The Trouble With Bernie: Your Handy Vetting Guide The MSM Won't Publish

Bernie Sanders may have lost the Democratic nomination, but that’s not stopping him from continuing to sop up the mainstream media’s adoration of him. Monday night, as the fate of the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) once again hung in the balance, Bernie felt free to go on a CNN debate and essentially throw the ACA under the bus. Fortunately, GOP Sen. Susan Collins appears to have saved the day, once again, announcing that she will vote “no” for the latest scary incarnation of Trumpcare, the “Graham-Cassidy bill.” This bill had gained traction even as other senators explored bipartisan solutions to improve upon the ACA. So what was Bernie’s stance, as he debated the sponsors of the bill, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)? Rather than zealously defending the imperiled ACA, he chose instead to push for single payer health care. Regardless of the merits of a brand-new socialized health insurance program, which would involve repealing the ACA and replacing it with something no Republican-led government will enact, Bernie’s timing in agreeing to this debate could not have been worse. But what Bernie lacks in pragmatism, he makes up for in prideful prowess. This is at the crux of what was wrong with Bernie’s 2016 candidacy and what will continue to cause problems for him in Congress. While he may have some good ideas, he hasn’t a clue on how to go about making them reality — either politically or economically.

At what point will the media start looking at Bernie Sanders with a critical (and by that I mean analytical) eye? It never happened during the primaries and, yet again, Bernie and his merry band of supporters (the Bernie Bros) are back in the spotlight. He attempted to give a lengthy foreign policy speech that nobody asked him to give (and that offered no explanations on how to achieve his aspirational goals). Bernie even went on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert before Hillary Clinton did to talk about his reaction to her as yet unreleased book (as well as hawk his own). Bernie is everyone’s grumpy, yet somehow still lovable great-uncle. But you know what: Nobody’s perfect, not even “Saint” Bernard (as I like to call him).

I’m not an investigative journalist, but I can read and research and analyze. And apparently you need to do a lot of that on your own to vet Bernie Sanders because the mainstream media has never been inclined to do it. So, consider this the vetting piece on Bernie that the mainstream media refuses to write or run, all rolled into one blog post. Here I have collected the many negatives (including hypocrisies) about Bernie in one convenient, handy alphabetized guide (with hyperlinks to my sources). If an investigative journalist wanted to sniff around a little, I’m sure he or she could find much more, but it’ll have to do for now. You’re welcome.

Age

Some of Bernie’s most ardent supporters have actually suggested that he should run again for president. Let’s start by shutting that right down. Bernie just celebrated his 76th birthday, which means that, despite some of his newfangled ideas, he’d be by far the oldest president ever to take the oath of office. In 2021, he’d be 80 years old. To put that into context, Ronald Reagan was only 77 years old when he left office in 1988 after two terms (amid rumors that he was already suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease that ultimately led to his death). There are certainly younger, less white, and/or less male progressives/Democrats in the Senate who could or should consider running for the presidency: Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tammy Duckworth (just throwing some suggestions out there). Bernie should stick to being a Senator from Vermont. I hear he’s very popular there!

Banks

Bernie cast “evil banks” as a crucial part of the narrative in his 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, continually hammering that he never gave speeches to Wall Street where he raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars, implying how pure and uncorrupt he was compared to “lock her up” Hillary. That is why it is more than a little ironic that Bernie and his wife, Jane, are both now “lawyering up” as the FBI investigates allegations of bank loan fraud committed by Jane when she was president of Burlington College (in 2010, during her husband’s tenure as a United States Senator).

