NY Times: For Bernie Sanders, Claims of Sexism in 2016 Campaign Hang Over 2020 Bid

[EffieBlack]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-sexism.html#click=https://t.co/arnAPaBoiU

Accounts like Ms. Di Lauro’s — describing episodes of sexual harassment and demeaning treatment as well as pay disparity in Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign — have circulated in recent weeks in emails, online comments and private discussions among former supporters. Now, as the Vermont senator tries to build support for a second run at the White House, his perceived failure to address this issue has damaged his progressive bona fides, delegates and nearly a dozen former state and national staff members said in interviews over the last month.

[nycbos]

1. Not surprising.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

26. Yes, not surprising coming from the New York Times.

[brooklynite]

49. Because they report newsworthy stories?

[mcar]

2. This will not go away without a thorough and open investigation

[FSogol]

4. The guy who never released his tax returns will never have a thorough & open investigation. n/t

[mcar]

5. Then this, along with his returns,

will be a real and true weight on his candidacy.

[ProudLib72]

14. And his comments...

"You know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American."

“Aren’t most of the people who sell the drugs African American?”

[pnwmom]

3. Pay disparity? Not surprising, but this is news. nt

[theaocp]

6. Everything about Bernie is unsurprising.

Sexual harassment and demeaning treatment toward women is only the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure.

[CentralMass]

7. Sanders claims to have been unaware of this during the campaign. Here is another incident from

another former candidate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/us/politics/hillary-clinton-chose-to-shield-a-top-adviser-accused-of-harassment-in-2008.html

[SidDithers]

8. But Hillary!!...

Sid

[CentralMass]

12. The hypocrisy is thrrough the roof. Sanders is getting constantly slimed here and he has not even

declared his candidacy.

My point for posting this was to that this will quickly deteriorate into a mud slinging contest. Virtually all of the perspective candidates will have things that they can be attacked on. There have been at least 4 or 5 threads on this already. Sanders has said that he was unaware of the allegations.

I'm a life long democrat. I've voted in every election since 1980. I voted for Hillary in 2008 and voted for her in the general in 2016.

Sanders won the closed primary in my adopted state of Oregon by double digits.
He is very popular amoung Democrats and if he meets the requirements to run as a dem in 2020 he will be IMO a front runner.

[ehrnst]

65. I see plenty of hippocrisy, for sure.

You were lecturing all over the Hillary story when it broke, faulting her for not firing him until 2016 for another issue....
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1973038

False equivalency and Whataboutism.

No one is saying that he was aware of the gender economic inequality and the culture of harassment that his staffers reported, so that's a straw man. A threefer!

But please tell me - how many of "those candidates us superior Democrats support that have all done negative things" invited a harasser who wasn't fired after multiple complaints to a gathering of progressives for their institute more than a year after allegations against him by staffers became public?

Are you going to "sling shit," as you put it, like you did at HRC campaign for not disowning a known harasser immediately? Because if not, I think that's an example of a double standard as well as hippocrisy.

https://medium.com/mashamendieta/the-secret-sexism-of-arturo-carmona-candidate-for-cd34-a31173f21350

Interstingly, he made it a point to say that Jane (not Bernie) invited him, and there were no selfies with the senator himself, who picked him to be the Latino Outreach director.



You could also just own it, and say that you have an emotional response to criticism of Senator Sanders, and feel a need to go into protective mode, no matter the situation.

[EffieBlack]

10. Lol!

Your But but Hillary deflection attempt is pretty rich, albeit irrelevant, buy here's the thing ... Or two

First, trying to compare one incident involving one staffer, which Hillary addressed to an apparently hostile environment of sexual how throughout a campaign is ridiculous and desperate.

Second, you're correct. She's a FORMER candidate. If she becomes a potential FUTURE candidate, like Bernie, and her campaign staff tries to stage an intervention to prevent a repeat of widespread atmosphere of sexual harassment (of which there us no evidence on the Clinton campaign), like Bernie's staff is doing, then you can start making comparisons.

In the meantime, you'd do better to just not say anything if this is all you've got ...

