Univision’s Sunday political affairs show Al Punto finally got around to covering Bernie Sanders’ forced absence from the campaign trail due to illness, with one glaring flaw.
Watch below as Al Punto anchor and Univision’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Juan Rivera discuss Sen. Sanders’ heart attack, and unambiguously declare Bernie’s fitness to return to the campaign trail:
JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Now, let’s see what the prognosis is for the patient. The patient is Bernie Sanders, he is 78 years old. The President of the United States is 73, Elizabeth Warren is 70. Clearly, these are people that are exerting tremendous effort. If this were your patient, Bernie Sanders, you tell him, what?
DR. JUAN RIVERA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Just so you get an idea: Bernie Sanders has a blocked artery, he had symptoms of chest pain and shortness of breath. Now his artery is open…
RAMOS: Of course.
RIVERA: In other words, Bernie Sanders is going to feel better. He’ll have more energy, he won’t have any more chest pain, he’ll be able to resume his campaign and feel better. If he were my patient, obviously, I’d tell him that he could continue doing what he…
RAMOS: He can withstand the campaign.
RIVERA: Certainly...remember that Clinton went through more severe cardiac issues. Right? I’d tell him that he can continue. Now, there is a medication regimen that he's going to have to be on for the rest of his life which will be extremely important. Jorge. If I were to take all the presidential candidates right now and perform a coronary CT scan on all of them, although they’re not showing any symptoms, I’d bet you that many of them also have coronary disease.
RAMOS: Due to their age.
RIVERA: Due to their age, and because it’s the most common disease in the United States. And so, obviously, well, it’s not ideal for you to have chest pain and to have a stent placed in your coronary artery, but many people go on to live many more years without a problem after that.
RAMOS: Patient Bernie Sanders, Dr. Juan, thank you for being here. Thank you.
If ever there was a story that typified the systemic bias at Univision, it is this one.
Jorge Ramos makes an editorial decision to cover Sanders’ heart attack from a purely technical angle, aided and abetted by Dr. Rivera, who is a cardiologist. There is no discussion, whether on a panel or otherwise, of the decision to withhold critical information from the public- specifically, the fact that Sanders suffered a heart attack on the campaign trail. This lack of transparency should have triggered a thorough examination of these issues by Ramos, who has proclaimed himself to stand “opposite of power” while asking tough questions. It appears that such questions are limited to Republicans and capitalists.
Furthermore, there is no serious examination of whether Sanders can withstand the rigors of office. Rivera deflects that question by stating that Bill Clinton had it worse. But that's a half-truth. Clinton was long gone from office when his major health issues surfaced. Rivera continues to deflect by suggesting that everyone on the trail has some form of heart disease.
This deflection only serves to spotlight Al Punto’s servility towards so-called “democratic socialists”.