While a lot of questions remain to be answered, this is a potential scandal that could hang over Bernie’s head, and an ironic one at that. He continues to rail about the “fraudulent” banking system in the United States, even as his wife allegedly defrauded a bank. That Bernie hired his own lawyer is also a fact that may amount to nothing, or something. However, it is interesting given that the bank loan had (or should have had) nothing to do with Bernie or his marriage, and then there’s that detail about him being an elected official at the time. Perhaps Bernie wanted us to stop talking about Hillary’s “damn e-mails” because of his own personal skeletons? Hmmmm…

Citizens United

Another centerpiece of Bernie’s 2016 campaign was that the American political system is corrupt or “rigged” due to the ability of wealthy and corporate donors to sway elections by funding their preferred candidate. He repeatedly said he wanted to overturn the Citizens United case that enables Super PACs and “pay to play” corruption. That’s why it may come as a surprise to many that even Saint Bernie has accepted money from Super PACs, including $2.3 million from a large nurse’s union. Now some might say, “but it’s different―they’re selfless nurses!” (And that’s how ultra-left Bernie supporters rationalized this when the story first broke, around January 2016, and was then picked up by the Wall Street Journal.) Perhaps. However, you can also observe that it’s a tad hypocritical for Sanders to say on the one hand that for one group “pay to play” is rank corruption and points to a rigged electoral system, but another group is perfectly fine. A union is a special interest group with desires and demands like any other, and can accumulate great wealth and power in its own right. So much for overturning Citizen United and ending Super PACs.

Democrat (Not A)

Bernie has had a tumultuous relationship with the Democratic Party, or at least an identity crisis. Basically, he calls himself a Democrat whenever it suits his purpose (like when he’s running for the presidency or wants to caucus with the Democrats in Congress), and the rest of the time refers to himself as an “Independent.” In any event, it’s safe to say he’s far from an “enthusiastic” Democrat. The truth is that Sanders could have permanently switched to the Democratic Party once he ran for president as a Democrat in 2016, and the Democrats put forth their most progressive platform in history out of deference to him and his supporters. Instead, he has chosen to continue to refer to himself as an Independent, even after his own campaign manager said he would remain a Democrat “for life” after the election. This is why it is fair for Hillary Clinton to point out in her book that Bernie is absolutely not a Democrat. It’s also why it’s hard to find fault with Democratic Party leaders if they, say, preferred if an actual Democrat, rather than a fake Democrat, won the Democratic Party nomination. It doesn’t mean, however, that the election was “rigged.” Sanders telling his supporters this tall tale paved the way for Trump’s own “rigged election” rhetoric, as well as his “Crooked Hillary” campaign. And we all know how that ended up.

It is also highly questionable if the so-called “energized” far left Bernie voters are the true Democratic base, which in fact, is largely comprised of women and, in particular, African American women.

Establishment

Bernie fancies himself as an outsider, railing against the evil “establishment” when, in reality, he has been a career politician for the past 46 years, and a member of Congress for about 25 years. He started his political career as a third party spoiler candidate in 1971. You read that correctly: 1971. It wasn’t until 1980, however, that Bernie won an election, becoming the Mayor of the City of Burlington, Vermont. After four consecutive two-year terms, Bernie decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives as an Independent in 1990. He won that election and became the first socialist candidate ever elected to Congress. Bernie served as a Congressman until 2007, when he won his current job, as the junior senator from Vermont. To say Bernie Sanders is not part of the government establishment is just not accurate. But he may wish people to view him that way so that they don’t realize just how little he accomplished during all that time he served in public office (see Votes). To be fair, it’s not easy being the only socialist in a playground of capitalists.

Foreign Policy

The press has given short shrift to Bernie Sanders' scant foreign policy experience and underwhelming speeches and debate performance in this all-important area of the job of commander-in-chief. It is important to observe, however, that this is a glaring shortcoming of his that he has failed to attempt to improve and it’s odd that the mainstream media didn’t do a better job of bringing this to our attention. Vox, Politico, and Boston Globe are among the media outlets that have run stories or opinion pieces on Bernie and his foreign policy creds (or lack thereof). The Globe’s headline was literally “Sanders Flunks Foreign Policy.” Ouch. So, how could a person running for commander-in-chief of our armed forces and to be in charge of foreign policy possibly get as many votes as he did? Beats me, but maybe ask our President, Donald “Dotard” Trump? Of course, the Donald hadn’t been a member of Congress for decades when he got his job. What’s Bernie’s excuse? According to the Vox piece, despite doing a terrific job of citing some progressive ideology in a recent foreign policy speech, he had absolutely nothing of substance to offer in terms of how he would accomplish his lofty goals. Again. Here’s hoping our next President knows what the heck he or she is doing when it comes to foreign policy.

