2/25/20 Democratic debate.

[*michaelsean*]

(02-26-2020, 11:41 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I completely agree with you that criticizing Sanders for saying a positive thing about a horrible regime is bullshit. That said, I wish he'd stop doing that.

It's like when he said “For better or for worse, the Cuban revolution is a very profound and very deep revolution. Much deeper than I had understood,” Sanders wrote. “More interesting than their providing their people with free health care, free education, free housing ... is that they are in fact creating a very different value system than the one we are familiar with.”" back in 1989.


Or when he said “there are some things that (the Soviet Union does) better than we do and which were, in fact, quite impressive. Subway systems in Moscow costs 5 kopecs — or 7 cents. Faster, cleaner, more attractive and more efficient than any in the U.S. — and cheap.” in 1988.


Or when he said "Is it a totalitarian country? No, it is not a totalitarian country. Are there civil liberties. Yeah, there are civil liberties. Is it a perfectly free country? No, it most certainly is not. Is it freer than of the most of the countries in Central America? Yeah, it is," Sanders said. "Within the context of the misery and the lack of democracy in Central America, it holds up reasonably well. Is the Nicaraguan government always right? The answer is absolutely not. Have they made mistakes? Sure they have." in regards to the Nicaraguan government attempting to fight back against the Iran-Contra Scandal in the 1980s.


Like...he makes good points in each case. You can have good aspects of a government even when the regime running that government is corrupt, totalitarian, authoritarian or otherwise awful.


But you're already being compared unfavorably to these same regimes. Why are you saying a good word about them? It's just a bad look. Radicals on the right can easily spin these as "endorsements" simply by not including the condemnation parts. It's just like these recent comments with Cuba.


Bernie specifically said "We're very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it's unfair to simply say everything is bad..." before going into the comment about their literacy program. 

If you want to paint Sanders as a communist, all you have to do is add a "..." at the beginning of your quote and exclude this section, leaving you with:

"...When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?..." and boom. Sanders is a communist.


If he would just stop complimenting these guys, he'd stop giving the right (and centrist left) fodder to smear him with.

I don't think you have to really be a radical on the right to "spin" what he says about Castro and Cuba.  Democrats will do it.  Moderates will do it.  It's pretty easy to do.