The panelists on Morning Joe got a chance to ask questions of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, after his strong showing in the Iowa Caucus. The panelists asked fair questions of the candidate such as how he plans to draw in older voters. But Mika Brzezinski, a known Hillary Clinton supporter, couldn’t help but grill Sanders with Hillary’s talking points about his campaign:
So Bill Clinton said that, you know, you're addressing these issues by giving emotionally satisfying promises to people. Echoing other claims that some promises are fantastical and they can’t ever be carried out. I asked Senator Tom Harkin, when we were in Iowa, what was Hillary Clinton’s message? And the first thing he said to me was that “she could win!” And insinuating you were unelectable. Given these claims from the opposing campaign could you please respond? Are you electable?
Bernie Sanders hit back saying other countries have implemented his plans: “Tell me it is why it is impractical that the United States do what every other major country on earth is doing, guaranteeing healthcare to all people. We are the odd guys out.”
He also noted that he does better that Hillary when put up against Donald Trump in fictional general election match ups. Sanders also said that he can get a larger turn out than she can which can benefit the Democratic Party.
It is well documented that Brzezinski is a self-admitted Hillary supporter. For instance, on January 15, 2016, she gushingly told Hillary in an interview “I would vote for you” if she became the nominee. Morning Joe in general has been a safe place for Hillary. Joe Scarborough himself said they put off talking about her emails until they could not been ignored. Scarborough admitted to asking a network executive “is it safe to talk about it now?” after investigators withheld 22 of the emails.
Transcript below:
MSNBC
Morning Joe
February 3, 2016
8:24:34 – 8:26:41MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So Bill Clinton said that, you know, you're addressing these issues by giving emotionally satisfying promises to people. Echoing other claims that some promises are fantastical and they can’t ever be carried out. I asked Senator Tom Harkin, when we were in Iowa, what was Hillary Clinton’s message? And the first thing he said to me was that “she could win!” And insinuating you were unelectable. Given these claims from the opposing campaign could you please respond? Are you electable?
BERNIE SANDERS: Sure. Well let me respond in two ways. Tell me why it is utopian. Tell me it is why it is impractical that the United States do what every other major country on earth is doing, guaranteeing healthcare to all people. We are the odd guys out.
Number two tell me why it is impractical to say that when massive wealth and income inequality, “yeah
large corporations should start paying their fair share of taxes.” Why is it impractical to say, when our infrastructure is crumbling, we should rebuild our infrastructure and create 13 million jobs?
So I don’t think these ideas are impractical. What they are is saying, “yeah to make these kind of changes, we are going to have to stand up to Wall Street, to corporate America, to the large campaign donors who are not particularly concerned about the needs of the middle class. I think the American people are ready to do that.
In terms of electability, well, let me just say two things. Number one, look at the polls. Polls go up and down, I know it, but if you compare Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton in opposition to Donald Trump in most of the national polls, I'm doing better. In battleground states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, I'm doing better. Most importantly, Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout. Republicans win when there's a low voter turnout. I believe that our campaign is creating the kind of excitement among working people, among young people to create that large voter turnout that enables us to win up and down the line.
