Sanders Tells Smiley: My Left is Just Right

[mhatrw]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/20/bernie-sanders-to-tavis-smiley-im-not-leading-the-democrats-too-far-to-the-left/

Smiley asked Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, about a “storyline” of the race that “thanks to Bernie Sanders and his leftist point of view, he’s now pulling Hillary Clinton to the left, which basically means you’re pulling the Democratic party to the left, and you’re pulling the party to the left of the American people. Is that going to doom the Democrats, no matter who the nominee is, when it comes to November 2106?”

“Boy, I disagree, Tavis, with everything that was in that statement,” Sanders said in response, arguing that “virtually every position that I am advocating has the strong support of the American people.”

As examples, Sanders cited his plans for a “massive” federal jobs program, for requiring the wealthy and corporations to pay their “fair share” of taxes, for guaranteeing workers family and medical leave and for making public colleges and universities “tuition free.”

“We are not going to get the kind of voter turnout that we need, we’re not going to get young people, we’re not going to get working-class people, we’re not going to get low-income people to begin participating in the political process and voting unless we talk about the issues that are relevant to their lives,” Sanders said.

...

[merrily]

1. Most of the positions that Sanders advocates do have the strong support of a majority of Americans.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12777036 (Let's talk polls.)

[Admiral Loinpresser]

2. Thank you! Bookmarked. n/t

[tecelote]

3. “Boy, I disagree, Tavis, with everything that was in that statement,” Sanders said

We'll be hearing a lot of this.

[Enthusiast]

4. Kicked and recommended for maximum exposure.

Of course the political establishment wants to paint Bernie as some wild eyed radical.

The policies Bernie proposes are dead on centrist. The other candidates are far to the right of the American people on the issues. Of course you will NEVER hear the truth of it on corporate TV.