About that "Sanders campaign operative" who suggested Bernie to the Vatican -- Jeffrey Sachs

[Armstead]

His Bio (Public domain)

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned professor of economics, leader in sustainable development, senior UN advisor, bestselling author, and syndicated columnist whose monthly newspaper columns appear in more than 100 countries. He is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He has twice been named among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. He was called by the New York Times, “probably the most important economist in the world,” and by Time Magazine “the world’s best known economist.” A recent survey by The Economist Magazine ranked Professor Sachs as among the world’s three most influential living economists of the past decade.

Professor Sachs serves as the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Sustainable Development Goals, and previously advised both UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. Sachs is Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Sachs is co-founder and Chief Strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, and is director of the Millennium Villages Project. Sachs is also one of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates, and a Commissioner of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Development. He has authored five books, including three New York Times bestsellers (*), in the past decade years: The End of Poverty (2005*), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008*), The Price of Civilization (2011*), To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace (2013) and The Age of Sustainable Development (2015).

Professor Sachs is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on economic development, global macroeconomics, and the fight against poverty. His work on ending poverty, overcoming macroeconomic instability, promoting economic growth, fighting hunger and disease, and promoting sustainable environmental practices, has taken him to more than 125 countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s population. For more than thirty years he has advised dozens of heads of state and governments on economic strategy, in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He was among the outside advisors to Pope John Paul II on the encyclical Centesimus Annus and in recent years has worked closely with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on the issues of sustainable development.

Sachs works closely with many international organizations, including the African Union, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Food Programme, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, among others.

Professor Sachs’ work has been pivotal in many of the key junctures of globalization during the past thirty years. In the 1980s he helped several Latin American countries including Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru to end hyperinflations and renegotiate their external debts. He was the leading academic advocate in the United States for reducing the debt overhang of the developing countries and his ideas were incorporated in the global debt-reduction plans undertaken from the mid-1980s onward, including the Brady Plan and the HIPC Program.

In 1989, Professor Sachs advised Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity movement and the first post-communist Government of Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He wrote the first-ever comprehensive plan for the transition from central planning to a market democracy, which became incorporated into Poland’s highly successful reform program led by Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz. Professor Sachs was the main architect of Poland’s successful debt reduction operation. The Government of Poland awarded Sachs with one of its highest honors in 1999, the Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Cracow University of Economics.

Sachs’s ideas and methods of transition from central planning were successfully adopted throughout the transition economies. He helped Slovenia (1991) and Estonia (1992) to introduce new stable and convertible currencies. Based on Poland’s success, he was invited first by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and then by Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the transition to a market economy. He served as advisor to Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar and Finance Minister Boris Federov during 1991-93 on macroeconomic policies. He received the Leontief Medal of the Leontief Centre, St. Petersburg, for his contributions to Russia’s economic reforms.

From the mid-1990s till today, Prof. Sachs has been involved with economic reforms in many parts of Asia, including India and China. He has been a senior advisor to the Indian Government, most recently on the scaling up of primary health care in rural areas (the National Rural Health Mission), a policy that he recommended and helped to promote through the Indian Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. For his broad-based support of India’s economic reforms he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest honors.

He has similarly engaged with the Chinese Government on many issues of sustainable development, and during 2001-3 worked with senior government officials on China’s Western Development Strategy. He has authored many scholarly and policy papers on India’s and China’s economic reforms. Sachs has also worked in other parts of Asia on a number of development and research projects, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and others. He actively supports Bhutan’s innovative strategy of Gross National Happiness. He works with the Government of Jordan on a national program of poverty reduction and with the Government of Qatar on education and ICT initiatives throughout the Arab region.

Since 1995, Professor Sachs has been deeply engaged in Africa’s escape from poverty. He has worked in more than two-dozen African countries, and has advised the African leadership at several African Union summits. In the mid-1990s he worked with senior officials of the Clinton Administration to develop the concept of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). He has engaged with dozens of African leaders to promote smallholder agriculture and to fight high disease burdens through strengthened primary health systems. His pioneering ideas on investing in health to break the poverty trap have been widely applied throughout the continent. He currently serves as an advisor to several African governments, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, among others.

The Millennium Villages Project, which he directs, operates in ten African countries, and covers more than 500,000 people. The MVP has achieved notable successes in raising agricultural production, reducing children’s stunting, and cutting child mortality rates, with the results described in several peer-reviewed publications. Its key concepts of integrated rural development to achieve the MDGs are now being applied at national scale in Nigeria and Mali, and are being used by many other countries to help support national anti-poverty programs. He works very closely with the Islamic Development Bank to scale up programs of integrated rural development and sustainable agriculture among the Bank’s member countries. One such project supports pastoralist communities in the Horn of Africa, with six participating nations: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan.