[CentralMass]

17. My point here is that there is always one faction that goes negative with a sense of superiority

Negativity be gets negativity. Sanders is very popular among many Democrats, including me. If he meets the requirements and runs in 2020 he will IMO be a front runner.

[EffieBlack]

21. What does that have to do with the substance of this thread?

[betsuni]

22. Nothing but:

[CentralMass]

30. That has nothing to do with it other then I belive you and otherswho regulary post negative posts

about Sanders are setting up a turf war.

My main intent was to point out that the candidate of choice of the Sanders hating crowd had a blatant sexual harrassment claim during her 2008 campaign. Numerous members of her campaign recommended that she fire this man and she declined to do so.
When this aired supporters on this site defended and or tried to explain away the story.

I am not doing that here. Sanders has spoken out on the allegations. There is a CNN video at this link.
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/sanders-sexual-harassment-ac360-cnntv/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

I will comment that I believe what he had to say about the matter but will reserve final judgment until the dust clears

However at this pooint it seems his knowledge of and involvement of harrasment ocurring in his campaign pales in comparison to that 2008 incident where the harraser was not fired and allowed to work for a group supporting Hillary where he was fired over another harrassment claim in 2016. That many here felt was a non issue.

[EffieBlack]

40. You could have just stopped at "nothing"

[betsuni]

42. "turf war" "others who regularly post negative posts about Sanders"

"the candidate of choice of the Sanders hating crowd" OMG HILLARY!

This is comedy gold.

[EffieBlack]

44. Posting a NY Times story is a negative post attempting to provoke a "turf war"

IS pretty rich, ain't it?

[ehrnst]

60. Oh right - I remember her staffers from 2008 asking for a meeting with her before her 2016 campaign

because they were worried that the untenable and dangerous dynamic that developed during the 2008 campaign hadn't been dealt with...

More than two dozen women and men who worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign are seeking a meeting with the senator and his top political advisers to “discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment on the 2016 campaign, for the purpose of planning to mitigate the issue in the upcoming presidential cycle,” according to a copy of letter obtained by POLITICO.

“In recent weeks there has been an ongoing conversation on social media, in texts, and in person, about the untenable and dangerous dynamic that developed during our campaign,” they wrote.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/30/bernie-sanders-campaign-harassment-1077014

Whataboutism usually involves that you find an equally bad situation elsewher to make the situation you are defending look less compromising.

But you did create hippocrisy to accuse someone of, so you checked off all the boxes.

Whataboutism (also known as Whataboutery) is a red herring version of the classic tu quoque logical fallacy - sometimes implementing the balance fallacy as well - which is employed as a propaganda technique. It is used as a diversionary tactic to shift the focus off of an issue and avoid having to directly address it. This technique works by twisting criticism back onto the critic and in doing so revealing the original critic's hypocrisy. The usual syntax is "What about...?"

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whataboutism

[ehrnst]

66. What do you think will be revealed when "the dust clears?"

That the staffers were lying?

That the campaign did disown harassers immediately, and did have a system in place that addressed it to the satisfaction of the staffers, and that the meeting his 2016 staffers requested with Sanders and his staff was actually set up by someone else who wanted Sanders out of the 2020 campaign, and they had no clue that it was happening?

Perhaps this photo was faked by one of the harassers?

[LiberalFighter]

52. Agreed!

[Cha]

13. "Sanders' claims.. " are Not a good excuse.

[CentralMass]

15. Neither was shielding a harraser as nwntioned in the article.

My point here is that negative posts can be generated for every single candidate that all of you superior Democrats have deemed worthy of running. A shit slinging contest will inevitably occur.

[Cha]

16. Oh yes, Your #WhatAboutism!.. false

equivalency.

[CentralMass]

24. I voted for and supported Hillary in 2008. Investrd a lot of time countering attacks on her on

another site during that election. Some of that was a sycophantic support.

I will continue to follow this situation with these allegations about the Sanders campaign but will point out the hypocrisy
regarding the handling of that harassment case in 2008. Hillary supporters here explained it away. Her campaign if I recall said that they had a process that was followed.

