Former Bill Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday urged Bernie Sanders to swear “unconditional support” to Hillary Clinton. The Good Morning America co-host played a video clip of the Democratic front-runner and then demanded, “Are you prepared to give her your unconditional support if she gets the delegates?”
An irritated Sanders shot back, “George, I don't want to break the bad news to you, but the election is not over yet.” After the socialist senator said he would fight on until July, a dismayed Stephanopoulos complained, “All the way to the convention?... So, even if she has the delegates she needs after California you're going to keep on fighting?”
Stephanopoulos, who once told Hillary Clinton “I love you” and who secretly donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, didn’t ask a single question unrelated to Sanders dropping out.
Over on CBS This Morning, Nancy Cordes followed the same pattern, pressing Sanders: “If you like at state polling, you're behind in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut. If you wake up on Wednesday and you've lost most or all of these five states, what do you do then?”
After the Senator declined to endorse Clinton on the issues, Cordes whined, “But you have a lot of influence over them.”
Back on April 1, David Muir interviewed Sanders for GMA. It was more of the same for the Clinton-friendly ABC. Muir pushed, “If you don’t win here in New York, is it over?”
A transcript of the GMA segment is below:
GMA
4/26/16
7:08:GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk to Bernie Sanders right now. He joins us from Philadelphia this morning. Senator Sanders, thank you for joining us. Right now you heard Jon Karl right there. You've had some tougher luck in these closed all Democratic primaries. Can you pull off a miracle in Pennsylvania today?
BERNIE SANDERS: I think we can. I think we're going to do very well in all five states and I think the reason, George, is our message is resonating. You know, when we begin this campaign we were 60 points behind Hillary Clinton. Some recent national polls have us ahead of her. And in match-ups against Donald Trump in almost every instance we are having a higher margin of defeating Trump than is Hillary Clinton. So we are feeling good. We won 16 states already. I think we're going to have a chance to win pore today and out west where I think we have a very good chance to win the largest state in this country, California.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But Hillary Clinton is most likely to be about 90 percent of the way there on delegates after tonight. You and I talked on Sunday and I asked you if you would do for her what she did for President Obama back in 2008. After she lost, she campaigned hard for him. You said that was totally dependent upon what the Clinton platform is. Secretary Clinton responded last night. Listen.
HILLARY CLINTON: And I did not put down conditions. I didn't say, you know what, if Senator Obama does X, Y and Z maybe I'll support him. I said, I am supporting Senator Obama because no matter what our differences might be, they pale in comparison to the differences between us and the Republicans. That's what I did.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you prepared to give her your unconditional support if she gets the delegates?
SANDERS: Well, George, George, I don't want to break the bad news to you, but the election is not over yet. We are here today competing in five states. We have ten more states to go after this and we're going to do the best that we can to bring our message that, in fact, it is too late for establishment politics and economics. George, I have been all over this country and been in inner cities where youth unemployment is 40, 50 percent, where childhood unemployment is off the charts, where we are seeing incredible disparities between the rich and everybody else. Where we're the only country on Earth, major country, doesn't guarantee health care to all of our people or paid family and medical leave.
I'm going to give every person in this country the right to decide who is going to be president of the United States, what the agenda is of the Democratic Party. That's what our campaign is about, talking real issues, not process, not worries about what will happen when it will happen. But let me repeat. I intend to do everything I can if I am not the nominee to make sure that some Republican does not sit in the White House. But for the moment, we're going to fight all the way to the Philadelphia convention and we're going to wing as many delegates as we can and we believe we do have a path toward victory.
STEPHANOPOULOS: All the way to the convention? That seems like a change when you said earlier in the week when you said you'd fight through California. So, even if she has the delegates she needs after California you're going to keep on fighting?
SANDERS: We are going to fight through California and then we see what happens. Here's one of the important points, George, to be made. And you correct me if I'm wrong on this: Every national poll and every statewide poll that I have seen has Bernie Sanders doing significantly better against Donald Trump than is Hillary Clinton. Is that right? I think that is right and I think —
STEPHANOPOULOS: It’s right in most of the polls. But as Secretary Clinton said last week, she's gotten 2.7 more million votes than you have.
SANDERS: Well, first of all she is not accounting some of the caucus states but the point is, in virtually every national poll and in every statewide poll, Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump does significantly better than Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump and that is true for other Republican candidates as well. The bottom line is we have a message that is resonating not only with Democrats but with independents, as well. And we are handicapped. I think we're going to do fine today. We know what the rules are and we'll fight for every vote we can get in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, et cetera. But, in fact, in these states independents can't vote. We do a lot better with independents than Hillary Clinton does. Guess what? Independents do vote in the general election.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Sanders, thanks for joining us this morning.