Since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, Professor Sachs has been widely considered to be the leading academic scholar and practitioner on the MDGs. He chaired the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (2000-1), which played a pivotal role in scaling up the financing of health care and disease control in the low-income countries to support MDGs 4, 5, and 6. He worked with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000-1 to design and launch the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. He worked closely with senior officials of the administration of George W. Bush to develop the PEPFAR program to fight HIV/AIDS, and the PMI to fight malaria. On behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, from 2002-2006 he chaired the UN Millennium Project, which was tasked with developing a concrete action plan to achieve the MDGs. The UN General Assembly adopted the key recommendations of the UN Millennium Project at a special session in September 2005. The recommendations for rural Africa are currently being implemented and documented in the Millennium Villages, and in several national scale-up efforts such as in Nigeria.

Professor Sachs has been the Director of the Earth Institute of Columbia University since 2002. In that capacity, he leads a university-wide organization of more than 850 professionals from natural-science and social-science disciplines, in support of sustainable development. Sachs has consistently advocated for the expansion of University education on sustainable development, and helped to introduce the PhD in Sustainable Development at Columbia University, one of the first PhD programs of its kind in the U.S. He championed the new Masters of Development Practice (MDP), which has led to a consortium of major universities around the world offering the new degree. The Earth Institute has also guided the adoption of sustainable development as a new major at Columbia College. The Earth Institute is home to cutting-edge research on all aspects of earth systems and sustainable development.

In August 2012, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the launch of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), with Sachs as the Director. The SDSN will mobilize scientific and technical expertise from academia, civil society, and the private sector in support of sustainable-development problem solving at local, national, and global scales. This Solutions Network will accelerate joint learning and help to overcome the compartmentalization of technical and policy work by promoting integrated approaches to the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. The Network convenes 12 global expert Thematic Groups on key sustainable development challenges that will identify common solutions and highlight best practices. Over time the SDSN will launch projects to pilot or roll-out solutions to sustainable development challenges and assist countries in developing sustainable long-term development pathways.

Sachs is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Blue Planet Prize, membership in the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Society of Fellows, and the Fellows of the World Econometric Society. His conversation with Tyler Cowen won the Quartz Podcast Award for best business/economics podcast of 2015. He has received more than 20 honorary degrees, and many awards and honors around the world. His syndicated newspaper column appears in more than 80 countries around the world, and he is a frequent contributor to major publications such as the Financial Times of London, the International Herald Tribune, Scientific American, and Time magazine.

Sachs’ policy and academic works span the challenges of globalization, and include: the relationship of international trade and economic growth; the resource curse and extractive industries; public health; the history of economic development; economic geography; strategies of economic reform; international financial markets; macroeconomic policy; global competitiveness; climate change; the role of universities in economic development; and the end of poverty. He has authored or co-authored hundreds of scholarly articles and several books, including three bestsellers, a textbook on macroeconomics that is widely used around the world, and a highly regarded new text on sustainable development.

Prior to his arrival at Columbia University in July 2002, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as Director of the Center for International Development and the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade.

Sachs was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1954. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1976, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1978 and 1980 respectively. He joined the Harvard faculty as an Assistant Professor in 1980, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1982 and Full Professor in the fall of 1983, at the age of 28.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Obviously he's just a puppet of the Sanders campaign.

Or maybe of the Vatican.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Sachs might have made this arrangement as a quid pro quo

Nothing illegal or unethical about it; but, you don't have to be a "puppet" to pull a stunt like this.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. "Stunt"?

The envy of the Hillaroids is pretty funny. This invitation is an honor that was not offered to Hillary, who, instead of attending a conference on the idolatry of money, will be idolizing money at George Clooney's $350K fundraiser.

[Buzz Clik]

14. You guys keep looping back to the invitation itself. That is NOT it!

Sanders said on national television he was invited by the Pope to go and that he would be meeting with the Pope. No and no.

[beedle]

56. No he didn't

He said he was invited by the Vatican and was not sure if he would be meeting with the Pope.

[Buzz Clik]

65. nope

[beedle]

70. And if you're only news source is the ENTERTAINMENT show "The View"

then you have a point.

If on the other hand you get your news from places like, Cable News, Broadcast New, the Newspapers, Radio, Internet News sites, then you would know that in all these other sources clearly show Sanders made it clear that he was not sure if he was going to meet the Pope.

[NanceGreggs]

76. So we shouldn't trust what comes out of Bernie's own mouth ...

... if he says it on "The View"?

[beedle]

80. You can trust or not trust it if you want.

But if there are 100 examples of him saying 1 thing on legitimate news sources, and 1 example of him saying 'yep' to a question that seems to suggest the opposite, then you are right to re-ask the question if you need clarification, but to claim that the '1 example' of a misstatement is the measure we need to judge on, and the 100 examples of clear truthful statement are to be ignored, then I suggest that you're not worth having a discussion with.

