"I Hope I'm Not Forced to Vote for Bernie Sanders" by USA Today Columnist

[link to www.usatoday.com (secure)]

Sanders was ridiculously naive about the Soviet Union. The Trump ads write themselves. . .

I hope I'm not forced to vote for him to oust Trump.
Tom NicholsOpinion columnist

First, his comments about the USSR show that his judgment is terrible. Second, he will be unable to wave away his comments merely by appending “democratic” to his preferred version of Soviet ideology.

And third, the Republicans will weaponize his remarks, and this will likely cost him the election. Indeed, it would be professional malpractice if Trump’s campaign people passed up this chance. Were I still a Republican and hoping for a GOP win, I could write those ads myself. . .

Sanders came back sounding like he had been bamboozled, like so many other credulous Westerners who visited the USSR and took what they were shown by their hosts at face value.

Some of the juicier quotes, like the wince-inducing praise of Soviet youth organizations, are already floating around on social media.

Here's an example that has gone less noticed. It’s about health care, a subject vital to the Democrats . . .

Yes, health care was provided by the state. Sanders admired this, but that’s because he did not understand the reality of Soviet medical care. Perhaps he should have looked at it more closely . . .

Radical fringe skeletons:Sanders has a bizarre radical past that Trump and Republicans would use to destroy him

What we saw was grisly. Patients draining their wounds into open jars of pus. Post-operative infections worse than the problem that required surgery. Reusable metal hypodermics, dirty bedclothes, untended patients wandering about dimly lit hallways.

I saw an operating theater with windows — to the outside. As I looked at the trees and grass while standing next to the surgical table, I asked: “Do you open these? Ever?” When it gets hot, the Soviet doctors replied, nodding.

The American doctor was polite and professional, but at one point he leaned over to me and whispered that this was where American medicine was ... in 1890.


(More of article at link, Sanders drinking vodka with the Soviets)

Last Edited by NotStarvingActress on 02/19/2020 08:54 AM