If Bernie is courting progressive voters, why Liberty University?
Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., was founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell and has been a requisite stop for many Republican presidential candidates over the years, and for some Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the state. But it is not typically a place that Democratic primary candidates have sought to visit.
“Liberty University was kind enough to invite me to address a convocation and I decided to accept,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement his spokesman provided. “It goes without saying that my views on many issues — women’s rights, gay rights, education and many other issues — are very different from the opinions of some in the Liberty University community. I think it is important, however, to see if we can reach consensus regarding the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in our country, about the collapse of the middle class, about the high level of childhood poverty, about climate change and other issues.”
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/08/05/bernie-sanders-to-visit-liberty-university-a-rare-venue-for-a-democratic-campaign/
Could this be why?
64% identifying at very liberal
58% identifying as liberal
59% identifying as moderate
37% identifying as somewhat conservative
27% identifying as very conservative
Sanders 22% overall support
26% identifying at very liberal
19% identifying as liberal
16% identifying as moderate
31% identifying as somewhat conservative
42% identifying as very conservative
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_National_72215.pdf
= new reply since forum marked as read
the audience can always go to Fox News to find out what Sanders was really talking about. 
Evangelical Christians!!!!!!! Just what the Dem party needs!????????????
Go Bernie????
Last edited Thu Aug 6, 2015, 04:55 PM - Edit history (1)
For some reason, he's attractive to some conservatives. I don't know why that is exactly, but it does appear to be the case.
What this means is that, if he were to win the primary, then in the general he will get most of the Democratic vote (disappointed Hillary supporters will mostly think "anyone but the Republican"
, plus he'll get part of the conservative vote.
So his attractiveness to conservatives is a good thing. Actually, I think that a good many who call themselves conservatives really aren't. They've just been snowed by Fox News et al. Bernie seems to be able to break through that wall of lies.
Thank you!!!
Ted Kennedy knew this when he spoke there, but DU's Swift Boater Brigade Against Bernie never let facts get in the way of a good smear campaign.
Here's a liberal atheist's take on it:
August 5, 2015 by Hemant Mehta
Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders will deliver an address next month at Liberty University, the school founded by the late Jerry Falwell and the place where Sen. Ted Cruz announced his entry into the Presidential race earlier this year.
But Ted Cruz belongs at Liberty University.
Bernie Sanders is why Liberty University was created in the first place. It’s a training ground for students to fight against people like him.
“Liberty University was kind enough to invite me to address a convocation and I decided to accept,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement his spokesman provided. “It goes without saying that my views on many issues — women’s rights, gay rights, education and many other issues — are very different from the opinions of some in the Liberty University community. I think it is important, however, to see if we can reach consensus regarding the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in our country, about the collapse of the middle class, about the high level of childhood poverty, about climate change and other issues.”
He added: “It is very easy for a candidate to speak to people who hold the same views. It’s harder but important to reach out to others who look at the world differently. I look forward to meeting with the students and faculty of Liberty University.”
I love that Sanders accepted the invite. He has nothing to lose by putting himself in front of a crowd that doesn’t cheer at his every word, and if he can make any inroads with students there, more power to him.
It’s not the first time a pro-choice Democrat has spoken at the school, by the way. Sen. Ted Kennedy spoke at Liberty Baptist College (the university’s predecessor) in 1983. Not only was his speech fantastic, both sides shared laughter despite their differences.
...
I’m under no illusion most Liberty students will oppose Sanders’ views. Even if they agree with him on economic inequality, they won’t vote for him because of the abortion issue alone. But in a political environment where Hillary Clinton is doing limited interviews even with relatively-friendly press, and many Republican candidates are dismissed for merely inching toward the center, Sanders is proving that he’s willing and able to reach across the aisle. (Kudos, too, to Liberty for extending him the invitation.)
Actually, forget reaching across the aisle. He’s a far-left Socialist going to Liberty. That’s more like Daniel going into the lion’s den.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/08/05/sen-bernie-sanders-will-speak-at-liberty-university-next-month-because-why-the-hell-not/
Impressive.
Is there anything Hillary supporters can't do?
But please, keep trying. The "racist" meme was getting tiresome, it's nice to see the Clinton crew with some new and fruitless toys to play with 
Busted! 
If you have a problem with it feel free to contact HuffPo.
We have a great ally in Bernie Sanders, any woman who doesn't recognize his work on our behalf isn't in her right mind.
said Sanders didn't like to engage in the "cultural wars." It was in the context of a discussion about his position on gun control and, I believe but am not 100 percent certain, Black Lives Matter. His core concern is uniting the middle class and working class, and he has openly lamented the loss of white voters to the Democratic party, while complaining African Americans vote based on race.
His supporters are upper-middle class and middle-class white people, but many who fall in the upper level don't see themselves as such. If the poor and subaltern generally found his message appealing, more of them would support him.