[NanceGreggs]

87. I suggest you're not worth having a discussion with ...

... when you suggest that Bernie's own words don't count if he said them on one TV broadcast as opposed to another.

It was a mis-statement? That can't be. I've been told hundreds of times by Bernie folk that if HRC makes a mis-statement, it is simply a lie - and if she corrects it later, she's trying to cover for it after-the-fact.

Those who live by the sword - and all that.

[beedle]

92. Such as??

Any suggested lie claimed of Hillary is not based on something she said in the morning and clarified in the afternoon .. it is based on long term stated policy and voting records, then suddenly when it seems politically convenient she comes out with a totally opposite policy.

Marriage equality for instance ... decades of being against marriage equality, then suddenly just as it becomes politically convenient to be pro-marriage-equality, she 'evolves' like a light-switch.

Hillary's stance on 'superpredators' wasn't her making that speech, then the next day apologizing for saying something racist and ignorant ... it took until this fucking year, an election year no less, and in the middle of the primaries for her to 'clarify' her 'misstatement'.

Bernie said 'yep' in the middle of dozens of other interviews where he provided the correct information, and you play it as though Bernie had been claiming every day for 10 years that he was going to meet the Pope and suddenly claimed he never said that. What the Hell is wrong with you people? Really?

[NanceGreggs]

124. WOW!!!

As word salads go, THAT was an impressive one!

[beedle]

125. It's hard to call someone a

petty and shallow little spoiled child without hurting their feelings too much.

[riversedge]

122. go find The View video--Yes, Sanders said he was meeting the Pope.

[beedle]

123. No, he said 'yep" to a question on an entrainment talk show

If you checked all the other sources he was interviewed by that day, all real news outlets instead of an Entertainment show, he made it clear he was not sure if he would meet the Pope.

If your only source of news is "The View" then you're not really interested in real news anyway.

At worst Bernie made a small misstatement that was very quickly corrected (actually it was corrected before he went on The View) Unlike the lies Hillary tells --- she tells them repeatedly, over a long time, and other people have to do the corrections for her. And even when exposed she makes stupid excuses instead of apologising and correcting the record.

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

[revbones]

6. Wow. Such desperation.

Seriously though, you really must have a bee in your bonnet to be this worked up and have to post so much about this with nothing to really substantiate your claims.

You really found it necessary to post "Sachs might have made this arrangement as a quid pro quo"? Wow. Hillary "might" eat kittens as well.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Sachs would have been a big hero on DU before these primaries.

But he had the gall to recommend Bernie as a participant in a Vatican conference on economic justice, so now he's just a tool of the Sanders campaign?

The Hillaroids really have their panties in a twist about this.

[LuvLoogie]

83. Morning Joe introduced Sachs as Bernie's foreign policy advisor on a March 31

appearance where he trashes Hillary throughout the segment. This was the day after the invitation was secured. Sachs is vehemently anti-Hillary.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

85. Considering Sachs' positions on economic justice, I guess it makes sense

that he opposes Hillary.

[LuvLoogie]

88. Then it should also make sense to you that Margaret Archer's

account of how this took place is true.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

90. Msgr. Sorondo, who is in charge of the conference, says it was not true.

There would seem to be some internal strife within this organization, but there is no evidence that Margaret Archer supports Hillary, or that the relationship between Sachs and Sanders had anything to do with Ms. Archer's snit.

[brush]

42. You, my friend, have found exactly the right word to describe this whole invite mess.

Stunt!

With the New York primary happening 4 days from the overseas academic conference Sanders is going to attend, THAT is the absolute best description for a presidential candidate immersed in a heated, make-or-break primary to up and take a leave to sit and listen, not speak or have an audience with the Pope mind you, to a string of presentations by attendees when he should be furiously campaigning in the streets of New York.

It reminds me of the time when McCain suspended his campaign to rush back to D.C. during the height of the financial crisis in 2008. Remember? Barney Frank was quoted as saying "McCain has no role here".

And he didn't. Wonder what's Bernie's role in the Vatican.

[TM99]

59. Stunt you say?

He should be in NY furiously campaigning you say?

Like Clinton, right?

Oh, but wait, she is not going to be in NY that day either. She will be in the Bay Area with a venture capitalist and the Clooney's at a swanky and very expensive fund-raiser.

You really sure you want to go with this argument?

[brush]

74. All the more reason he should be campaigning in New York

If Hillary is not there he could play that the hell up by asking the press, perhaps the NYDN, "Where is Hillary? If she cares so much about New York, why is she in San Francisco instead of campaigning here like I am".

Easy, that almost writes itself. But he can't do that because he'll be even farther away — out of the country.

Yeah, I wanna go with this argument.

[TM99]

77. Well it seems like

a very disingenuous and rather hypocritical one.

