Imagine for a minute Hillary pulling a Vatican stunt like Bernie.

[trumad]

The BSers would be going ape shit crazy.

[stopbush]

1. "She's not even Catholic" would be heard from sea to shining sea.

[sarae]

7. So true...

I can only imagine the crap they'd say about her...it boggles my mind that they don't see the double standard.

[yallerdawg]

2. Let's see how the Thursday night debate goes.

There are a number of scenarios explaining why he would get on a plane and leave the country for a while!

[Basic LA]

3. Can you imagine?

And why is the Vatican inserting itself (or seeming to) in our Democratic Primary anyway? It'll be played like they're picking a favorite. Who do they think they are, Netanyahu?

[Buzz Clik]

5. That is a very good question.

[MBS]

11. Sachs - an advisor to Sanders as well as keynote speaker at conference

-encouraged the CEO of the Academy of Social Sciences to invite Sanders. The CEO -a priest - also (according to one article) acknowledged that Sanders "reached out to them".
Also, Sanders misrepresented the origin and nature of his invitation, and exaggerated his role in the conference.
The President of the Academy of Social Sciences is understandably annoyed by the whole thing, which introduces partisan and celebrity and media buzz into a conference that's supposed to be above everyday, country-specific politics.

Also, from what I can tell, he was not originally invited to speak, just to be a "discussant".
It sounds to me like he pushed to speak; and his 10-minute speech seems pretty obviously jammed into the program at the last minute.

Bad form all around on the part of Bernie and his campaign.
He really lost me with this maneuver.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Well, we certainly went ape shit.

[LAS14]

6. That's the thing. I tried to imagine it and...

... couldn't. No matter what the details of the possible Sanders trip, it shows really bad judgement to involve himself in a foreign activity like this in the middle of the primaries.

[NurseJackie]

8. Bad Judgement times THREE ...

Bad idea to begin with.
Bad execution of the plan.
Bad recovery from the fallout and criticism.


Bonus Bads:

Bad choice to go anyway ... but it also would have been a
Bad choice to cancel. (He and his campaign advisors created a classic NO-WIN situation.)

And speaking of NO-WIN ... that's exactly how his results in the NY primaries will be described.

[MBS]

12. nice summary. n/t

[TMontoya]

22. And obviously

Bernie is no James T Kirk.

[BeyondGeography]

9. There would be lots of, uh, sniper fire

[FrenchieCat]

10. It would be..,

That calculating pandering queen of coronation bullcrap!

[Fla Dem]

13. Let him waste 2 days to give a 10 minute speech. Hillary will be working hard for votes and the DNC.

[IamMab]

15. Yep. Clinton doesn't need publicity stunts. nt

[mcar]

14. Oh yeah

And the hating on the pope would be 24/7.

[nygurl]

16. The idolatry of money indeed.

Tweet from GoldmanSlacks in PA:
Am I the only one who finds it odd that Bernie Sanders is paying $6,000 an hour to lease a private jet to fly to Rome to give a ten-minute speech about "the idolatry of money"?

[Rose Siding]

18. If by odd, you mean ironic, then you aren't the only one

Welcome to DU

[Rose Siding]

17. Imagine if she had someone complain that an interview was an inquisition

If she did any one of a dozen things other candidates get away with, she'd be done for.

She's an exceptional candidate, woman, person and we are very fortunate.

[trumad]

19. That's what is crazy about our media and politics.

The double standard for a woman is as stunning.

[spooky3]

20. can you imagine if she said 1/10 of what Trump says?

[trumad]

21. Yep