From the NYT article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/us/politics/hillary-clinton-chose-to-shield-a-top-adviser-accused-of-harassment-in-2008.html
"The complaint against Mr. Strider was made by a 30-year-old woman who shared an office with him. She told a campaign official that Mr. Strider had rubbed her shoulders inappropriately, kissed her on the forehead and sent her a string of suggestive emails, including at least one during the night, according to three former campaign officials familiar with what took place.

The complaint was taken to Ms. Doyle, the campaign manager, who approached Mrs. Clinton and urged that Mr. Strider, who was married at the time, be fired, according to the officials familiar with what took place. Mrs. Clinton said she did not want to, and instead he remained on her staff.

Ms. Doyle was fired shortly after that in a staff shake-up in response to Mrs. Clinton’s third-place finish in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. And Mr. Strider never attended the mandated counseling, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation."

[ehrnst]

62. You can keep posting it as many times as you like, but it's still very different, and still

Whataboutism.

[betsuni]

20. "negative posts can be generated"

Are you saying it isn't true that the Sanders campaign had a problem? That because other candidates "that all of you superior Democrats have deemed worthy of running" have problems we shouldn't discuss this one?

Jeff Weaver: "Was it too male? Yes. Was it too white? Yes." They had a problem and some people from the campaign want the next one to do better. What's wrong with trying to make the next campaign more successful, with income equality and more diversity?

[Cha]

25. So they're running.

The "problem", Jeff Weaver, is not knowing there was a problem before.

[CentralMass]

29. I posted a bit in another reply. I think this situation should be scrutinized.

Sanders has said that he was unaware that this harrasment was ocurring.
This cnn article has he detailed response
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/sanders-sexual-harassment-ac360-cnntv/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

I am inclined to believe that response.

I'll go back to this last election when Hillary's 2008 harrassment story surfaced and how attempts were made to explain it away were made here. . "The campaign had process and it was followed."

[ehrnst]

63. No matter how many times you try to say "HILLARY WAS JUST AS BAD!!!"

It's still not anywhere near what the Sanders staffers are saying, and it's still whataboutism.

Desperate whataboutism....

[ehrnst]

61. I would consider whataboutism "slinging shit."

And "Mom - the other kids were doing it, too!" defense didn't work for my son, and it really doesn't work for adults.

[ehrnst]

64. "All you superior Democrats?" Are you saying that you aren't a Democrat?

Really?

Wasn't Lance Armstrong's defense for doping was that everyone else was doing it?

False equivalency along with Whataboutism....

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

27. Good point on that other New York Times article... yet, a new standard applies to Bernie?!

[Demsrule86]

46. Oh please....deflecting wont work. The fact is Sen. Sanders should have known.

This is a new story so not discussing primary but if he didn't know, he should have. I sincerely hope Sen. Sanders does not run...couple this sort of thing with Hugh Mello...and various comments after the general election about social justice...and he won't win a primary, but this sort of thing could cause division and impact the general. Already you see the beginnings of it. Sen. Sanders is a fine senator and we need him in the Senate. Also, should he run a Republican governor would appoint the new Senator. This wasn't the case last time.

[ehrnst]

58. Right, her 2008 staffers asked for a meeting to address the pervasive culture of harassment

before her 2016 campaign because they didn't think that it was dealt with adequately.

Oh wait...

More than two dozen women and men who worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign are seeking a meeting with the senator and his top political advisers to “discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment on the 2016 campaign, for the purpose of planning to mitigate the issue in the upcoming presidential cycle,” according to a copy of letter obtained by POLITICO.

“In recent weeks there has been an ongoing conversation on social media, in texts, and in person, about the untenable and dangerous dynamic that developed during our campaign,” they wrote.
.............................................................
“This letter is just a start,” said one of the organizers who declined to be named. “We are addressing what happened on the Bernie campaign, but as people that work in this space we see that all campaigns are extremely dangerous to women and marginalized people and we are attempting to fix that.”

People involved in the effort said they signed the letter before Sanders (I-Vt.) officially launches a 2020 presidential bid in the hope that it would lead to real action if and when the senator begins assembling his team. Organizers wrote they wanted the meeting to produce a plan for “implementing concrete sexual harassment policies and procedures; and a commitment to hiring diverse leadership to pre-empt the possibility of replicating the predatory culture from the first presidential campaign.”