Sanders is walking his talking at the Vatican conference dealing with morality and money.

And Clinton is walking hers as well as she panders for high dollars in a quid pro quo fashion.

[brush]

81. Ok, you win. New Yorkers won't mind that he left the country instead of trying to get their vote.

[TM99]

98. I am sure the high number of Catholic voters

will be impressed with what he is leaving to do.

And those that support Sanders and will support him are far more impressed that he will be at the Vatican with a man like Dr. Sachs instead of with a celeb like Clooney.

[brush]

101. Maybe, but he won't be in New York, he'll be out of the country. Let's see how it plays out.

[riderinthestorm]

109. And Hillary will be at a $350k/plate fundraiser with George Clooney, the 1%, and other celebrities

in San Francisco so she's also not going to be in NY.

[brush]

110. Well, we'll both have to see.

[riderinthestorm]

69. Except Pope Francis has a history.of stopping by these events

http://ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/vatican-worlds-mayors-vow-tackle-climate-change-poverty

So yeah, there's that.

He also changed his departure for Greece to leave on the 16th.

[brush]

75. Well we'll see then, won't we.

I guess like he gave Kim Davis an audience — not.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kudos to Sachs.

Thanks for the thread, Armstead.

[Hoyt]

3. Problem is, he ain't the Pope.

[rhett o rick]

7. How astute. He ain't the President either. I think there is a long line of schit he ain't.

[Hoyt]

10. Well, Sanders is supposed to meet with the Pope, or so we were told.

[rhett o rick]

111. Do you even have a point?

[Hoyt]

113. Yes, invoking the Pope to gain an edge in NYork is quite sleazy, don't you think?

[rhett o rick]

116. And once again in the form of a question. This isn't Jeapordy.

More insinuations. I will tell you what I think is "sleazy" is denying medical marijuana to people that need it because big pharma is sending you checks for your personal account, I think cutting welfare benefits and supporting tough drug laws is sleazy. Taking money per Citizens United while saying you oppose it, is sleazy. Holding Bush's hand while we invade Iraq is immoral. Supporting fracking for Chevron profits (getting kick backs) while people are protesting the pollution of their drinking water is sleazy.
Sending our troops to die for corporation profits, and on and on.

Using the charitable Foundation as a retirement plan is sleazy. Using the DNC to bribe super-delegates is sleazy. Mentioning the Pope somehow pales to the sleazy from the Clinton Aristocracy.

[Hoyt]

117. I doubt the charitable foundation is a retirement plan, that would definitely be grounds to

revoke its non-profit status.

Fact is, Sanders said he was seeing the Pope. Then we find out he's going to some inconsequential little meeting and is not even there as a regular participant. Looks like just about anyone could have gotten invited to that meeting.

I oppose Citizens United, but if that is what the GOPers will be using to win the election, I'm fine with Clinton doing the same. There is absolutely no evidence she takes contributions and returns favors. If that were the case, how would she respond to contributions from Wall Street, environmental groups, teachers and other unions, Emily's List, Planned Parenthood, the Sandler Foundation, Women's Self Worth Foundation, Fair Share Action, and many more. Seems she'd have a hard time doing anything for all those groups.

[rhett o rick]

118. You mean Bill and Hillary can't be on the Board of Directors and determine their own salary?

Isn't Chelsea drawing a salary?

When Clinton's decisions are based on how they effect those that give her money, that's graft. She doesn't support reinstatement of Glass-Steagall because she is in tight with Goldman-Sachs. It's obvious that her biases favor those that give her money.

She was selling fracking to the world while people were demonstrating in the streets. She chooses Chevron over the people wanting clean drinking water. Why? Chevron gives her more money. The Clintons are very, very wealthy with all the money coming from those that want quid pro quo favors.

[Hoyt]

119. There is a pretty tight limit on inurement with non-profits. Even if they somehow managed to pay

themselves some big salary, they'd have to pay taxes on it. And if Clinton gets her way raising the Social Security cap and even taxing sources of income not traditionally considered earned income subject to FICA tax, they'd pay a bunch.

So she would choose Chevron over large contributions from environmental groups, unions, good Democrats, etc. Do you have any proof of that, or is that just something you heard from other Sanders supporters who make crud up because they believe the world is stacked against them? I bet you were one of those who believed Obama was going to railroad the Keystone Pipeline through, and slash Social Security or privatize it.

[rhett o rick]

120. So you say H. Clinton is now willing to raise the cap on SS? When did this change?

CLINTON: I don’t want to raise taxes on anybody. I’m certainly against one of Senator Obama’s ideas, which is to lift the cap on the payroll tax, because that would impose additional taxes on people who are educators, police officers, firefighters and the like.

Has she changed since then? Doesn't look like it here.

