On Wednesday, the hosts of CBS This Morning seemed to do Hillary Clinton’s bidding as they used her campaign attack lines to interrogate Senator Bernie Sanders on whether he was a “viable” candidate against the former secretary of state.
Co-host Charlie Rose demanded Sanders justify his candidacy: “Hillary Clinton's campaign manager said in a memo, ‘The reality is that Sanders needed a decisive victory in Iowa in order to have a viable path to the nomination.’ They’re saying that because you did not win in Iowa, where you had a constituency that should have been for you, that you do not have a viable candidacy.”
Sanders mocked the talking points: “Is that what they say? They started off 50 points ahead. They started off as the anointed candidacy and they ended up winning by two tenths of one percent. And they’re worried about my campaign?”
Fellow co-host Norah O’Donnell followed up:
Senator, there’s a lot of talk about this race between you and Hillary Clinton is battle for the heart of the Democratic Party and that it might be won between idealism and realism. That was the point that Bill Clinton made on the campaign stop yesterday. He said the reason that you have a following among youth voters is because you offer “emotionally satisfying promises,” such as breaking up the big banks, taxing millionaires, giving free college, and free health care. Is that what it is, emotionally satisfying promises?
Minutes later, O’Donnell wrapped up the segment by actually hitting Sanders from right on his left-wing socialist policies: “The Washington Post said that you're running a fiction-filled campaign. Today there is a report from a nonpartisan budget watchdog group that your promise to give Medicare for all, health care for all, that you can't pay for it, even your plan is not right. That, in fact, that it falls $3 trillion short of your campaign estimates.”
By contrast to the rough treatment Sanders got on CBS, NBC’s Today actually invited him to attack Hillary Clinton over her e-mail scandal, as co-host Savannah Guthrie wondered:
On the issue of her e-mails, you’ve said you're sick of hearing about them. You’ve said it is a serious issue but there’s a process, and you've set that aside. Let me ask you this instead, should Democratic voters making a decision between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders factor that in? Should they consider the fact that this is an issue that Clinton faces, for better or for worse, over which she has no control? Does it affect her electability?
Sanders largely avoided the topic, but noted: “Well, Savannah, I think all issues affect electability....all factors, every issue, is an issue of consideration for voters.”
Here is a full transcript of the February 3 Sanders interview on CBS This Morning:
8:03 AM ET
CHARLIE ROSE: Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will appear tonight at a televised town hall in New Hampshire. She won the Iowa caucuses by four delegates, but he has not yet officially conceded. An average of recent New Hampshire polls gives Sanders an 18-point lead. He and Clinton may debate one-on-one tomorrow night. Bernie Sanders is with us from his hometown of Burlington, Vermont. Senator, good morning.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS [I-VT]: Great to be with you.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Sanders’ Stance; Democratic Candidate on Gaining Support After Iowa]
ROSE: How will you contest the results in Iowa?
SANDERS: Well, look. We lost apparently, by two tenths of one percent. It looks like Hillary Clinton will have 22 national delegates, we’ll have 20. There were six precincts where was literally a coin toss deciding who won. Bottom line is we’re moving on to New Hampshire right now. But we just want to make sure that all of the information is accurate.
GAYLE KING: What are your – go ahead, go ahead.
ROSE: So you are contesting or not?
SANDERS: It's – let’s not overstate it. We have at least 20 delegates, she has 22 delegates. We started off in Iowa 50 points behind. It appears that we lost by two tenths of one percent. We will be talking to the Iowa state Democratic officials. But we are now focusing on New Hampshire, where we’re working really, really hard to try to win that primary.
KING: Senator Sanders, a lot of people are very surprised in 2016 that a coin toss even decides elections – decides races this way. What are your thoughts about that? Do you have a better solution?
SANDERS: Well, I love Iowa and I love the caucus process. It really gets people deeply, deeply involved. But, frankly, as I understand it, there were six precincts where a coin toss decided who would get delegates. I think we could probably do better. But I think the folks in Iowa have done a fantastic job in engaging people in that state in the real issues facing the American people.
ROSE: Here is what Hillary Clinton said – Hillary Clinton's campaign manager said in a memo, “The reality is that Sanders needed a decisive victory in Iowa in order to have a viable path to the nomination.” They’re saying that because you did not win in Iowa, where you had a constituency that should have been for you, that you do not have a viable candidacy.
SANDERS: Is that what they say? They started off 50 points ahead. They started off as the anointed candidacy and they ended up winning by two tenths of one percent. And they’re worried about my campaign? Look, Charlie, the issues that we’re talking about, which is a rigged economy where people are working longer hours for low wages and almost all new income and wealth is going to the top one percent, we’re talking about a corrupt campaign finance system where billionaires and super-pacs are buying elections. Those are the issues that resonated in Iowa, they’re resonating in New Hampshire, they’re resonating all over this country. The American people, frankly, are tired of establishment politics, establishment economics. That’s why we have the momentum.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Senator, there’s a lot of talk about this race between you and Hillary Clinton is battle for the heart of the Democratic Party and that it might be won between idealism and realism. That was the point that Bill Clinton made on the campaign stop yesterday. He said the reason that you have a following among youth voters is because you offer “emotionally satisfying promises,” such as breaking up the big banks, taxing millionaires, giving free college, and free health care. Is that what it is, emotionally satisfying promises?
SANDERS: No, not at all. Look, we are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all of our people and we end up spending far more per capita. Many other countries around this world make sure that public colleges and universities are tuition-free, so that young people do not leave school fifty, a hundred thousand dollars in debt. Real unemployment is close to 10%. We need to create millions of decent paying jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. And in terms of taxing the wealthy, let’s be clear, right now we have massive income and wealth inequality. Almost all new income’s going to the top one percent. Yeah, I do believe that the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations should start paying their fair share of taxes.
O’DONNELL: So, Senator, you know The Washington Post said that you're running a fiction-filled campaign. Today there is a report from a nonpartisan budget watchdog group that your promise to give Medicare for all, health care for all, that you can't pay for it, even your plan is not right. That, in fact, that it falls $3 trillion short of your campaign estimates.
SANDERS: Listen, there are a lot of people looking at a lot of plans and many of these so-called “nonpartisan groups,” you know, they have their ax to grind. Here is the truth, you tell me. Why is it, that in America, we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guar. I’m 50 miles away from Canada right now, they cover all of their people, spending substantially less, and we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Every study – credible study – that I have seen says that a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program will guarantee health care to all of our people and save middle class people thousands of dollars a year on their health care bills.
ROSE: Thank you, Senator. Great to have you on the program.
KING: Thank you for your time today.
SANDERS: Thank you very much.
