An old video recorded back in 1985 could hurt Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential bid according to Keith Farrell writing for The Libertarian Republic. The video, recorded back when the presidential candidate was still mayor of Burlington, Vermont, shows Sanders praising communists and food lines.

Recently aired in Fox News' John Stossel show, Sanders was recorded to be praising food lines as a good thing. Commenting on Nicaragua, Sanders said in 1985, "Sometimes, American journalists talk about how bad the country is, with people are lining up for food. That's a good thing. Other countries, people don't line up for food; the rich get the food and the poor starve to death."

However, the show's guest Michael Moynihan of Daily Beast doesn't agree with Sanders' assessment about food lines. According to Moynihan, it is the height of absurdity to describe breadlines as something positive. Even if everyone gets bread in rationing, the ration is not even very much added, Moynihan. It just shows the failure of controlled markets that cause food shortages so that rationing had to be adopted as a measure. This is opposite to free markets where food is abundant. In the US for example, stores are always stocked full of food according to Farrel's article.

Of course, Sanders' opponents did not waste the opportunity to use the resurfaced video to attack him. For instance, Hillary Clinton criticized Sanders, sending an email to journalists titled "Bernie Sanders Refuses to Disavow Praise for Fidel Castro" according to an article by Paula Mooney on the Inquisitor. Clinton tried to link American socialism with the socialism in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to dissuade Sanders' supporters.

The airing of the old video was criticized by Senator Sanders' supporters. On social media, supporters argue that Sanders' 1985 statements shouldn't matter in 2016.

The video was aired during Univision's Democratic presidential debate last March in Miami according to Inquisitor.