&ebc=ANyPxKp_KO13IAeE6arpi0LYOtErK7ltJSQ8r175KbeaOs8Dsa1NRrMpu7563zkJp1xEuYQOALREapBMlxrjPvAKXqUDFRghZA&nohtml5=False

I don't believe that the Clintons can't find a way of getting out of taxes.

The contributions from environmental and "good" Democrats pale in comparison to that by the oil industry.

[Hoyt]

121. You can read it on her campaign website. You need to get a better calculator regarding contributions

[Armstead]

11. Did Bernie actually say he was personally invited by the Pope himself?

The whole flap was a masterful bit of Rovian manipulation -- but not by Sanders.

The teenage media, and a certain political campaign with a vested interested in maiking sanders look bad, ginned up a phony controversy to smear the fact that Sanders got a very nice invitation on a subject near to his heart from the Vatican.

The number of posts about this fucking citcle jerk on DU indicates that a trip that would have ordinarily been a minor footnote struck a deep nerve among some people.

[Buzz Clik]

15. Yes, he said. It's on video. HE SAID IT.

Karl Rove didn't say it. Bernie said it.

Jesus effin' Cristo. You guys are killing yourselves trying to rewrite very recent and documented events.

[Armstead]

22. He bungled a statement by a host in one interview (The View) but he did not say it himself

If you have a link to another occasion where he said the Pope invited him personally and offered a personal audience, please let me know.

And, even if you want to be cynical, Bernie isn't stupid. He knew he could not lie about something like that.

[Buzz Clik]

25. LOL! He bungled the difference between "Yes" and "No"? LOL!!!

Reading off a card, the host asked Bernie if he'd been invited to The Vatican by the Pope. "Yup", said Bernie.

You've been here for this whole fucking conversation. Why are you so intent on rewriting this?

[Surya Gayatri]

126. Yes or No? Aye or Nay? Oui ou Non? Yup or Nope? It's hard for a guy

to make up his mind sometimes. Cut the fella a break already!



DON'T PICK ON THE BERN!

[CentralCoaster]

8. So, elitist. (giggle)

With the Vatican's tacit endorsement of Bernie Sanders as a Western leader, if not best choice as Dem nominee, those "defenders of the status quo and incrementalism" are just beside themselves.

We are lucky that despite all the corporate power destroying families and communities on a global scale, we have minds and bodies that seek to create fairness and equity among all humankind.

Great week for Bernie, tacit approval (endorsement) by President Carter, President Obama, and now the Pope.

Re Obama, calling out your the former SOS as a negligent cabinet member during an election = significant.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Oh. My. God. When will you get this? The Vatican did not invite Sanders. Period.

[beam me up scottie]

18. LOL! I love how much this bothers you.

[Buzz Clik]

20. Yeah, I have this thing called integrity.

I tend to get really emphatic when I catch someone lying.

[Armstead]

23. Who are you supporting?

A thing about lying?

[Buzz Clik]

31. Ah, so we agree Bernie lied.

Thank you! It's about time.

I'm done here. I won't read your next response.

[Armstead]

36. That's totally not what I said.

You lied about my statement. But since you are not reading this, it doesn't matter.

[beam me up scottie]

24. How noble. Zeus speed!

[Buzz Clik]

27. You are caught in a lie and you shrug it off with, "How noble?" Holy flying fuck.

[beam me up scottie]

29. I'm not the one lying here. Or having a meltdown over something so silly.

[Dragonfli]

58. I haven't seen such anti-Catholic hateful rhetoric used against someone in a campaign since Kennedy

Some of us are old enough to remember that and not fondly, including the implication that "you can't elect a Catholic, because then the Vatican would be running the white house", I guess they figure an oldie is a goodie, and this time the one the anti-Catholic venom is pointed at isn't even a Catholic, but is merely attending a discussion regarding poverty issues (which by the way he has always done so one can not seriously imply he is only interested now for "optics" but strangely still are)

[840high]

28. You're having a hissy.

[beam me up scottie]

30. Isn't it hilarious?

[TM99]

61. WTF are you talking about.

This lie of yours has been thoroughly debunked. He was invited by the Vatican to the conference. Period. WTF is right!

[Buzz Clik]

63. You guys have repeated this so often you now believe it to be true.

Fine.

[TM99]

67. The only one lying is you.

“I deny (Archer’s account that Sanders invited himself and was discourteous). It was not that way,” Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is the head of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event.
He said it was his idea to invite Sanders.

“This is not true and she knows it. I invited (Sanders) with (Archer’s) consensus,” said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/propernomenclature/mons-marcelo-sorondos-idea-to-invite-sanders-to-vatican/

Will you ever admit you are wrong? Ever? Are you not even that mature?

[riderinthestorm]

9. Sachs says Sorondo reached out to him to contact Bernie.

Not vice versa

The chancellor of the body, Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, ...said that it was his idea to invite Sanders. 

Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor who is presenting at the event, said in a phone interview that he helped the Vatican reach out to Bernie Sanders in March, and he doesn’t know why Archer alleged that the Sanders campaign initiated the gig. “The academy sent the invitation, it’s pure and simple,” he said. “A lot of people in the Vatican respect him a lot. He is speaking in the same kind of moral themes that Pope Francis, and the social teachings of the Church, promote, which is a moral economy.” A representative who works with Sachs also passed along an official invitation from Sanchez Sorondo to Sanders dated on March 30. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/bernie-heads-to-the-vatican/477471/ 

[Buzz Clik]

17. It sure as shit wasn't the Pope, was it? That's what Sanders claimed on The View!

[beam me up scottie]

21. I hope they keep posting that all week, just to piss people off.

[riderinthestorm]

26. I saw that and I've commented on it already

I don't know this teevee show but the way it looked to me, its a pretty fluffy show?

When the first woman made the erroneous statement, Bernie could have corrected her with "the Vatican " or just let it go as a minor slip. 

For that particular audience it seems as though it would be splitting hairs to say, "it was Pope Francis' close aide who invited me". 

Only political junkies are scrutinizing every minutia. 

FWIW, I'd cut Hillary the same slack.

[Buzz Clik]

41. No. That is not what happened.

The View (reading from a card in her hand): "Bernie has been invited by the Pope to the Vatican."
Bernie: "Yep"
The View: "And you will be meeting with The Pope
Bernie: Nods emphatically

The crowd went nuts.

Nobody misspoke or made erroneous statements. Maybe Sanders had been misinformed by the same person who wrote the card. Sanders was immediately given the floor and full, rapt attention. He made no effort to correct anything.

[riderinthestorm]

50. I freely admit he made no correction. You did read my post right?

I said that particular audience probably wouldn't have been too interested in parsing the minutia - the Pope, the Vatican, Pope Francis' close aide - "Pope Francis' close aide issued the invite" wouldn't even register on that crowd as I see it.

Honestly that's political junkie land.

But please keep parsing this - its crazy and not in a good way. Bottom line is Bernie’s going to Vatican City for an exclusive conference on global inequality while Hillary parties with George Clooney, the 1% celebrities and the others who can afford a $350k/plate fundraiser.

The rest of this shit is just noise.

[Buzz Clik]

60. Here's the video

later...

[beam me up scottie]

64. Bernie Sanders turned me into a newt!

[riderinthestorm]

66. I've seen it. Twice nt

[Buzz Clik]

68. It's pretty straight forward. I don't see how we could be having this conversation.

But, I'm weary of it.

Have the last word.

[riderinthestorm]

71. I've told you how it looks to me

I even agree with you that he doesn't correct her.

I'm not sure you're even reading my posts.

[pangaia]

46. Finally, somebody can explain what happened..

I 'knew' what happened but know way could I lay it out as well as you did.

Bravo.

[riderinthestorm]

57. I mean honestly the show looks pretty fluffy

Parsing this would have been futile there imo and I think Bernie’s smart enough to not embarrass the hostess.

The Pope or the Pope's close aide? Really?

FWIW I really would cut Hillary the same slack.

[pangaia]

38. it WAS the Pope, I heard him say it..

[beam me up scottie]

39. It's true! He posted it on my Facebook wall!

[pangaia]

43. Damn, mine two. (not a typo)

Also, I got messages on Viber, Whatsapp, Wechat and some other one, I forget..

EVERYBODY heard it....

[beam me up scottie]

45. I guess our friend is out of the loop. Must suck to be snubbed by the pope.

Maybe being unfriended by Frank is what's behind this tantrum.

Tsk.

[pangaia]

48. Who's frank?

[beam me up scottie]

49. That's what the pope asked me to call him after he told me he secretly endorsed Bernie.

You know how all of us Bernistas are one big happy family.

[pangaia]

53. DUH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't tell anyone I blew that...

I'm done for now.

off to Thomas merton.

Carry one...on

[beam me up scottie]

13. Thank you for this, they dismissed him as simply a "surrogate" of Bernie's.

Typical of anyone who doesn't support Hillary, their accomplishments count for nothing.

[Buzz Clik]

19. No, Sachs was dismissed as "not the Pope."

[beam me up scottie]

33. NOT THE POPE, NOT THE POPE! SQUAWK!!!

[pangaia]

44. Well, of course he's not the Pope.

The POPE is the Pope..
OR as Inspector Clouseau would say, the PUUPE!

