14 questions for Bernie Sanders

[left-of-center2012]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is arguably the front-runner. Time to ask him a few serious questions:

1. In 2016, you were one of only two non-Republican senators to back a bill from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) calling for an intrusive annual “audit” of the Federal Reserve, which former Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Wall Street critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the Obama administration opposed as a threat to central bank independence.

Do you still favor this GOP-backed legislation?

13. You have said that Sweden and Denmark represent egalitarian models for the United States. You have also said “I don’t think that billionaires should exist.”

Sweden has twice as many billionaires per capita as the United States; and Denmark has essentially the same number per capita as the United States.

Do Sweden and Denmark not promote social justice as well as you had thought — or is the existence of billionaires compatible with a decent society after all?

full article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/12/14-questions-bernie-sanders/

[ehrnst]

1. "Sweden has twice as many billionaires per capita as the United States; and Denmark has essentially

the same number per capita as the United States."

That'll smart.

[calguy]

2. Bernie won't want to go there

He's not good at pesky details.
As Nina Turner said when asked how much his MFA would cost after the last debate, she got mad and said "I'm not going to go there!"

[BlueIdaho]

6. Sorry

Bernie doesn’t do reality...

[berksdem]

8. yup!

Bernie's Utopian Revolution is anything but detailed. Get his base fired up and skip the details...

[ehrnst]

12. "I'm not going to speculate on that.."

[NurseJackie]

3. I doubt he'd be able to give thoughtful and complete answers to those question...

I doubt he'd be able to give thoughtful and complete answers to those question, because based on what I've observed in interviews and at the debates... BS is often evasive, and he'll change-up his response so that he circles around to his well-memorized stump speech and Socialist talking points.

I always enjoyed listening to Obama answer tough questions with thoughtful, courteous, direct and informed responses. He consistently showed that he had a deep understanding and grasp of the world around us and the issues that affected us the most. And even when he disagreed with the question, or the premise of the question, he did so in a way that was disarming and respectful. He was a "cool cat" who never flailed around with awkward answers and he never wagged his finger in someone's personal space. He was always a gentleman. He was always the epitome of what made me proud to see him representing our nation on the world stage.

[George II]

7. Over the weekend I saw two videos of him from years ago being interviewed by local Vermont....

....reporters.

In the first he waved a stack of papers and used the excuse "there's a lot of stuff in these bills", claiming that sometimes you vote for something you don't like.

In the second one he was asked a similar question, tried to evade an answer that the interviewer wasn't going to let happen, so he got up and walked out.

A politician can get away with that in Vermont, but nowhere else.

[TwilightZone]

4. The "audit the Fed" crap was Ron Paul instigated conspiracy theory nonsense.

Why Sanders would approve of that is beyond my understanding.

[MH1]

9. I think there is overlap with their supporters - albeit a small group

For some reason these guys (Paul and Sanders) wanted to appeal to the nutjob fringe.

Then Sanders supporters say he's the only candidate who can draw these people to vote Democrat. Yikes. How did Ron Paul do when he ran for Prez, again?

[TwilightZone]

11. Ron was pretty popular on DU for a while.

A really good, very liberal, otherwise-intelligent, friend of mine fell for his crap, so much so that he became a prepper and moved to the mountains in Mexico for a while because he was convinced that civilization was going to end.

He quickly realized that living off the grid wasn't quite as pleasant or edgy as he thought and is back in the US.

[George II]

5. Interesting questions. I'd like the first one to include a follow-up.....

....why did he support that bill in the first place?

[comradebillyboy]

10. I visited Sweden and Denmark. I just loved the 15% value added tax

on everything I bought. The 50% income taxes were just dandy as well. It's how they pay for their excellent social programs. Both Sweden and Denmark also have vibrant market economies.

I don't think too many Americans are willing to vote for those kind of taxes. Bernie can pretend that the 1% will pay for everything but even they don't have enough money.

[question everything]

13. K&R

[oasis]

14. 14 tough ones. The Malarkey Meter's gonna get one helluva workout.

[Scurrilous]

15. ...