Bernie Sanders six months after his election as mayor of Burlington, Vermonst, on Sept. 11, 1981. By Michael Kranish Michael Kranish National political investigative reporter Email Bio Follow May 3 at 6:00 AM Bernie Sanders was bare-chested, towel-draped, sitting at a table lined with vodka bottles, as he sang “This Land Is Your Land” to his hosts in the Soviet Union in the spring of 1988.
Then-Mayor Bernie Sanders, right, celebrates with officials from Yaroslavl in June 1988. The trip garnered brief mention in the 2016 presidential campaign, but earlier this year, a video from a Vermont community television station was posted online that showed a few minutes of Sanders’s unlikely celebration with the Soviets. Right-leaning websites suggested Sanders was cozying up to communists, underscoring how the trip might be used against the senator if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
“I got really upset and walked out,” said David F. Kelley, who had helped arrange the trip and was the only Republican in Sanders’s entourage. “When you are a critic of your country, you can say anything you want on home soil. At that point, the Cold War wasn’t over, the arms race wasn’t over, and I just wasn’t comfortable with it.”
Sanders had visited Nicaragua in 1985 and hailed the revolution led by Daniel Ortega, which President Ronald Reagan opposed. “I was impressed,” Sanders said then of Ortega, while allowing that “I will be attacked by every editorial writer for being a dumb dope.” At the same time, Sanders voiced admiration for the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, whom Reagan and many others in both parties routinely denounced.
Then-newlyweds Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, get a tour during their visit to Russia in June 1988. “It cost him some political capital when you are self-identified as a socialist and you go to the Soviet Union,” said Terrill G. Bouricius, who accompanied Sanders as a Burlington City Council member. “We knew there would be some negative effects of that, but we thought pushing peaceful coexistence was important.
Sanders then traveled to Yaroslavl, where he and his companions toured factories, hospitals and schools. During a boat ride on the Volga River, Sanders interviewed the city’s mayor for a Burlington radio show, quizzing him on the costs of housing and health care. Weaver, the adviser, said Sanders “looks back on it with great fondness as a moment of celebrating with other people.”“It would have been a normal boring kind of diplomatic exchange except we had just come out of the sauna,” he said. “I think we were probably naked in the sauna. I certainly hadn’t brought a bathing suit. . . . We were bare-chest with towels on.”
Somehow this is a “nothing burger” but the pretend Russian involvement that Mueller spent 2 years and $30M looking for in vain is somehow worse. Gotta love liberallogic
Redistributing pennies And Pravda for millennials Again, we’re feeling growing itch and bern With a sickle and hammer Waiving on a red banner And free brainwashing colleges for all
The spin doctors at the washington post are up early today- this is a literal parroting of an old right wing lie. Bernie's visit to the Soviet Union was through a global sister city program established by President Eisenhower in 1956.
Fuck you ! Don't forget BillClinton inventor of DLC and patron saint of corporate greedheads everywhere spent a week in Moscow too. Someday amazon and JeffBezos are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We swear it!
This is the . They can bleat about the separation between news/editorials and ad department $$. It may even be true. But no writer/editor will ever get in trouble for working to keep JeffBezos' tax bill $0.00 WeRemember2016 NeverForget2016
Wow, cool anti-semitism guys! The nazi's totally didn't push the idea that Jew's had russian loyalty
Also in 1988:
who cares! what that shows is he always cared about people! We love Bernie! Medicare for All
We're taking more of your boss's money than his ex-wife
Hey, WaPo. If you don’t want to be accused of hating Jews, don’t use anti-semitic tropes
Yellow journalism at it's finest.
You guys really want to start a third red scare, don't you
Lol, your desperation stinks so bad i can smell it in Texas.
Right-wing conspiracy trash for misguided 'centrists.'
I wonder if any women or nonwhite men will ever join the race?
Where was this in 2016?
I read most of this two years ago. Thank you WAPO for bringing to light again
Gross.
'Ben Cohen, the co-founder of the Vermont-based company and co-chairman of Sanders’s presidential campaign, said in an interview that he did build a facility in the Soviet Union. But he said that “it had nothing to do with Bernie” and that he has never talked to him about it...
Putin happy to support both of them against the moderate middle as he's done in France and elsewhere. He wants chaos & empowering extremes works. Kasparov
Selena_Adera The media is finally vetting Bernie & I am totally here for it.