Here is a chart of income division in America, household income.
That some here might think $150-$200k for a household income constitutes struggling does not make it so. It is in fact the upper 5-10 percent of Americans, and therefore upper middle class.
But the hopes and dreams of today’s educated class are based on the idea that market capitalism is a meritocracy. The unreachable success of the superrich shreds those dreams.
“I’ve seen it in my research,” says pollster Doug Schoen, who counsels Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton, among others. “If you look at the lower part of the upper class or the upper part of the upper middle class, there’s a great deal of frustration. These are people who assumed that their hard work and conventional ‘success’ would leave them with no worries. It’s the type of rumbling that could lead to political volatility.”
Lower uppers are doctors, accountants, engineers, lawyers. At companies they’re mostly executives above the rank of VP but below the CEO. Their comrades include well-fed members of the media (and even Fortune columnists who earn their living as consultants).
Lower uppers are professionals who by dint of schooling, hard work and luck are living better than 99 percent of the humans who have ever walked the planet. They’re also people who can’t help but notice how many folks with credentials like theirs are living in Gatsby-esque splendor they’ll never enjoy.
http://business.time.com/2009/02/04/the-revolt-of-the-lower-upper-class-begins/
Now, I understand you believe your own worldview and experience is absolute truth and anyone who diverges from that is a liar. That does not make it so. It rather shows an inability to consider a frame of reference outside your own as legitimate. That you think the poor should support Sanders does't mean most of them do. His rallies suggest otherwise. They are overwhelmingly white, and the incomes of white people in America skew about 10x higher than people of color, which makes it terribly convenient for white people to tell AFrican Americans all they have to to is address "economic justice" (which is not in fact justice for all)
and racism will disappear. There is no evidence to suggest that point.
Additionally, that people complain about inequality as recent phenomenon and hearken back to a time of "real Democrats" indicates their views are tied to the decline of the white middle and upper-middle class. The country was founded on inequality and has perpetuated it throughout its history. Those days of "real Democrats" were also days when the majority were denied equal rights and lived in poverty, but the white middle class prospered at the expense of the many.
"IMPLIED" (See: "Bernie is a racist" and/or "Bernie doesn't care about PoC)
Welcome to DU, milehighmilehigh, my s/o is from Colorado!
In an interview with The Associated Press, Sanders confirmed his plans to formally join the race Thursday. Although he faces a massive uphill battle against pro-abortion Hillary Clinton, Sanders seems to think he will do better than expected, possibly gaining the support of voters on the far-Left who somehow think Clinton is not liberal enough.
...
The 73-year-old politician has a longstanding pro-abortion view.
...
Sanders employes the typical war on women arguments when defending abortion.
“The decision about abortion must remain a decision for the woman, her family and physician to make, not the government,” he says. “The right-wing in this country is waging a war against women and, let me be very clear, it is not a war that we are going to allow them to win. But if they want political warfare, we must expand the field of battle, and we must be on the offensive. We are not going back. Not only are we not going to retreat on women’s rights, we are going to expand them. We are going forward, not backward.”
http://www.lifenews.com/2015/04/30/pro-abortion-socialist-bernie-sanders-running-for-president-as-a-democrat/
Anti-choice religious conservatives don't find him appealing at all, why they hate the man almost as much as you do, BB.
I guess y'all have more in common than we thought.
You have got to be f'ing kidding me?!? Bernie is now a closet conservative? What utter and complete horse hockey.
Oh yeah, and a little scare-mongering of various groups to boot. Nice job.
Amirite?
We all know which candidate repeatedly threw lgbt people under the bus:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=467264
He must be doing something right! As in, correct!
And not that cheap watered down swill either, microbrews all around!
What won't she do to swift boat Bernie?
People can change their views and even parties. Saw it in my own family, which is dominant Dem., like 100+ years. Two step relatives came from hardcore, longtime GOP families, in business, law, judges. By age 14 and 16 they saw the light and are full activist liberal Dems.
Served and delivered. That one almost hurt ME!
Almost
Thanks!
BB just doesn't know when to quit, just keeps digging that hole deeper and alienating more women.
This thread is Hillarious!
This thread is full of win when it comes to setting the record straight.
Is not good? Going, listening and then telling them how he believes he can make their future better.
They get to decide.
Bad.
Oh.
I've seen the alerts on your posts and they're exactly like the ones on mine.
Now that you've crossed the self appointed guardians of feminism on DU you're a target.
Because everyone knows that we're not really feminists or even women, we're MRA sock puppets and trolls sent here to attack Hillary.
These ones
I have had many traps laid before me but they are pretty obvious..but who cares!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11071699
Apparently hypocrisy isn't just for breakfast anymore.
I was ignoring George and missed that.
Great job Scottie, as always.
And I've got yours.
People are determined to support an independent who is courting voters from the far right. Wheew. At least they aren't Third Way.
