POLITICS: Bernie Sanders is bent on proving that socialists have no heart

Socialism pretends to be all warm and cuddly, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is showing how heartless it can be.

He’s been the sole lawmaker blocking legislation to speed up cures for kids with cancer and nudge drug makers to develop new pediatric therapies.

And on Tuesday, he joined nurses who’ve abandoned their hospitalized patients to strike for fat pay hikes.

For cold-blooded socialists like Bernie, ideology clearly trumps compassion.

Start with the bill he’s blocking: the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, recently renamed for a 16-year-old who died of cancer last year while lobbying for the measure.

Sanders says he himself backs the bill, except it doesn’t push other health-care measures he wants, such as funding for community health centers — so he’s holding the cancer kids hostage.

“This is a bill that has bipartisan support that saves the lives of children with cancer that costs taxpayers nothing, and yet they can’t pass it,” fumes Nancy Goodman, who heads Kids v Cancer.

The kids are begging Sanders to help get it through the Senate this month.

Meanwhile, he slams the nurses’ hospitals for paying their CEOs too much — never mind that the nurses’ demands (a hefty 33% pay hike over three years, plus other benefits) would cost far more.

Bernie pretends to be a caring soul, but don’t look at him too hard or you’ll notice warts like his failure to attend a single meeting in his 18 years on the US Holocaust Museum’s board, or his somehow becoming a multimillionaire (with three homes!) while spending his life in public service.

Still, blocking hope for kids with cancer has to be a new low.