I’ve never been a Bernie Sanders fan or supporter, and my apathy turned to genuine dislike and distrust when he did what he did during the 2016 election. I’m not going to relitigate that sh-t, but he and his Bernie Bros were a–holes to Hillary Clinton. Bernie was an a–hole again during the 2020 Democratic primaries when he told Elizabeth Warren that she could never win because she’s a woman. Bernie then, improbably, became Joe Biden’s strongest soldier, endorsing Biden swiftly in 2020 and largely signing off on President Biden’s agenda. Bernie was even briefly taken off my sh-tlist in recent weeks because he was strongly defending Pres. Biden while several elected Democrats were publicly disloyal and trying to push out Biden. Well, it’s time for more Bernie BS. Now that President Biden has withdrawn from the race and Democrats and lining up behind Kamala Harris, suddenly Bernie has qualms. I’m sure his qualms have nothing to do with his belief that the rest of the country is as sexist as him.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a Friday interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi explained why he has yet to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president, suggesting he wants first to see more specific commitments from her on issues important to the working class. The Hill reported this week that Sanders is looking to shape Harris’s campaign, and that he had held off on an endorsement in part to exert some pressure on the vice president to adopt some of his priorities.
Sanders in the interview made it clear he will work to elect Harris, noting he is taking part in events in Maine to do so. He said he wanted to do everything he could to defeat former President Trump and to make Harris the next president. But he said he wanted to get more specific commitments from Harris on issues such as expanding Medicare and Social Security before providing an official endorsement.
“I think it’s important for some of us to say look, we know that there’s a lot of big money in the Democratic Party,” Sanders told Valshi. “We want to make sure that the vice president is listening to the working class of this country, to the progressives as well. These are not radical ideas and I would hope very much we get specificity,” he added.
Asked about what issues he’s looking for commitments from Harris, Sanders talked about the need to lift the income cap on Social Security in order to expand it. He also said Medicare should be expanded to cover dental and vision. He said all student debt should also be forgiven, and that there should be a cap on rents in the United States. Sanders did not suggest he needed specific commitments on all of these issues, and he offered no criticism of Harris in any of his remarks.
“I have talked to the vice president and look forward to speaking to her in the near future,” he told Valshi when asked if he was having a discussion with Harris. “Yeah, that conversation is going on.”
At this point, withholding the formal endorsement hurts Bernie Sanders more than it hurts Kamala Harris, especially since he’s clearly saying that he will campaign for her and he wants her to win. It’s funny that Bernie’s acolyte, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez figured out how to play the political game better than Bernie. AOC’s IG Live – in which she showed public support for both Biden and Harris and expressed her hope that Biden would not be kicked out of the campaign (because it would mean they would try to pass over Kamala) – made her seem more loyal to Biden than most Democrats. Then right out of the gate, AOC endorsed Kamala Harris and clearly plans to work with Harris’s campaign and hopefully Harris’s administration. Bernie’s trying to do this half-assed “I don’t really endorse her even if I want her to win” thing when the election is only 100 days away.
Meanwhile, Bernie also spoke at a townhall in New Hampshire on Friday, and this is what he said about VP Harris: “She is not going to win this election and she is going to have a very difficult time winning unless she begins to speak forcefully about the needs of the long-neglected working class of this country.” For the love of God. It really seems like he just has an issue with female politicians.
Bernie dragged out the 2016 primary and didn’t endorse Hillary when it was clear he had no chance of winning.
In 2020, he told Warren a woman couldn’t win.
Now, Bernie won’t endorse Kamala despite having no policy differences with Biden.
There seems to be a common theme.
— Adam (@AdamJSmithGA) July 26, 2024
I want to thank the 800 people in Portland, Maine who joined me this morning at a high-energy rally.
We must defeat Trump, elect VP @KamalaHarris, and create a government that works for all, not just the 1%. pic.twitter.com/l4CJnfo9yI
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 27, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.