[bluejacket]

https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=2586

[ATrain]

Wow...awesome to see Bernie Sanders on that list.

[ALUmnus]

That's a pretty great line-up. Brian Houston sends the spidey-sense tingling, though.

[SuperJon]

Wow...awesome to see Bernie Sanders on that list.

Agreed. Great job to everyone who pulled that off.

[adam42381]

Wow...awesome to see Bernie Sanders on that list.

That's a huge get. Color me surprised.

[Sly Fox]

Never thought I'd see former L-Met Straw speaking in Convo.

That's a pretty strong lineup of speakers that cross the spectrum of topics.

[PAmedic]

Impressive.

wish we would have had those opportunities back in the stone age

[Sly Fox]

Agreed, medic. We had to settle for the likes of Ronald Reagan and Dr. J. Who could have sat through those types of speakers?

And for record, I agree with ALUmnus and the queasy feeling. He never has quite sat right with me and the dad situation didn't help matters. I guess that further establishes our Old Hag credentials as curmudgeons.

[Kiwon]

Nice lineup.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin is interesting. I guess the same bloggers that had LU goin' Mormon over Glen Beck will proclaim that the school now denies the divinity of Jesus and is embracing Socialism as evidenced by the Bernie Sanders' invite.

[Kiwon]

Hilarious...."Liberty University" is trending on Twitter over the Bernie Sanders invitation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post ... 8831764732

[Cider Jim]

LU's Convocation schedule--with Bernie Sanders and Ben Carson speaking--was the HEADLINE of the Lynchburg paper today.

http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/s ... f1a8c.html

The subtitle in the hard copy includes this detail: "Falwell invites all '16 presidential candidates."

[Humble_Opinion]

There will be an interesting litmus test for this event in the media. On the Ted Cruz appearance they all tried to downplay it by saying, "10,000 students forced to watch Ted Cruz announcement under threat of a fine by the university." Methinks they will have a different tune this time around. "Sanders draws 10k+ viewers to convocation on the traditionally conservative campus of Jerry Falwell's LU."

[alabama24]

"Sanders draws 10k+ viewers to convocation on the traditionally conservative campus of Jerry Falwell's LU."

You might be right! lol

[alabama24]

Rabbi Daniel Lapin is interesting.

I am perhaps more interested in him than anyone else. I would love to meet him. Has anyone else heard him?

[Kiwon]

From a legal perspective, to help protect LU's tax-exempt status, I get the fact that rather than just extending an invitation to certain presidential candidates it's better to invite them all. But I wonder what happens if Bernie Sanders feels like he needs to make a media splash to boost his poll numbers and starts to pull a "Sister Souljah" during his convo remarks. Of course, Sanders' supporters would love to hear him try to embarrass the LU students and remind them of what a heartless homophobe that Jerry Falwell was, for example.

(For the Millennials asking what a “Sister Souljah” is - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Souljah_moment)

How would the LU admin respond if Bernie decides not to play fair, and rather than speaking directly to the students, he uses his time to pander to his left-wing base by attacking Christian conservatives in an attempt to embarrass and demonize them? For certain, his popularity would immediately soar and he’d get a ton of media coverage.

Bernie just had a Seattle gathering shut down by the #BlackLivesMatter protesters so he might feel like he needs to do something outrageous to win the loyalty of the activist Left. Common sense would tell you that only a fraction of the LU students would be open to voting for him anyway so I don’t see a big downside if he goes after Christian conservatives and takes some shots at LU as he does.

[Purple Haize]

It makes no sense for him to do that. He Wil get plenty of media coverage just by being here. They will be hoping for a scenario you outline especially if LU makes a move to censor him
Let hi have his say. He will be fine.

[SuperJon]

Wow. Talk about making up incredible situations to fear for no reason.

[alabama24]

What if he decides to... OH NO, THE SKY IS FALLING!

[Kiwon]

0-1, 0-2, 0-3.....Very thoughtful responses there and, of course, fail to address the question.

You guys are naïve and out of touch with the current political environment.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is in trouble. She's obviously broken the law in her handling of classified materials and will probably face indictment. She is trying to secure the Democratic nomination BEFORE the indictment goes down because even the Dems would have a hard time choosing a nominee who is under a federal indictment and facing punishment for breaking national security laws.

So, if Hillary were out of the picture, who is left....Bernie....Jim Webb (who?)....Lincoln Chafee (who?)

"Fear" Bernie, a 74-year old Socialist who wants a top tax rate of 90%?.....I chortle audibly. He's got a snowball's chance in Hades of winning.

However, he is running a serious campaign and drawing big crowds as Hillary hides from the media.
The invite to speak at LU is a great opportunity for him, politically. He doesn't care about the 10,000 students in those seats, maybe a 100 of whom would actually vote for him. He cares about the media exposure and the chance to represent the values of millions of left-wing ideologues and do so at the Christian Mecca, Liberty University.

The bottom line is this: He would gain more votes by going after Christian conservatives than by playing 'Mr. Coexist' and looking for common ground. The secular left-wing, his base, doesn't want to coexist with Christians, they want to extinguish them.

It would be rude of Bernie Sanders to do that but I am sure that the LU admin knows the political realities of the situation. My hypothetical question was about how they might respond IF he did.

(Yes, the topic interests me. If it doesn't interest you, you have my sincerest non-apology apology.)

[JakeP50]

If he starts attacking Christians either Nasser will shut him down, the student body will boo him off stage, or both. Students are tired of the rash of politicians at convo, and one that most students disagree with on every fundamental level will create a more tense atmosphere than the usual lack of interest so the first slip from him could lead to some "noise" from the peanut gallery*.

*Sorry if this didn't make any sense, it's late.

[Purple Haize]

What IF he didn't? I understand the Political Environment very well. So let's see how likely your scenario is by using past performance as a guide. In any of his speeches has he taken a militant anti Christian point of view? Has he ever given a Speech where he just laid into Christianity? If he has, then your scenario has some substance. If he has not, then you are just 'fear mongering'.
I would argue that the 'Christian' vote would come into play if the Republicans put forward someone less than thrilling. He'd have a small shot at siphoning some votes then. So to attack Christianity would be foolish.
As for Nasser shutting him down, that would be a mistake.

[ATrain]

I think Kiwon is out of touch with reality. Anyone who goes on the attack against Christians will not win. Yes, there are secular, left-wing extremists in the Democratic party but the Democrats win by appealing to minorities and folks down-on-their-luck, but both demographics still overwhelmingly identify as Christian, along with most Republicans.

[SuperJon]

I think Kiwon is out of touch with reality. Anyone who goes on the attack against Christians will not win.

Ding ding ding. See: Chick Fil A.

If you attack Christians, you guarantee they come out in full force. Apathetic Christians are more useful to the left than mad ones.

[adam42381]

Kiwon is, once again, being ridiculous. As has been state MANY times before: Liberty always invites all the candidates. Very few who aren't Republicans take them up on their offer.

[adam42381]

Also, I guarantee you there will be more than 100 students in attendance who would vote for Sanders.