The signees range from field organizers to some of the top officials on the 2016 campaign, according to multiple people involved in the effort. Some of the signees do not expect to join any 2020 campaign, while others are open to joining a potential Sanders 2020 bid.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/30/bernie-sanders-campaign-harassment-1077014

[betsuni]

9. Pay disparity. So income inequality ...

That's awkward.

[Cha]

11. It is rather

awkward.

[ehrnst]

59. "Identity politics"

Clearly, some hard choices are required in the service of financing an "economic justice" campaign.

[JI7]

18. shouldn't most Sanders supporters get Behind Elizabeth Warren who HAS taken steps to run ?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

23. A lot of them have. Including here on du.

I’ve even seen a couple young Turks videos defending her. One against the ridiculous “likable” claims and another defending her against some ridiculous Fox News commentary about her drinking a beer.

So far the people I’ve had contact with in real life (well on Facebook anyway) who don’t like her are big Hillary supporters. She’s too left for these people.

Go figure.

[betsuni]

28. If Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders voted 93% the same when they were both in the Senate,

why would Warren be "too left" for former Hillary supporters?

[Cha]

33. Elizabeth talks about the harder plight of POC in her Vid & Pres Obama..

has a spot with her..

I've seen a lot of Hill supporters liking Elizabeth.. I don't care what that poster has to say about his "left" label.

[betsuni]

34. Now THAT'S the way to do it. Republicans wreck America, Democrats try to fix it.

Those imaginary centrist/establishment "Hillary supporter" monsters are still lurking in some people's closets at night.

[Cha]

35. lol Rofl NO

Doubt!

Yes, I was impressed with Elizabeth's Vid Didn't hurt that she has the good sense to talk about how much harder it is for POC, and that she was with President Obama not running away from him.

[Cha]

32. Yeah, well I know a lot of Hill supporters who like Elizabeth.

And, I'm liking what I see from Elizabeth Warren these last coupled of days.

She talks about the harder plight of POC in her Vid and she also features President Obama.

[fleabiscuit]

36. Actually they are The Yelling Turds. nt

[lapucelle]

37. ...

Elizabeth Warren is a Hard-Core Liberal.


Hillary Clinton is a Hard-Core Liberal.

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Elizabeth_Warren.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm

[Cha]

41. Thank You for throwing the Reality Check

in there, lapucelle!

[Demsrule86]

47. That is not really true. The concern among various voters is can she carry purple and red states...

if not we lose. Many people who have concerns about running a candidate such as Sen. Sanders or Sen. Warren has to do with ideology. But that is not the case, It has to do with electability Can they win a general in what has become a center left country? I don't think Sen. Warren nor Sen. Sanders can win a general. We have to win in 20 or kiss the progressive movement goodbye.

[Gothmog]

19. This is a good article

Link to tweet

[CentralMass]

31. I post this as an example of how going negative on any candidate in this race is possible

Now personally, i have nothing against Kamala Harris and even believe that she is an impressive candidate.

However for sake of the discussion there is this story from the WAPO.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/longtime-aide-to-sen-kamala-d-harris-resigns-amid-sexual-harassment-allegations/2018/12/06/b748934c-f94b-11e8-8c9a-860ce2a8148f_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4501bbdd7e38
"A longtime senior aide to Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) resigned Wednesday amid allegations of sexual harassment while working for Harris during her tenure as attorney general of California.

The resignation of Larry Wallace, who served as director of the division of law enforcement in the California Department of Justice, came after the Sacramento Bee inquired about a $400,000 settlement reached in a lawsuit filed by Danielle Hartley, who served as Wallace’s assistant, against the state of California.

Hartley alleged that she was subjected to demeaning behavior, including being ordered to put paper in a printer under Wallace’s desk.

The December 2016 lawsuit was settled in May 2017 by Xavier Becerra, Harris’s successor as attorney general."

"We were unaware of this issue and take accusations of harassment extremely seriously,” Harris spokeswoman Lily Adams said in a statement Wednesday night. “This evening, Mr. Wallace offered his resignation to the senator and she accepted it.”