[geek tragedy]

37. Um, source of that quote? nt

[TMontoya]

40. Bernieland nt

[PeaceNikki]

51. Lol, that quote is from a satirical site.

http://nationalreport.net/pope-francis-endorses-bernie-sanders-president/

Other headlines include:
Pope Francis Invites Juggalos to Exclusive Vatican Banquet

Report: Bernie Sanders Bird Actually Obama Drone

Marcus Bachmann Packs Fudge At Local Candy Factory

[kenn3d]

114. Thankyou - Deleted

Easily believable hoax considering Sen.Sanders' well-known praise for the Pope.

mea culpa

[pangaia]

34. Come on, man. You made that up.

[Armstead]

52. I did he's really Paul Krugman in disguise

The disguise of an economist who actually rolls up his sleeves and tackles the problems of the world.

[pangaia]

55. LOL !!

[jimmy_crack_corn]

35. Here's the reality if you can deal with it.

We saw this with John Kerry "Rove" Swiftboating where one tries to take a positive and make it a negative.

Stop it we are all DEMOCRATS !

NY TIMES => http://tinyurl.com/zx3cq8q
Clinton Foundation Donors: Search

Former President Bill Clinton released a list of donors to his charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation. The database includes more than 146,000 individuals, organizations and governments. Full Story »
Donations from $1 to $249

John C. Archer
Linda Archer
Margaret T. Archer <= HRC SHILL
Percy O. Archer

And oh by the way....: Reuters => http://tinyurl.com/z2k2yzw

"U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself.

"I deny that. It was not that way," Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event.

He said it was his idea to invite Sanders.

A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first.

"This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

An invitation to Sanders dated March 30, which was emailed to Reuters, was signed by Sorondo and also included Archer's name.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella in Vatican City and Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Toni Reinhold)"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

54. To be fair:

The Margaret T. Archer who is listed as a Clinton Foundation donor does not seem to be the same Margaret Archer who works for the Vatican. That person is Margaret Scotford Archer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Archer

[jimmy_crack_corn]

105. Ok so she didn't donate but..

Thanks for link save me the time to search.....

So she may not be a Shill for HRC.. But HRC Shills still dis "Rove" Swiftboating maneuver & misrepresented her confusion on who invited who and unhappiness with her boss as a Bernie bad behavior.

Reutors Published this report => http://tinyurl.com/z2k2yzw

"U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself.

"I deny that. It was not that way," Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event.

He said it was his idea to invite Sanders.

A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first.

"This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

An invitation to Sanders dated March 30, which was emailed to Reuters, was signed by Sorondo and also included Archer's name.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella in Vatican City and Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Toni Reinhold)"

[Doctor_J]

47. Camp Clinton is absolutely livid that the pope believes Sanders to be a good man who

wants to work within the US political system to help repair the world, and who could contribute to the discussion they are having at the Vatican.

It has literally been weeks since anyone in the Clinton campaign or any of her followers have discussed any issues, including of course the stranglehold that the rich have over every facet of American life. The strange thing is that their relentless bashing of Sanders and liberals is killing her campaign.

[DemocracyDirect]

73. +1000

Wow you hit the nail on the head right there.

I love to debate but the Clintonistas give me nothing substantial to debate.
Only sound bites that are out of context or are trivial enough to be obvious distractions.
I don't have a clue what she stands for beyond "breaking down barriers" and "protecting America". Those are slogans I've heard from every politician in history.

[jillan]

102. Well she's been beat up & she's still standing.

I honestly heard a Clinton surrogate say that on CNN as a reason why people should vote for her.

Even here on DU all the posts from her supporters are about Bernie and trashing him. I honestly don't hear anything from her or her supporters or her Surrogates on the issues she has been campaigning on.

[DemocracyDirect]

106. Same here.

Well if she is the nominee, I'm afraid that the Republicans will rip her to shreds.
They have been laying off lately waiting to see what happens.

I see so many lines of attack against her that are new and seem to be real.
And that's before considering she the ultimate establishment insider in a non-establishment year.

We're all being very polite for this primary because we are not the bad people.

[warrprayer]

62. kick

and rec

[seabeyond]

72. No one I have heard has a problem with Sachs.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

82. Oooooh, I bet I can prove you wrong, seabeyond

Maybe some other time.

[seabeyond]

84. Well, I haven't seen it.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

89. ..

Naomi Klein didn't really care for him.

[seabeyond]

91. Lol Lol Lol. Well, I wasn't really talking the whole world. More, DU. Nt

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

97. Well, in a different thread, in a different decade, I certainly talked poo

😃😃😃😃

[seabeyond]

99. Ya, whatever.

[northernsouthern]

78. Great...

Had to start skimming it part way through. Well now I feel like I have accomplished jack in my life. I am off to eat a pint of icecream and watch the Nightly show.

[azmom]

79. Be still my heart. I think I'm in love.

[amborin]

86. this article by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs probably aggravates, too:

Top economist, UN advisor and climate activist: "Clinton is a danger to world peace"

Hillary Clinton and the Syrian Bloodbath

by Jeffrey D. Sachs




At Milwaukee Debate, Hillary stated:

But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together.

