Bernie's Old Neighborhood Has Doubts About the "Democratic Socialist"...

[Surya Gayatri]

The brief visit on Friday notwithstanding, Mr. Sanders, 74, seemed to be viewed by residents of his old neighborhood less as a native son and more as a novelty. Nowhere was that more the case than in the apartment building where he lived with his family as a boy.
...

Asked what she thought of him, Ms. Lazareva laughed with delight. “Oh, I hate him!” she said.

Ms. Lazareva, who hails from Moscow, recalled waiting in line for three hours each morning to get a jug of milk as a little girl living under communism. “If you lived under socialists, you’d hate them too,” she said. “They make everyone poor.”

Although Mr. Sanders, as a self-described democratic socialist, has a vision for America that is distinct from the economic system in the former Soviet Union, the word “socialist” was enough to provoke anxiety in Ms. Lazareva.
...

She was unmoved. “Everyone will be hungry, everyone will be poor,” she said. “If it will be Sanders, we will have the same here. Everybody who comes from a communist country, Russians, Eastern Europeans, even Latinos from Cuba, feel this way. When you know what will happen, when you see it — you’re Republican.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/nyregion/bernie-sanders-back-in-the-old-neighborhood-to-make-his-case.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region

______________________________

Interesting reaction on the ground to the "Democratic Socialist". Who knew?

[Cha]

1. Right, interesting.. she hates him. Thanks for this, Surya.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. VERY revealing and disquieting for his prospects in the GE, if god forbid, he makes there ...

[sarae]

16. so true

When people say he's more electable, I have to wonder what they're smoking. They point to polls taken before he's been vetted, as if that's any proof. If he became the nominee, Republicans would circulate the tax calculator, point to your taxes under "the communist", and he'd be finished!

[Surya Gayatri]

17. Roasted and toasted to charcoal...

[sarae]

18. you wouldn't even find any bird bones

in the remains...

[SunSeeker]

3. K & R

[Thinkingabout]

4. He would be vetted the same way Hillary has been for years, it would not be kind.

His agenda is not free, we will all be paying and not the few dollars he has claimed.

[Surya Gayatri]

5. He's had a free ride since the beginning and it's infuriating.

His acolytes cry foul and claim that he's been blacked out by the MSM.

Well, if so, it's the only thing that's allowed him to come this far. The general public has no idea just how unfit he is.

Can you imagine the half-cocked statements and backtracking, such as we've seen this week, if he ever (god forbid) got to the Oval Office?

[KittyWampus]

7. Some months ago I said Sanders was unfit for Executive Office because

his control of his organization/campaign is so bad.

It was hidden.

His control has deteriorated.

He's a type A control-freak who has lost control. He has so little experience really delegating IMPORTANT stuff he's proven inept.

[Surya Gayatri]

12. And, he dares to question Hillary's "judgment".

His increasingly erratic behavior is scaring me more all the time.

I'm so afraid that his manifestly massive ego will not allow him to admit defeat (especially to a WOMAN!!!) and that he'll rally his disciples to go nuclear and trash the convention.

[Her Sister]

14. Calling her unqualified

was a bad call. Did not show good Judgment. It backfired big time. Had to take back.

[Thinkingabout]

15. Yes, he does not have any control of his team, I guess I

Was shocked as I listened to his interview, he really does not have answers to his own agenda. It may be easy to run out and tell he wants to break up the banks, Hillary made money giving speeches, she raised money from Wall Street, campaign reform and let the Saudi take care of ISIS, free college and health insurance, not a winning strategy for me.

[KittyWampus]

6. By this time, it's obvious Sanders uses that "democratic" in front the of "socialist"

as a fig leaf. He doesn't have the guts to admit to his core beliefs.

[Surya Gayatri]

9. He's only been using the "democratic" label since he started his

"Party of One" run.

And, "democratic" in his usage has NOTHING to do with the Democratic party. Still today, he overtly scorns the party and admits that he's exploiting it for his own political ambitions.

The worst kind of crass opportunist. He eschewed the Democratic Party until he needed them.

[NurseJackie]

8. Alert! Alert! This article mentions Bernie's age ...

... it's "ageist" !!!

[Surya Gayatri]

10. Well, shut my mouth! Jeezus, how weary I am of having to

proofread every post three times to make sure nothing will offend the delicate sensibilites of the Sanders swarm.

At least I've not had my "transparency" page displayed so far. But, it's like walking on frigging Fabérgé eggs.

[NurseJackie]

11. I know! It's annoying ... but also funny as hell!

[Surya Gayatri]

13. You're right, NJ. We have to keep a sense of perspective and

observe all the insanity from a "meta" viewpoint.

[NuclearDem]

19. Surprisingly, people who've lived under socialist regimes

have slightly different takes on it than people who "learned about" socialism in a polisci class.

[Surya Gayatri]

20. They've seen the dark side up close and personal and

that's exactly why they escaped. It's not just an abstract concept to them.

[SharonClark]

21. What we learned

Ms. Lazareva hates communism. She thinks Sanders is a communist. The expats in her neighborhood are Republican.

And her opinion is important, how?

[NuclearDem]

22. Expats and their family members aren't all Republicans.

And they all vote.