Posted on 02/20/2016 3:13:02 PM PST by VitacoreVision
At a town hall in Nevada Thursday night, Bernie Sanders talked about the advantages of being descended from white, as opposed to darker-skinned, immigrants.
Contrasting his experience with the “hatred thrown at” President Barack Obama,” the Democratic presidential candidate said, “No one asked me whether I’m a citizen or not. My father came from Poland. Gee, what’s the difference? Maybe the color of our skin.”
As has been noted, Sanders sometimes seems inclined to take the opportunity to ignore his Jewishness. He has by no means denied being Jewish when queried. But in discussing the historic dimensions of his presidency in two recent debates, he alluded to his Jewish background without explicitly claiming it.
Even in discussing his white privilege Thursday night at the MSN town hall, he missed an opportunity.
The prompt was a question about how he would address Islamophobia.
“Bluntly and directly,” Sanders responded. “You know, this country, this country’s greatness relies on the reality that throughout our history we have welcomed people into this country. As I mentioned, my dad came from Poland at the age of 17.”
He then launched into talk of immigration reform and his disgust with attempts to delegitimize Obama “by suggesting he was not born in America because his dad came from Kenya.” He wrapped up by paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr.
There was no mention of Judaism — his or his father’s.
The Jews of Sanders’ father’ generation — and to a degree of Sanders’ (he’s 74) — were not as inclined as are tribe members today to reveal their background. At a time when bigotry was much more prevalent, they used their whiteness to “pass” as members of the majority.
Maybe Sanders is still trying to pass to some extent. Vermont Jews recently suggested to me that Sanders’ reticence about his Jewishness may a habit formed over years of running for statewide office.
As Burlington mayor, it was easier for Sanders to be out and proud about being Jewish. The city was in the 1980s already transitioning from a small industrial hub to a cosmopolitan college town populated by disaffected urban easterners who had transplanted to the state — and who were familiar with Jews or Jews themselves.
But when Sanders ran to be a Vermont congressman and then senator, he had to stump for votes from among the state’s rural voters, who might have been nonplussed at or even hostile to the idea of voting for a Jew.
So in answering his own question about the difference between him and Obama — the color of their skin — Sanders left unsaid what’s the same. They each belong to a minority still facing hatred, which is why Jews of Sanders’ generation have at times let the difference obscure the similarity.
He’s packing a vagina too ya know.
What a dope, he is the reason why they continue to beat the drums
Sanders is Jewish in name only, he would gladly give over Israel to the Palestinians tomorrow if he had the chance
Bernie is a cultural Jew. I doubt his shadow has crossed the tabernacle in his lifetime
Why? Simple: A surprising number of “tolerant” leftists absolutely hate Jews. Many of these will look the other way on Bernie, especially if they believe he is a self-hating Jew. He may or may not.
He should say he’s lucky to be American.
There’s too many “cultural” Christians and Jews in this country.
The muslims are the real “CULTURAL” religion. they live and die by it.
and this is really bad for us.
and Sanders, instead of talking about coming from a background where his religion brought about a lot of discrimination, but they became a great American success story, talks about being white.
Here AGAIN, a dem in power could help blacks by saying “look at me. The Holocaust. Anti Semitism. And we have survived and thrived! Do the same!”
a missed opportunity with obummer. it would be another one with Bernie.
I remember when black kids in a classroom asked Giuliani how they would pay for college. He said “get a job”.
I know the gay and gun issues hurt him at the national level, but he was afraid of no one, and he WOULD HAVE told black Americans what’s what!!
Bloomberg had many faults. But he never backed down about crime and who was behind the majority of it. He got one thing right .
yeah, what the HECK???
Scalia’s death should be a time for people to look at the leaders and compare.
Obama/Scalia Bernie/Scalia Hillary/Scalia
But they probably wouldn’t get it
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Bernie,in a rare moment of candor,admitted to being an atheist.
if he’s “atheist” then he’s abandoned his Jewish faith
(which correlates to his socialistic politics)
I would be very very happy to vote for a believing Jew, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox,etc. (at least any one not belonging to the wacko formerly-Christian sects like PCUSA). I will NOT vote for a proclaimed “atheist”.. especially one who had the advantage of being born with a Bible-believing heritage and who’s pitched it overboard
I will also not vote for a communist.
I guess Bernie Sanders is not an Atheist Jew.
Bernie Sanders disappoints some atheists with his ‘very strong religious’ feelings
http://www.religionnews.com/2016/02/04/bernie-sanders-disappoints-atheists-strong-religious-feelings/
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders dashed the hopes of some atheists when he declared he had “very strong religious and spiritual feelings†at a Democratic town hall.
“It’s a guiding principle in my life, absolutely, it is,” Sanders said Wednesday (Feb. 3) when a New Hampshire voter asked him about his faith. “Everybody practices religion in a different way. To me, I would not be here tonight, I would not be running for president of the United States, if I did not have very strong religious and spiritual feelings.”
. When I was a kid in New York City, my mom gave me fifty cents for lunch, I would eat my lunch a bloke away at a Jewish Deli , I would have a Hotdog with 7up, and a Nickerbocker candy, because my name is Neil, they figured I was a ‘Good Jewish Boy’, and I got a great greeting everyday. So, If I were Bernie I’d pick being Jewish.
thanks very much. Bernie has been quoted as saying he doesn’t believe in God (such as: http://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Bernie_Sanders )
and he’s said he’s “culturally Jewish” which is commonly what would be called a “fallen away Christian” in church parlance
Putting all these quotes together, he sounds like he does not have any really recognizably ‘faith’ other than generalized moral values he inherited from his Jewish family and ... that he’s seen fit to pursue the attainment of said values through statism/socialism/communistic force of government... rather than through a more Biblical approach.
I have known several people who more or less are like that, anyway, and Bernie sounds like he’d fit right into that group.
Which to me means, he’s not in the worst possible category but he’s still a long way from what I’d like to see elected.
Hard to really pin this down. There are a number of Atheist organizations pushing his candidacy, but then again that may not be his fault either.
Best I can do is say he looks like a somewhat more honest (and certainly more electable) version of Hillary the Liar, and that we’d get stuck with more communistic controls and less liberty (and a continued downward slide in the economy) if either one of them ever gets into the WH. Lord, I wish the D party would find someone FAR better than these two!!!
and male......
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