Andrea Mitchell apparently had a brain freeze on Friday as she tried to come up with a synonym for the "progressive" policies of Bernie Sanders. While discussing Hillary Clinton, Mitchell stumbled, "It is her trying to walk the line between the far more progressive and far more – I don't know what to call them other than the progressive policies – of Bernie Sanders which have caught fire certainly in Iowa."
Mitchell "doesn't know what to call" the policies of Bernie Sanders? Bernie Sanders has repeatedly called himself a socialist. So, how about starting there? Later, Mitchell explained Barack Obama's frustration on not passing gun control:
ANDREA MITCHELL: I think that he has acknowledged it's his frustration, people fought after Sandy Hook and after he and Joe Biden got so involved and Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey had a bipartisan bill to at least close the gun show loophole, they thought that something would happen. We heard today, you know, from Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, this is a frustration in American politics and the president expressing it. And I'm not sure what he can do in these closing -- closing year of, year-plus of his presidency that they haven't already tried. But obviously there is a problem in our society with guns given that we are the only advanced society that has the level of gun violence that we have.
A partial transcript of the Andrea Mitchell Reports segment is below:
[On Clinton being investigated.]
PETER ALEXANDER: She has a big economic address scheduled for this afternoon in New York City.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Yes.
ALEXANDER: Should she, Andrea, I pose it to you, should she, will she address this?
MITCHELL: I don't know whether she will address this because the focus of that is the economy. She's going to be proposing, interestingly, a tiered capitol gains tax rate. Favoring longer term investments. So, if you hold an investment longer you get a preferential rate. This is her whole pitch, that people who, you know, who really invest in the economy long term should get more favorable treatment. It is her trying to walk the line between the far more progressive and far more– I don't know what to call them other than the progressive policies – of Bernie Sanders which have caught fire certainly in Iowa and with big audiences in the Democratic Party.
12:32
ALEXANDER: I want to get back to you on what is making major headline today, that is the gun violence in Louisiana. The President, notably, just hours before this happened admitted to the BBC that his failure to pass common sense gun safety laws in the U.S. is among his, if not his biggest frustration of his presidency. Where do we go at this moment? Does anything change?
MITCHELL: You know, sadly, I think that he has acknowledged it's his frustration, people fought after Sandy Hook and after he and Joe Biden got so involved and Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey had a bipartisan bill to at least close the gun show loophole, they thought that something would happen. We heard today, you know, from Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, this is a frustration in American politics and the president expressing it. And I'm not sure what he can do in these closing -- closing year of, year-plus of his presidency that they haven't already tried. But obviously there is a problem in our society with guns given that we are the only advanced society that has the level of gun violence that we have.
