Bernie Somehow Digs Himself Even Deeper Defending China and Cuba at Town Hall - 'You've Got To Tell the Truth'
Facing a pivotal day in the Democratic primary contest, Bernie Sanders just kept digging his own hole deeper.
During a Fox News Channel town hall on Monday, the septuagenarian socialist from Vermont fielded implied criticism about his previous defense of murderous communist dictatorships by once again defending the brutal regimes of Cuba and China.
And he not only refused to apologize, but he also claimed he was telling “the truth.”
The town hall was in Dearborn, Michigan, the state that represents the biggest prize of Tuesday’s six primaries with 125 delegates at stake.
As Breitbart reported, Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked Sanders if he had second thoughts about his previous defenses of the Cuban and Chinese dictatorships — particularly in an interview on the newsmagazine “60 Minutes.”
“There a few moments in races that seem like turning points,” Baier said. “And many experts looked at that moment on ‘60 Minutes’ when you talked about Fidel Castro’s literacy program as a turning point in this race.
“Do you regret at all saying what you said, at that time, in this race?”
Sanders was in fine Sanders form — so condescending as to verge on insulting, and shading the truth in his socialist direction.
Check it out here.
“No. Look, I have spent my entire life fighting for working people and fighting for democracy,” Sanders said. “And, Bret, if you check my record, I have condemned authoritarianism, whether it is in the Soviet Union, whether it’s in Cuba, whether it is in Saudi Arabia. … Whether it’s the United Arab Emirates, wherever it may be. I happen to be old-fashioned, and I believe in democracy.
“So, if you look at a country like China, for example, today, is China a democracy? Of course it’s not a democracy. It is an authoritarian country. And Xi is taking it in a bad direction. But what can we say about China in the last 50 years? Would anybody in their right mind deny that extreme poverty in China has been reduced? Can anyone deny that? Of course not. Does that mean we approve of the Chinese government? No, it doesn’t.”
“But I think,” he continued, “sometimes — and I know it’s hard given — not you — given the media that we deal with and everything else, you say something, and people can beat up on you. I think you’ve got to tell the truth. So, if, in China, they have reduced extreme poverty, does that make me a communist who supports China? No. I’m just telling you a simple fact.”
Unfortunately for Sanders and his millions of simple-minded followers, there are some other “simple facts” that should be taken into account before pardoning ruthless totalitarians for their sins on the grounds that they had good literacy programs — some “truth” that should be told.
For starters, it’s not exactly necessary to turn an island country into a Castro-style open-air prison to teach reading and writing. (Sanders might have noticed that the United States, for one, has managed to avoid doing so.)
Another thing Sanders should be more honest about is his praise of Chinese communism. The Chinese working class of today is doubtless better off than the Chinese peasants of old, but that kind of standard of living increase more likely happened despite — not because of — the country’s communist masters.
Sanders himself used the timeline of the past 50 years in China. It’s no coincidence that China’s economic reforms away from the centrally planned economy started in 1978, a little more than 40 years ago.
And that only happened after 30 years of typical communist incompetence, violence, famine and mass death under Red China’s founder Mao Zedong.
In other words, it wasn’t communism that lifted millions out of poverty in China, it was the country’s limited, painfully constrained embrace of controlled capitalism that actually got it working.
Sanders has spent a lifetime peddling his socialist nonsense and as recently as 10 days ago appeared on the verge of making those ideas paramount in the 2020 Democratic Party.
But then the South Carolina primary gave new life to former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign. And Biden’s last week on Super Tuesday made him the front-runner once again, pushing Sanders into a virtual do-or-die situation in the March 10 primary contests.
According to Bloomberg News, Sanders is currently trailing in the race for the 1,991 delegates needed to sew up the nomination. Biden has 670, Sanders has 574.
As Fox News reported, in addition to Michigan, Democrats will be voting in Idaho (20 delegates), Mississippi (36 delegates), Missouri (68 delegates), North Dakota (14 delegates) and Washington (89 delegates).
Sanders and the Bernie Bros better hope those liberals don’t realize what a dead end Sanders’ socialism has proven to be in other countries – and what a deadly end it has been for too many Cubans and Chinese forced to live under communist rule.
Sanders’ campaign has no place in a land of liberty like the United States, not even in the nuthouse that represents the modern Democratic Party.
If Sanders wants to start telling “the truth,” he can start there.