Except, Hillary was blatantly lying:

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs notes:

This is the kind of compulsive misrepresentation that makes Clinton unfit to be President. Clinton's role in Syria has been to help instigate and prolong the Syrian bloodbath, not to bring it to a close.

In 2012, Clinton was the obstacle, not the solution, to a ceasefire being negotiated by UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan.

It was US intransigence - Clinton's intransigence - that led to the failure of Annan's peace efforts in the spring of 2012, a point well known among diplomats.

Despite Clinton's insinuation in the Milwaukee debate, there was (of course) no 2012 ceasefire, only escalating carnage. Clinton bears heavy responsibility for that carnage, which has by now displaced more than 10 million Syrians and left more than 250,000 dead......

from daily kos

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/15/1485382/-Top-economist-UN-advisor-and-climate-activist-Clinton-is-a-danger-to-world-peace

[Armstead]

93. I hope so

[LuvLoogie]

95. Nope. It illuminates that this was a made for TV politicizing of the Academy event.

[senz]

94. Why are so many Hill fans hung up on title, position, status, and power?

Why is it so important to them to try to prove that Bernie did not receive a personal invitation from the Pope himself, even if he did receive an invitation from someone else at the Vatican? This is the type of thing that would be of prime importance to Republicans but not Democrats. When I read some comments on this issue and also on the subject of endorsements, it feels like suddenly I'm looking at a conservative website -- all that matters is the power, position, title and status of the one doing the inviting, not the invitation itself. I presume the only aspect of Bernie's invitation that interests them is the "honor" factor, not the content and purpose of the invitation. It's merely a matter of appearances, who you're seen hobnobbing with, not what you're actually doing.

This might explain why photos of Hill being chummy with wealthy Republicans and Wall Street CEOs do not bother her supporters at all -- while for the rest of us, they raise red flags.

No wonder they don't like Bernie -- they don't share his values! If FDR hadn't have been fabulously wealthy, they probably wouldn't have liked him either.

How can we all be Democrats? When I joined the Democratic Party several decades ago as soon as I was old enough to vote, it stood for the values and principles that Bernie represents. I have a feeling most Democrats think the Party still stands for these values and are unaware that the current power structure does not.

I strongly suspect Third Wayers are a minority within the party -- a powerful minority, but a minority nonetheless. I'm pretty sure they are heavily represented among Hill supporters who frequent political websites for the purpose of getting her elected.

Maybe we should inform our less tuned-in fellow Democrats what has happened to the party.

[Armstead]

96. Unfortunately, I think too many have bought into the Third Way mentality

Vicarious feelings of success or something. ....Just like the GOP has CONvinced conservatives to identify with millionaires.

[senz]

103. If so, it's the MSM's fault. In support of capitalism, they've been valorizing wealth

since the 1980s. When Bernie gets to the White House, I hope he will consider breaking up the media monopoly and re-instituting pre-1980s FCC regulations.

But as someone who read a bit of literature back in the day, I know superficiality and slavish adoration of the rich and powerful is nothing new. However, it used to be a subject of derision in novels and stories; now it's all around us in real life. Ugh, we're living in a dystopian novel.

[Armstead]

104. He was a fierce critic of Clinton's deregulatiobn of the media in the 90's

Bernie led the fight against media monopolies for a long time

[senz]

108. I would have expected it of Bernie but haven't run across it yet.

Guess I should google around. This interests me because in grad school I did a project (no big deal, just a paper and presentation) on the 1996 Telecom Bill for which I read a number of interesting books and journal articles. One of the books was Ben Bagdikian's Media Monopoly, which he updated numerous times over the years due to the increasing consolidation of the media, but I do not recall Bernie Sanders being mentioned anywhere -- however, this was a while back before the name "Bernie Sanders" would have been familiar to me. I did read the Telecom Bill itself, a pretty disturbing read despite being something of a snooze fest.

I will be so happy if Bernie has spoken up against it.

[TM99]

100. I agree

and I weep for this country.

More would prefer to see their President-to-be chumming around with Clooney and a venture capitalist instead of attending a conference at the Vatican with Dr. Sachs.

Both arms of the corporate party prefer their constituents to be dumbed down and more impressed with grandiose displays of persona than substantive policy and positions.

[senz]

107. A dumbed down populace cannot defend itself nor its democratic governance.

If this dumbing down has been done on purpose, and there are plenty of reasons to suspect it has been, then the people of this country are ripe for a more complete corporate takeover of their government and the ensuing loss of rights granted to them by the founders of the original government.

[passiveporcupine]

112. My God, this man needs to be cloned.

How can anyone accomplish so much in one lifetime? He sounds absolutely amazing.

According to wiki, he only sleeps four or five hours a night. He's just going all the time.

[2banon]

115. Quite the Resume!