The Washington Post Editorial Board is in high outrage over Bernie Sanders, calling his campaign “fiction filled”
SEN. BERNIE Sanders (I-Vt.) is leading in New Hampshire and within striking distance in Iowa, in large part because he is playing the role of uncorrupted anti-establishment crusader. But Mr. Sanders is not a brave truth-teller. He is a politician selling his own brand of fiction to a slice of the country that eagerly wants to buy it.
Mr. Sanders’s tale starts with the bad guys: Wall Street and corporate money. The existence of large banks and lax campaign finance laws explains why working Americans are not thriving, he says, and why the progressive agenda has not advanced. Here is a reality check: Wall Street has already undergone a round of reform, significantly reducing the risks big banks pose to the financial system. The evolution and structure of the world economy, not mere corporate deck-stacking, explained many of the big economic challenges the country still faces. And even with radical campaign finance reform, many Americans and their representatives would still oppose the Sanders agenda.
Yet, since Obama took over the White House, 58% of all new income has gone to the top 1%. Real wages for the middle and lower classes have gone down. Fanny and Freddie are offering home loans with just 3% down. Oh, and let’s not forget that outlets such as the Washington Post blamed George W. Bush for the financial issues at the end of his 2nd term, not world economy.
Mr. Sanders’s story continues with fantastical claims about how he would make the European social model work in the United States. He admits that he would have to raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for his universal, Medicare-for-all health-care plan, and he promises massive savings on health-care costs that would translate into generous benefits for ordinary people, putting them well ahead, on net. But he does not adequately explain where those massive savings would come from. Getting rid of corporate advertising and overhead would only yield so much. Savings would also have to come from slashing payments to doctors and hospitals and denying benefits that people want.
It’s an interesting line of attack: Bernie isn’t specific about how he would go about taxing the hell out of citizens and private entities to Do Something. Yet, this same paper, along with all the other Left leaning papers, never had a problem with Democratic candidates yammering on about raising taxes on the rich to pay for multiple pet projects.
Mr. Sanders is a lot like many other politicians. Strong ideological preferences guide his thinking, except when politics does, as it has on gun control. When reality is ideologically or politically inconvenient, he and his campaign talk around it. Mr. Sanders’s success so far does not show that the country is ready for a political revolution. It merely proves that many progressives like being told everything they want to hear.
Now, I’m not here to defend Bernie in terms of his political beliefs. There’s zero chance I would vote for him. As far as politicians go, he is generally more honest than most. Of course he’s going to pander and patronize here and there. He’s a politician, and has been at this game for a long, long time.
What I am going to note is how the liberal media seems to be attacking him while protecting Hillary. Has the WPEB ever run an editorial hitting Hillary in such a manner? Will they run one? Hillary has a long, long resume of lying, fibbing, and stretching the truth. She attacks anyone who dares criticize her. And she has a major problem with her private server, along with the possibility of using her position of Secretary of State to enrich the Clinton Foundation. She’ll be lucky if she isn’t indicted before all the Democrat primaries are concluded. If she wasn’t Hillary, she would have already been indicted.
Back in 2008, the media was in the bag for Hillary, with the base leaning towards John Edwards (until he flamed out, then they started looking at Obama). It looks like nothing has changed. Hillary has in no way explained her so-called plans, exactly what the WPEB accuses Sanders’ campaign of being “fiction filled”. We should probably expect more attacks on Sanders by the in-the-bag Hillary media, right up to indictment time.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
