Earth to MSM Idiots: Bernie is NOT a socialist.

[Skwmom]

SOCIALISM: a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies

Bernie does NOT advocate for this. That is why he says he is a DEMOCRATIC Socialist.

Is this so hard to understand?

[Trust Buster]

1. Better tell that to Sanders. He has referred to himself as a Socialist his whole career.

[Cheese Sandwich]

2. There are a lot of other ideas of socialism.

In fact the original idea of socialism was always about workers controlling the workplaces, not about state control. Although control of industries through democratically controlled governments can certainly be part of the picture.

There is no real consensus on what socialism is exactly, especially among socialists LOL.

This year would be a great time for liberals to learn more about socialism.

Try Chomsky or Richard D. Wolff maybe.

[oberliner]

3. Sanders: "I am a socialist and everyone knows that"

Presumably, he knows what he is.

[brooklynite]

4. Yes, because Bernie calls himself one...

[DrDan]

5. "I am a Socialist. Everyone knows that." - i guess he as wrong.

[forjusticethunders]

6. Social democracy is a form of socialism

Albeit if socialism was a scale, social democracy would be on the "far right".

[DesertRat]

7. Let's listen to Bernie's own words

[Gothmog]

8. But the attack ads on Sanders write themselves

The attack ads from this appearance on Meet the Press write themselves https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/12/why-bernie-sanders-isnt-going-to-be-president-in-5-words/

Meet the Press ✔ @meetthepress
CHUCK TODD: Are you a capitalist?@BernieSanders: No. I'm a Democratic Socialist.
8:33 AM - 11 Oct 2015

And, in those five words, Sanders showed why — no matter how much energy there is for him on the liberal left — he isn't getting elected president.

Why? Because Democrat or Republican (or independent), capitalism remains a pretty popular concept — especially when compared to socialism. A 2011 Pew Research Center survey showed that 50 percent of people had a favorable view of capitalism, while 40 percent had an unfavorable one. Of socialism, just three in 10 had a positive opinion, while 61 percent saw it in a negative light.

Wrote Pew in a memo analyzing the results:

Of these terms, socialism is the more politically polarizing — the reaction is almost universally negative among conservatives, while generally positive among liberals. While there are substantial differences in how liberals and conservatives think of capitalism, the gaps are far narrower.

...The simple political fact is that if Sanders did ever manage to win the Democratic presidential nomination — a long shot but far from a no shot at this point — Republicans would simply clip Sanders's answer to Todd above and put it in a 30-second TV ad. That would, almost certainly, be the end of Sanders's viability in a general election.

Americans might be increasingly aware of the economic inequality in the country and increasingly suspicious of so-called vulture capitalism — all of which has helped fuel Sanders's rise. But we are not electing someone who is an avowed socialist to the nation's top political job. Just ain't happening.

You can try to argue that the two terms are not the same but that will not stop the Kochs from running $200 milion to $300 million using that term in negative ads that would be very effective.

[DesertRat]

9. I agree with you Gothmog

The Kochs haven't started in on Sanders at all, because they know he's not going to be the nominee. But if he were, the attack ads would completely derail any chance he might have.