PBS host Charlie Rose on Monday night embraced many of Bernie Sanders’s positions and announced that the socialist’s positions are “not radical.” At first, the journalist suggested the Democratic candidate not use the label when campaigning: “I'm the first person trying to argue you away from the idea that you're a socialist.”
Rose told Sanders, “But you don't believe that the state should control your life.” The senator began reciting his positions: “We need to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We need to praise raise the minimum-wage to $15 an hour over the next few years.”
Rose, who is also a co-host on CBS This Morning, continued to define socialism down, insisting, “There are a whole lot of people who believe the first step towards income equality or to eliminate income inequality is a $15 an hour minimum-wage.... I'm just saying, these are not radical ideas.”
The journalist’s gushing interviews also include Hillary Clinton. On July 17, 2014, he began an interview with “friend” Clinton by actually reading a gooey Maya Angelou poem:
There is a world of difference between being a woman and a being an old female.
If you're born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But to become a woman is a serious matter.
A woman takes responsibility for the times she takes up and the space she occupies. Hillary Clinton is a woman.
A partial transcript from the PBS program is below:
Charlie Rose
10/26/15
11:08CHARLIE ROSE: Everybody is somehow attracted to the idea or wants to debate the idea of you as a socialist or a democratic socialist. So you tell us, as I've asked you in another interview, exactly what do you mean or does it simply mean you are more liberal and more progressive than other Democrats who have been in the political race or are in the political race now?
...
SANDERS: Let me tell you what I believe and you can determine what, what we mean by it. Okay?
ROSE: I'm the first person trying to argue you away from the idea that you're a socialist.
SANDERS: If the argument is I think that the government should take over every mom and pop grocery store, no, that's not my view. But do I believe everybody in this country is entitled to healthcare as a right? Yeah, I do.
ROSE: But you don't believe that the state should control your life. The state should not control your life in terms of that the state ought to be the arbiter of everything about —
SANDERS: Of course not.
ROSE: There are those, when they see the word —
SANDERS: I understand.
ROSE: — Bernie Sanders, socialist, think well, that's there world he wants.
SANDERS: My first point is when you ve a middle class that's declining, we have to create millions of jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. We need to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We need to praise raise the minimum-wage to $15 an hour over the next few years.
ROSE: They've done that in some cities already.
SANDERS: That's right! We need pay equity for women workers. Okay? We need to bring about bold general justice reform in this country. We need to create jobs by moving aggressively — maybe I'm not radical enough for you. I guess, I don’t know what.
ROSE: No, no. I’m just trying to argue that a lot of people believe what you do about those kinds of issues. They believe there are too many people in jail. There are too many people coming out and not having a place to go and they're back in jail.
SANDERS: That's right. That’s right. That's right.
ROSE: There are too many people who believe --- There are a whole lot of people who believe the first step towards income equality or to eliminate income inequality is a $15 an hour minimum-wage and that's been enacted in certain cities already. I’m just saying, these are not radical ideas.
SANDERS: Right. That’s right! They’re not radical ideas.
