Don’t ask Bernie Sanders about ISIS and Get Off His Lawn

Don’t ask Bernie Sanders about ISIS and Get Off His Lawn

It’s safe to say foreign policy and national security aren’t Bernie Sanders’ strong points. He doesn’t want to talk about ISIS and terrorism, he wants to tell you how millionaires and billionaires are stealing money from the poor.

As liberal Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza notes, that’s a big problem:

Bernie Sanders doesn’t want to take questions about ISIS. That’s not good.

Right on cue, a Sanders spokeswoman on Tuesday morning informed reporters that they shouldn’t even ask questions about the Islamic State. We are re-upping this post from Monday, as it is now even more apropos.

Sanders Press Secretary Symone Sanders tells reporters before his press conference: "Don’t ask about ISIS today." Yeah, ok.

— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) December 8, 2015

For the record: This was a 100% serious statement. No sarcasm or joking. https://t.co/5qA3YaFR8N

— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) December 8, 2015

Sanders is — sorry Sanders people! — surprisingly one-dimensional as a candidate. When he is talking about the differences between the haves and the have-nots, about the need for more economic fairness, why we need to reform the campaign finance system or work to address global warming, he is terrific. When he is talking about anything else, he is, um, not.

Sanders built a movement in the early days of the race on the passion he exudes from every pore when talking about economic inequality. The contrast between Sanders’s “people powered” campaign and the top-heavy, corporate feel of Hillary Clinton’s effort was striking. And Sanders is, without question, closer to the true heart of the Democratic Party than Clinton on the vast majority of domestic issues.

The problem for Sanders is that external events changed the conversation in the race, and he has been unwilling or unable to change with it.

Here’s a clip of Sanders getting a little cranky when media folks asked him about ISIS despite being warned by his campaign not to do so:

Sanders spent part of the day yesterday touring neighborhoods in Baltimore.

John Fritze reports at the Baltimore Sun:

Bernie Sanders likens West Baltimore to ‘Third World’ country

Hoping to reach African-American voters nationally in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday toured the West Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray was arrested — and likened the poverty he observed to that of the Third World.

The independent senator, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, walked the streets of Sandtown-Winchester for about 20 minutes, joined by community leaders and a swarm of cameras that mostly blocked his view of boarded rowhomes and crumbling marble steps. A handful of residents joined the spectacle, and occasionally broke out in chants of Gray’s name.

The scene provided dramatic visuals of the economic inequality Sanders has made the center of his campaign, offering a new backdrop from which to argue for a higher minimum wage, tuition-free public college and tougher federal regulations of the nation’s banking sector.

“Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you’re in a wealthy nation,” Sanders told reporters later at the Freddie Gray Empowerment Center in Bolton Hill. “You would think that you were in a Third World country.”

Remind us Bernie, which party has controlled Baltimore since 1969?

Featured Image via YouTube.

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