The "real Democratic Party."
We I guess that's what one does if one can't find support in the Democratic party. Good luck with that.
So much for the Democratic nomination though.
Bernie supporters are the one with the purity problem.
So now are we all moving to the right? I need a meme!
And don't get yourself a meme; all they do is stop thought.
Bernie could reach out to the ultra- conservative evangelicals at Liberty while simultaneously drowning a kitten on stage, and it would be teh most awesome, cleverest move EVAH!!
In all seriousness, Republicans would love nothing more than to run against Bernie Sanders in the GE, even if it means gathering support for him in the primaries.
He has said so over and over again. He's not playing insider politics. He doesn't care if you try to associate him with narrow little Christian conservatives. He looks beyond labels and sees Americans who are hurting under the oligarchy.
He is undercutting Fox News, bringing the truth to their misinformed audience. Imagine that!
Can you imagine Hillary daring to do something like that?
You should thank him.
More of the same recycled stale attacks.
Come up with something new will ya?
I was in bed the other night, checking Twitter one last time before falling asleep. That’s how I learned Senator Ted Kennedy had died. There have been a lot of wonderful things said about him by progressive groups over the past couple days, but I haven’t seen a lot of coverage about one of the speeches he gave.
In 1983, Kennedy spoke at Jerry Falwell‘s Liberty Baptist College (now Liberty University). While respectful of religious faith, it was proudly in support of church/state separation and liberal causes. It is funny and honest and not something you hear very often these days.
The entire speech is available online, but here are a few choice excerpts:
Actually, a number of people in Washington were surprised that I was invited to speak here — and even more surprised when I accepted the invitation. They seem to think that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a Kennedy to come to the campus of Liberty Baptist College. In honor of our meeting, I have asked Dr. Falwell, as your Chancellor, to permit all the students an extra hour next Saturday night before curfew. And in return, I have promised to watch the Old Time Gospel Hour next Sunday morning.
…
The separation of church and state can sometimes be frustrating for women and men of religious faith. They may be tempted to misuse government in order to impose a value which they cannot persuade others to accept. But once we succumb to that temptation, we step onto a slippery slope where everyone’s freedom is at risk. Those who favor censorship should recall that one of the first books ever burned was the first English translation of the Bible. As President Eisenhower warned in 1953, “Don’t join the book burners…the right to say ideas, the right to record them, and the right to have them accessible to others is unquestioned — or this isn’t America.” And if that right is denied, at some future day the torch can be turned against any other book or any other belief. Let us never forget: Today’s Moral Majority could become tomorrow’s persecuted minority.
…
Those who favor E.R.A [Equal Rights Amendment] are not “antifamily” or “blasphemers.” And their purpose is not “an attack on the Bible.” Rather, we believe this is the best way to fix in our national firmament the ideal that not only all men, but all people are created equal. Indeed, my mother, who strongly favors E.R.A., would be surprised to hear that she is anti-family. For my part, I think of the amendment’s opponents as wrong on the issue, but not as lacking in moral character.
Talk about being able to reach across the aisles… that’s impressive.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/08/27/senator-ted-kennedys-1983-speech-at-liberty-university/
What's up now: How to throw your credibility out the window by swift boating a liberal progressive Democratic candidate on DU without thinking about how it reflects on you and your candidate.
Encore!
I don't have superpowers like you do.
Was he pandering, trying to reach young minds before they could be molded into fundamentalists...who knows?
Why do people do anything?
Why do birds suddenly appear...
Oh, wait, those are buzzards I see circling over this thread.
And they're wearing Hillary buttons...
OMG!
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!
He said he would go anywhere... and debate anyone.
He's a man of his word.
may do them some good. 
You never know what may happen. I think he gets a good chunk of the Republican vote in his own state.
I like someone that knows how to "shut out" the Republicans in an election.
actually align more with liberal policies.
If you get rid of the self-labels "liberal" and "conservative" and ask about specific issues, many, if not most, self-proclaimed conservatives are actually quite liberal.
Most Self Proclaimed Conservatives Aren't Actually Conservative
, Republicans feel they do themselves electoral good by proudly proclaiming their conservatism.
But it's a shtick. There are, with a few rare and marginal exceptions, almost no genuine conservatives in America.
Political labels liberal and conservative can be highly misleading
It's fairly certain that some folks who embrace the liberal view on most issues do not consider themselves liberals. Consider, for example, that polls show majority support for gay marriage and legalization of marijuana, which are liberal positions by any reasonable measure. But some people who hold those positions likely do not consider themselves liberals.
Straw men are her specialty.
PRETEND to a very liberal, fight-for-civil rights, feminist, environmentalist, pro-gay rights, economic progressive for decades. Then ... BAIT AND SWITCH to reveal you're very, very rightwing in reality!!! That plan would have worked if it weren't for you meddling kids!!!
