Category Archives: Bernie Sanders
Pope Prop
In the heat of the New York Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders hopped on a charter Boing 767-300 and burned a carbon footprint to the Vatican.
The Week has a good account of Sanders’ “awkward” campaign detour.
He claimed he was invited by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to give a speech on morality in the world economy. The president of that group, Margaret Archer, says, “Sanders invited himself.”
A Vatican spokesman said Sanders would not meet the pope. But meet he did.
Bernie managed to bump into the Holy Father’s as he was leaving for Greece. He gushed:
“It was a real honor for me, for my wife and I to spend some time with him. I think he is one of the extraordinary figures not only in the world today but in modern world history.”
Here’s the pope’s description of the encounter:
“This morning when I was leaving, Sen. Sanders was there, he had come to the convention,” the pope said. “He knew I was leaving at that time and he had the courtesy to greet me. I greeted him, his wife, and another couple who were there and were sleeping in Santa Martha,” the hostel where Francis also lives. “When I came down, I greeted him, I shook his hand, and nothing more. This is called good manners and it is not getting involved in politics…. If anyone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics, I recommend that he look for a psychiatrist.”
Libya
President Obama told Chris Wallace in a Fox News Interview that Libya was his greatest mistake. He blames a lack of planning for the day after Gaddafi was killed. Or, as Hillary put it, “We came, we saw, he died.”
Vanity Fair points out that Hillary considers Libya to be one of her “chief accomplishments.”
Democratic Superdelegates
Bernie is racking up the wins but the party establishment is safe, thanks to Democratic Superdelegates. Unlike mere mortal delegates they aren’t beholden to any candidate.
Mark Plotkin in The Hill calls the Superdelegate arrangement a House of Lords category that makes the Democratic Party undemocratic.
The Republicans, on the other hand, are all House of Commons – no Superdelegates. The only way for their establishment to stop an outsider like Trump is to back Ted Cruz, an outsider they hate a little less.
Obama Lectures Reporters
President Obama lectures reporters on reporting.
Jack Shafer reported in Politico on the president’s address at a journalism awards ceremony.
The occasion was the Toner Prize for Political Reporting awarded to Alley Mac Gillis by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Breakfast with Bernie
On his way from Vermont to South Carolina, Bernie Sanders pulled off in New York for “half a cup of coffee” with Al Sharpton.
Breakfast with Bernie
The old white guy from 90% white Vermont is trailing Hillary by 40% for the minority vote.
