Castro hits Sanders over reparations stance

[DonViejo]

BY MICHAEL BURKE - 03/10/19 09:54 AM EDT

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro on Sunday hit Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over his 2020 rival's position on reparations.

"What he said ... the other day was he didn’t think the best way to address this was for the United States to write a check." Castro said during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

"However, it’s interesting to me that when it comes to 'Medicare for all,' health care, you know, the response there has been, ‘We need to write a big check.’ That when it comes to tuition-free or debt-free college, the answer has been that we need to write a big check," the former Housing and Urban Development secretary added.

Link to tweet

Castro's remarks come after Sanders's comments earlier this month during an interview on ABC's "The View."

“I think that right now, our job is to address the crises facing the American people and our communities, and I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check,” Sanders, who is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said at the time.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/433376-castro-hits-sanders-over-reparations-stance

[KayF]

1. that's a clever line of attack

but for reparations to be a winning issue, for Castro or anyone else, people have to believe that he really means it.

[MoonRiver]

12. I heard him state during some interview (can't remember which)

that he wants reparations.

[KayF]

14. he originally said it in an interview with "The Root"

and elaborated on CNN this morning.

Kamala Harris gave a similar answer on "the Breakfast Club". I think hers was first.

I don't question whether they claim that position, I question (strongly) whether they mean it.

[NurseJackie]

24. So, are you calling them liars? Fakes? Frauds?

[workinclasszero]

23. Which means what exactly?

WTH are his plans for reparations or is he just throwing the word out there for effect?

[democratisphere]

2. Castro gets an uncheck for reparations.

The people that were wronged are long gone. We need to make sure today and tomorrow are better for all.

[Adrahil]

4. I don't like Bernie, but...

This is not a point to ding him on.

[BannonsLiver]

15. True.

And yet I’m still enjoying it.

[aidbo]

16. Weird flex but ok.

[KitSileya]

5. The thing is, they paid reparations to Japanese-Americans

The discrimination against African-Americans happened in the last 100 years - the New Deal, school segregation, redlining, AA vets not getting the benefit of the GI bill, heck, even the subprime mortgage crisis was done to African-Americans who are still alive. Reparations wouldn't have to be for slavery, it can be for the shitty things America and white Americans in government positions have been doing since Woodrow Wilson.

[KPN]

6. I believe that's ultimately Sanders' point.

[KitSileya]

8. I don't get that from him.

He seems to think that economic policies directed towards everyone will magically put African-Americans on and equal economic footing as white Americans. However, we KNOW that isn't true. Redlining, the GI bill, that thing where cops confiscate your values if you're arrested, but don't hand them back when you're cleared, the fact that African-Americans have a tougher time getting loans, and when they do, they get higher interest and other loan conditions - all of these show that white Americans have purposefully built a society that makes it more difficult for African-Americans to accumulate generational wealth even when they do get jobs that pay the same or get the same education as white Americans.

[radius777]

25. Exactly, class isn't everything.

Even talented and rich PoC/women/gays are often treated lower than a mediocre white man.

Look at what happened to Colin Kapernick simply for his silent protests against police brutality.

He was made into a national villain by working class White America (and not just by Trump) who saw him as an ungrafeful n----r who should just play ball and shut up.

Race, class, gender issues do intersect (intersectionality) - but it's not all about class as some would have us believe.

[CentralMass]

27. A related article and a quote from President Obama from 2016.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/elizabeth-warren-kamala-harris-julian-castro-reparations-democrats.html

Democratic Candidates Are Deceiving Voters on Reparations

"In late 2016, Barack Obama dismissed the idea of reparations during an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, saying: “As a practical matter, it is hard to think of any society in human history in which a majority population has said that as a consequence of historic wrongs, we are now going to take a big chunk of the nation’s resources over a long period of time to make that right.” The president went on to note, wisely, “It’s hard to find the model in which you can practically administer and sustain political support for those kinds of efforts.”
Further, he went on to say that he was “not so optimistic as to think you would ever be able to garner a majority of the American Congress that would make those kinds of investments above and beyond the kind of investments that could be made in a progressive program for lifting up all people."
"
The authors analysis.
"To strip the blessedly nuanced argument to its essentials, Obama is saying that he opposes reparations because a) they would be unfeasible; b) they would be unpopular; and c) their beneficial effects can be achieved in a different, better, more realistic, and fairer ways. I agree on all counts and would add that many Obama programs were in fact doing the work of “lifting all people up.”

[KPN]

7. Does Julian really think he's making points

by criticizing Bernie Sanders on this? Seems like a rather weak and transparent attack. Makes me question his fit.

[ucrdem]

9. A surrogate from TX willing to challenge Trump on this point

would be a valuable asset to any Dem campaign. Maybe veep valuable.

[Cha]

10. Good.. call him out.

[madville]

11. Castro has to say something to get some attention

At the rate he is going he won't make the debates at the 1% threshold in 3 different polls.

He's likely just running to position himself for something in the next administration, not gonna be in the Bernie Administration with interviews like that though

[Cha]

13. Bravo@Julian Castro!

Link to tweet

[Mr Tibbs]

17. He is comparing apples and oranges

[Cha]

18. Warren, Harris back reparations for black Americans affected by slavery

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/430999-warren-harris-back-reparations-for-black-americans-affected-by-slavery

[Cha]

19. Kick!

[Blue_Tires]

20. And the long knives have been out for Castro

[Renew Deal]

21. Reparations do not have popular support

[Mr Tibbs]

22. Sanders is right

[AncientGeezer]

26. Castro will be gone in the 1st primary/caucus...Sanders(not my guy)

will be around long after we ask "Castro who.....oh yeah I remember him"

[Bradshaw3]

28. If a Democrat runs on reparations they will lose

Plays into repub hands. You can give all the nuanced policy reasons or moral imperatives but it will help cost us the WH and Senate.