As independent Senator Bernie Sanders appeared as a guest on Friday's New Day, CNN's Chris Cuomo called out the Vermont socialist for distorting remarks made by Jeb Bush as the Florida Republican called for more full-time employment for part-time American workers.
Cuomo accused Sanders of playing "the tricky game" and suggested that it could be considered the kind of "dirty politics" that the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination has claimed to be against. After playing a clip of former Governor Bush, Cuomo posed:
Now, you jumped on him with this being him an example of him being out of touch. But were you being unfair? You know that what he meant was part-time workers need full-time jobs. Were you playing a little bit of the tricky game?
After Senator Sanders evaded Cuomo's point by repeating his complaints about Americans generally working more hours than Europeans, the CNN host pressed him, with Sanders seeming to back down somewhat and suggested that Bush in that case is "absolutely correct":
CHRIS CUOMO: Right, but he wasn't arguing about ethic. He was talking about the availability of jobs. So I'm just saying, you know, you're kind of twisting it there a little bit, Senator, and if you want to stay above the board of dirty politics, you got to be consistent.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, if he is talking about the need for more full-time jobs, rather than part-time jobs, he's absolutely correct. That's what we have to do. But I want to reiterate, we work, our people work today the longest hours of any people in any major industrialized country.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Friday, July 10, New Day on CNN:
CHRIS CUOMO: So how do you explain, Senator, the momentum? What does it mean and how do you sustain it [BERNIE SANDERS]
Let's put up the polls for Iowa and New Hampshire. ... You're making a move. I mean, that's what's clear in the numbers. You're doubling your numbers. You still got a way to go. But the criticism is, ah, these are Iowa, New Hampshire, this is going to play to the left base of the Democrats, but once he gets into more moderate places, he's going to stall out. He can't do it. What's your response? [SANDERS]
Now, you've been taking on Jeb Bush over something he said. Let me play it. [JEB BUSH] Now, you jumped on him with this being him an example of him being out of touch. But were you being unfair? You know that what he meant was part-time workers need full-time jobs. Were you playing a little bit of the tricky game?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, of course we need full-time jobs rather than part-time jobs, but to suggest that people have got to work harder, Chris, here's the fact: People in the United States today are working the longest hours of people in any major industrialized country. We work a lot harder than the Germans, than the British. We have 85 percent of men working more than 40 hours a week, 65 percent of the women working more than 40 hours a week.
So what we need to do is raise wages and income, not force our people who are already stressed out by long hours, to work even more hours.
CUOMO: Right, but he wasn't arguing about ethic. He was talking about the availability of jobs. So I'm just saying, you know, you're kind of twisting it there a little bit, Senator, and if you want to stay above the board of dirty politics, you got to be consistent.
SANDERS: Well, if he is talking about the need for more full-time jobs, rather than part-time jobs, he's absolutely correct. That's what we have to do. But I want to reiterate, we work, our people work today the longest hours of any people in any major industrialized country.
CUOMO: Amen. Americans are the most hard-working people in the world. Nobody is going to battle you on that one or at least not to any great effect in the presidential election. Your main opponent, Hillary Clinton, she's got trust issues. Do you think they are justified? [SANDERS]
[CUOMO asks Sanders about his reluctance talk about himself personally to voters.]
Citizens United is the supreme law of the land. When you say it's a horrible decision, that's your right, you can criticize it. But when you say we're going to overturn that, what do you mean? How do you overturn the Supreme Court? [SANDERS]
