At Rally, Sanders Goes Off Script and Into Foreign Policy

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Bernie Sanders usu­ally be­gins his massive ral­lies across the coun­try by talk­ing about the de­cline of the middle class and eco­nom­ic in­equal­ity in Amer­ica, draw­ing cheers from thou­sands of ad­or­ing sup­port­ers.

Here in Clev­e­land Monday night, though, he opened with for­eign policy to a crowd that seemed sur­prised to hear it—a sign of just how much Fri­day’s ter­ror­ist at­tacks in Par­is have scrambled the 2016 race and forced every can­did­ate to ad­dress the threat of IS­IS on the cam­paign trail, no mat­ter where their fo­cus typ­ic­ally lies.

“Let me be­gin my re­marks in a some­what somber way, in telling you what you already know: that as Amer­ic­ans we are ap­palled, we are dis­gus­ted, by the at­tack against the people of Par­is by the ter­ror­ist or­gan­iz­a­tion IS­IS,” he said. “And I know that I speak for every­one here and every­one in our coun­try when we send our con­dol­ences to the fam­il­ies who lost loved ones in that bar­bar­ic at­tack.”

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Some people “think that the cost of this hor­rif­ic at­tack, that the only thing we should fo­cus on, is de­feat­ing IS­IS,” he said. “And what I say is, yes, we will lead the world in de­feat­ing IS­IS—but at the same time we will re­build the dis­ap­pear­ing middle class of this coun­try. We can ac­com­plish both.”

http://www.nationaljournal.com/s/92654/rally-sanders-goes-off-script-into-foreign-policy

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1. Standing for Refugees, Sanders Urges Against Post-Paris 'Demagoguery'

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/17/standing-refugees-sanders-urges-against-post-paris-demagoguery

Speaking to a crowd of 7,000 at Cleveland State University, Sanders, who is running for president in 2016 as a Democrat, said that in "these difficult times.... We will not turn our backs on the refugees."

On Monday, more than half of the nation's governors announced their opposition to accepting refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East. The swell of opposition, now numbering 27 states—all but one of whom have a Republican governor—heralded the latest reflexive response from the country's conservative leaders following news that one of the attackers had entered France's borders with a wave of refugees moving through Europe.

"There may be those who will try to take advantage of the generosity of our country and the ability to move freely within our borders through this federal resettlement program, and we must ensure we are doing all we can to safeguard the security of Americans," Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said Monday.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is running for president, also recently stated his opposition to refugee resettlement in the state. In an interview Monday morning with Fox Business, he said, "There is no way that we can put any of our people at risk. Should anybody come in here before the end of the year? The answer to that should be no. We should not jeopardize our people. And so it's not just an issue of the heart. It's also an issue of the head."

Sanders rejected that notion in his speech Tuesday, telling an enthusiastic audience, "What terrorism is about is trying to instill terror and fear into the hearts of people. And we will not let that happen. We will not be terrorized or live in fear."