Its about 3 years too late.
The Washington Post trying to use the Corbyn playbook against Bernie I see.
Nyet, comrade!
McCarthyism 2.0
The video he doesn't want voters to see 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Bernie is a joke and needs to get off the stage now.
Part of his training and indoctrination tour/ homecoming
Funny how this loser never moved to the Soviet Union
Stupid man.
What are you doing Washington Post You're losing credibility.
So a day after the Biden/Chaney story we now have this. Oh this is fun. The boy/man is the media, the Democratic candidates are The Giving Tree. Can’t wait til all we’re left with is the stump upon which trump will stand.
Notice how Comrade SenSanders & his new child protege in training AOC have been quieter than little church mice too about Venezuela Wassup Commies:)
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics-taught Bernie what socialism looks like and he wants those fabulous breadlines for you too. WalkAway
Just catching up are we?
It's a very nice place. Friendly people, great architecture. A good vacation.
Finally you tell the story
LOLOLOL This is garbage.
If his supporters don't think that repigs have a whole file of stuff like this on Berno, then they are bigger idiots than I thought.
Corporate news speaks.
Bernie Sanders can spend his Honeymoon anywhere he wants, because he is a man of the people. Thats more than we can say about Joe Biden. Who is looking for a readymade Presidency. One which he dosn't have to earned. But one that just handed to him on a platter.
Socialist is just a political correct word for communist..
I guess that means Bernie's policies are all bad: Medicare for All, affordable public higher education, strong unions, progressive taxation, clean environment, all bad policies because Bernie took a trip to Russia.
BernieSanders is a Traitor. He has openly conspired with Russia for decades. Democrats are smeared by this crap.
Oh, lookie! It's propaganda conditioning!
Oh who cares
I am confused to the point here. Even if Bernie is not your Choice this seems a little disingenuous. We have a President and a Republican Congress that has shown how much they love Russia. I am not about whataboutism but this seems a little slanted considering what is happening.
We should embrace our apparent Russian overloads.
Here’s hoping Bernie runs on a third party ticket! Democrats won’t let him get their nomination anyway
Looks like it ruled, thanks for sharing
What are you doing? The media really needs to understand that it’s completely all in for trump.
I think this a good, balanced piece. The headline is click baity, but the piece itself is insightful. The 'my country right or wrong' folks will hate Sanders - but then, they always did.
How can anyone still be so dumb enough to make this a controversy?
Communist!
Oh Bernie 😂🤣
MUSLIM SUPREMACISM 'YOU MUSLIMS ARE THE. BEST OF PEOPLES BRING THEM WITH CHAINS AROUND THEIR NECKS TILL THEY EMBRACE ISLAM' DON'T BE FOOLED BY PR LIES Research Go to Source - Islamic scripture - hadiths
Washington post with another Hit piece. Bezos really don’t want those taxes raised
Cool
it's hard to get enthused about a candidate who looked like an old man 31 years ago
What purpose does this serve? None. C’mon, man.
Motherfuckers realDonaldTrump is building Trump Tower in Moscow NOW. But let's revisit a 1988 vacation?
Another Putin Puppet
collussion?
It looks like The Capitalists are on the witch hunt against Potential Socialist-Democrats take over here in the UK and out there in the US... Here Mr JC is accused of AntiSemitism while his counterpart in The US is being accused of being a Communist... Hahaha...
In 1988 or the 80s, many people went to Russia. It WAS different then. So, what is your point? Mrs. Sanders is an O'Meara, I'm an O'Meara - all O'Mearas trace back to one Irish town. Why do you feel the need to intrude on anyone's honeymoon? Yet, live TV Trump asks Russia to hack
This is the most transparent hit job yet. The media once again is desperate to trash Bernie. I am not even his biggest fan and I can see how obvious it is.
YES collusion.
“The Soviets spend more money on propaganda than anywhere else and with nothing to show for it. Time for propaganda-for-all”
How anyone could think he wants anything but communism is absurd.
And they say Trump is shady
Sounds familiar. billdeblasio
It is sorta funny how liberals can not deal with truth
IMO Yang is better. Despite having more progressive policies he understands business and can work across the aisle.
I bet he was especially impressed with their bread lines
Oh FFS