[betsuni]

38. #WhatAboutKamala #WhatAboutHillary

"for sake of the discussion" here are some people who have nothing to do with this story.

Let's throw in a "Thanks, Obama" for the heck of it! Always blame Democrats!

[CentralMass]

50. Yes, what about them. Would 4 or 5 different posts about these very similar issues be tolerated

here ?

Allegations that sexual harrasment occurred by/of member of Sanders campaign. He has addressed the matter and said that he was unaware of these events at the time but acknowledged that they went from 3 campaign people to 1200 almost overniight and admittly did not have a handle on all personnel issues and mentioned steps to address this in any future campaigns. I am inclined to be belive him. Knowing what was going on with 1200 newly hired camaign people while he is canvassing the country is not probable.
If it surfaces that he was aware of the hsrrasment and did nothing, that is a different matter


The WAPO article mentioning Senator Harris top aid involved with harrasing another staffer during her tenure as attorney general of California. The case was settled by her successors and this surfaced shortly after she took her Senate seat. She fired the aid who was now working for her Sacremento office and said that this was the first she had heard of it. I am inclined to trust the Senators integrity and believe her on the matter. However it would not be unreasonable for someone to doubt that an AG of her caliber would be unaware that her top aid was accused of sexual harrasment of his own assistant and that a settlement of the case took place while he was employed by her and she hadnt heard about it.

In the case of the harrasment that occurred during Hillary's 2008 campaign that surfaced in 2016. She was aware of the harrasment and chose not to fire the top aid who was accused. He went on to work for a group supporting her campaign in 2016 where he was fired for another harrassment claim. The faithful did not care.

I ask (knowingly) is this the way to operate on this forum ?

What faction is posting regular negative post about potential candidates in this race ?

[George II]

54. What happened in this ONE incident in Harris' office was handled and he was dismissed....

...what happened in the ONE incident in the Clinton campaign was addressed and accepted by the victim.

Neither campaign was ever characterized as having a "predatory culture" which is the way two dozen Sanders campaign workers characterize it.

One incident in each of two campaigns is a lot different from dozens of incidents and a "predatory culture".

Are you really trying to rationalize what happened because of the Harris and Clinton incidents?

[Cha]

55. Your #TryingtoDistract from BS not knowing.. is

Not working.

[stonecutter357]

39. #WhatAbout Bernie and his Bro's ?

[Demsrule86]

48. And maybe it should. Sexual harassment is a serious issue.

However, more deflection. It doesn't change what happened in the Sanders campaign.

[ehrnst]

57. So why do you think Sanders own 2016 staffers would "go negative on him?" (nt)

[Vinca]

43. I've always loved Bernie, but I hope he doesn't run this time around.

IMO, it's time to pass the torch to a younger generation of leaders. (I'm an old geezer so I get to be ageist.)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

45. We can do better. There is no room for this aberrant behavior in our party.

[KitSileya]

51. And it's not only 2016 - BS had no problems with a known sexual harasser at his Gathering

Be Your Own Hero — Because Bernie Is Not It

https://medium.com/@mashamendieta/be-your-own-hero-because-bernie-is-not-it-c4add2e08029

Almost two years ago, I first came out publicly about the sexism and sexual harassment I experienced and witnessed while working on the Bernie 2016 campaign (here is a summary of that saga). Side note: we should all know that the legal definition of sexual harassment according to the EEOC is harassment that occurs because of that person’s sex. It can be sexual in nature, but does not have to be. Any physical or verbal discrimination that occurs because of your sex is sexual harassment. Why is this important? Because unlike where we have evolved on other issues of bigotry to include the discrimination itself, whether physical in nature or not, we still seem to accept discrimination against women with a shrug that says “that’s just the way it is” or “it’s a cultural thing.” When I outed Arturo Carmona as a sexist who did not deserve to serve in Congress, people told me, “He didn’t rape you. What are you complaining about?” These are real comments I received. Really, progressive world, this is the standard we are setting for women: anything less than rape is fine? Would you have told the Civil Rights Movement, “Hey, they stopped lynching you (mostly). What are you complaining about?” No, you would not. You should not. But hey, it’s just women, right? Sexism is sexism. Sexism alone should appall you. And this movement is nothing more than a farcical exercise in left-wing political incest if the oppression of the female is served up as a sacrificial lamb to slaughter on the altar of your political ambition.

