture on this.

daveyjones64 · February 23, 2016, 3:37pm

Wow…that’s really not a good statement, despite what you may have intended.

Bernie is Jewish. He was raised Jewish. He may not be actively going to synagogue every week, but he certainly isn’t a Christian.

Why does defining someone as a good person, have to come down to defining how “Christian” they are, despite what their actual religion may be?

daveyjones64 · February 23, 2016, 3:40pm

But he is advocating for the nationalization of the health care industry, and the complete eradication of the health insurance industry…which are pretty huge.

pluckyinky · February 23, 2016, 3:42pm

Think you missed the point. I think he meant that Sanders, despite being Jewish or possibly atheist, is still a better Christian (follows the actual teachings of Christ) than those screaming from the rooftops about their Christianity. I completely agree with that.

daveyjones64 · February 23, 2016, 3:46pm

“Well, what it means to be a socialist, in the sense of what the pope is talking about, what I’m talking about, is to say that we have got to do our best and live our lives in a way that alleviates human suffering, that does not accelerate the disparities of income and wealth,” Sanders told the Rev. Thomas Rosica, who works with the Vatican’s press office.

That’s a rather new twist on defining socialism. Its primary focus is on alleviating human suffering and not about allocation of national resources. Man, have I been seriously off base for a long time. All this time I thought it was a economic model of governing, not a moral model of governing.

daveyjones64 · February 23, 2016, 3:49pm

No, I get the point. My point however is that defining “being a good person” in terms of being Christian is off based and unfounded. We don’t run around saying Gandhi is a better “christian” than most Christians because he was a good person…it would be very insulting.

Let’s go with better person instead of better Christian

I mean, lets face it…considering Jesus was a Jew…shouldn’t we really be saying the Pope is a better Jew than all those screaming from the rooftops?