...

Yes, before I ever even came out publicly about Arturo Carmona, Bernie did know. He knew everything. He heard the whole sordid tale and still considered endorsing Arturo. And when asked by the press about it after I came out, he feigned ignorance and still refused to condemn him. Is that the reaction you expect from a hero? Many of you asked me what Bernie had to say, assuming him or someone from his team obviously would have reached out to me after the story broke. No, he did not and they did not. It was crickets. And lest you think it some inflated sense of self, how would you react if you were a politician and this story emerged about your own campaign (that is, if you are a feminist)? I would’ve immediately picked up the phone, reached out, apologized, soothed, promised to investigate, something, anything. But Bernie (and his team) did nothing. Instead, I got blacklisted.

...

Second, I bring this up now even though this has been a year in the making because, last week, Arturo Carmona made a splashing public reappearance — at the Sanders Institute event, by personal invitation from Jane Sanders. I can’t express the heartbreak that caused. The tiny thread in me that still clung to hope that Bernie and Jane were somehow miraculously sheltered from the gross sexist machinations of the campaign completely snapped. The behind-the-scenes brouhaha that ensued after people saw Arturo at the event led to swift spin doctoring. Apparently, Arturo called up Jane personally, because she still takes his calls, and asked for an invitation to the event. He wasn’t on the list, so she told him to show up anyway. Bernie was supposedly then surprised to see Arturo at the event — and here’s the kicker — but he said nothing. He saw Arturo schmoozing and taking selfies with Jane, but he stayed silent. Not only is Arturo a sexist, but he was also arrested for embezzlement. Again I ask you, is this how a hero would act? If an outed (by more than a dozen people) misogynist showed up to your private event that is essentially the grooming ground for the future leaders of your movement, would you just shrug and stay silent? I wouldn’t. And I hope you wouldn’t either. So why do I already hear the internet making excuses for Bernie? Why do we accept the mistreatment of women in a way we never would for other oppressed groups? If this story was about a racist who had called me a “spic” instead, how would you react differently? I’ll tell you. You would lose your collective shits. But again, it’s just women, right? We’re supposed to shut up and deal with it and be polite while we’re at it.

[R B Garr]

53. Wow, so his claims of not knowing what was happening in

his campaign don’t really match. Interesting.

[Gothmog]

56. I know one of the ladies mentioned in this article

From the article cited in the OP

Political campaigns can be grueling experiences for both the women and men involved. But some involved said they considered the treatment of women on the Sanders campaign especially upsetting because the senator positioned himself as a champion of progressive ideals and equality, according to interviews and messages shared on Facebook.

“I don’t think he has to be the vehicle or the platform for the movement that emerged from his campaign,” said Sarah Slamen, who worked for the campaign in Texas, was the state coordinator in Louisiana and helped build out Our Revolution, a progressive organization born from Mr. Sanders’s presidential campaign.

“Do you know how hard that is for me to say after working so hard for him?” she said.

Ms. Slamen quit the organization at the end of 2016 after she said she was berated by a male member of the Our Revolution steering committee for suggesting an organizing plan. In emails reviewed by The Times, she raised issues about sexist behavior with committee members who saw the incident and Our Revolution’s national board of directors. She said she received no reassurance that anything would change.

[Gothmog]

67. Bernie Sanders has a problem

Sanders did not deal with this issue adequately. CNN thinks that sanders will be hurt by his answer to this issue https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/politics/bernie-sanders-sexism-2020/index.html?utm_content=2019-01-06T13%3A22%3A02&utm_source=twCNNp&utm_term=image&utm_medium=social

On Wednesday night, Sanders was asked by Anderson Cooper whether he was aware, during the 2016 campaign, of the allegations -- recently published by The New York Times -- of sexism and sexual harassment within his operation.

"I was a little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case," said Sanders.

That is not a good answer. At all. Ever. And especially not amid the ongoing impact of the #MeToo movement on the culture and political world.

(Worth noting: He did apologize "to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately," and added: "If I run, we will do better next time.&quot