Ghetto Gaffe

Bernie has struggled to connect with African American and other minorities. His gaffe about blacks living in ghettos did not go over well, and was covered by the media when he said it. Basically, Bernie made it sound like blacks only live in ghettos, which is obviously inaccurate as well as obviously offensive. He tended not to do nearly as well in primaries where African Americans made up a significant part of the electorate. Those voters broke for Hillary Clinton, leading some totally not racist white Sanders supporters to discount those primaries. Yeah. The bottom line is that Bernie is a white dude. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t avoid being part of the privileged class in our society.

Homes

For a guy who constantly rails against the 1% of Americans who have a disproportionate amount of the wealth in this country, Bernie certainly doesn't lead a shabby life. He has three homes when many of his supporters can't even afford to own one. His most recent home, a $600,000 lakefront vacation property, was purchased by Bernie and Jane in the summer of 2016. Good to know, right? But historically the leader of a socialist regime tends to do much better than the masses, so maybe he’s channeling Fidel Castro.

Israel, Iran & ISIS

While foreign policy is not his strong suit (see Foreign Policy), Sanders has managed to stir controversy over Middle East affairs. Bernie is Jewish, yet has a strange affinity for Palestinians, making comments that were sharply criticized by the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League as "play[ing] into the image that Israel is the main problem to the conflict.". He also was one of only two senators (the other being Rand Paul) in the entire U.S. Senate to vote “no” to new sanctions imposed on Iran (as well as Russia and North Korea) in July. Is Bernie bending over backwards not to seem beholden to our one ally in the Middle East, Israel, due to his Jewish heritage? I really hope not, because that would be a rather pathetic betrayal of his own people, but I can tell you that his primary debate performance regarding Israel and the Palestinians, as well as other remarks he has made over time, have made a lot of his fellow New Yorkers, Jews, and others very uncomfortable (the New York Daily News called him “Scary.”)

I would agree that his seeming disregard for or ignorance of facts and figures in the ages old dispute for the ancient land is scary. In his Daily News interview, Sanders said he wasn’t sure of the exact death toll in the Gaza conflict but recalled that 10,000 civilians had been killed and said, “Israel’s force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.” (The actual number was 1,462 civilians killed, according to the United Nations. Hamas’ figure was 1,617 civilians; Israel’s estimate was 762.)

As for ISIS, he’s not a fan, but we know he also has no solution on how to address this very real threat to our national security.

Jane

First Ladies seldom come with baggage to weigh down their spouses, but Jane Sanders has a scandal brewing that could be a major embarrassment to Bernie given his anti-bank rhetoric. (See also Banks)

Little Lies

While Bernie wasn't the least honest candidate running in 2016 (that distinction belongs to—drumroll, please—Donald Trump), he also wasn't (contrary to popular belief) the most honest. That distinction belonged to Hillary Clinton. According to PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact checking website, Bernie Sanders has had his moments of playing fast and loose with the facts (but kudos to Bernie for not getting any “Pants on Fire” ratings). Too bad the mainstream media didn’t do such a great job of holding his feet to the fire, instead portraying him as pure as a snowflake. But he was in good company in that regard. The media loved talking endlessly about Hillary’s emails but underreported Donald Trump’s lies, scandals, and many shortcomings, preferring to broadcast his outrageous sound bites. She lost; he won. Gee, I wonder What Happened?

Media Maven

The press coverage about Bernie Sanders was minimal at the beginning of his campaign, much to the chagrin of his supporters, who claimed this was throwing an unfair advantage to his opponent. However, as the primary season wore on, Bernie became something of a media and pop culture darling. (Who can forget Larry David and his hilarious portrayal of Bernie as a lovable curmudgeon on Saturday Night Live? Or that homey catchphrase, “Feel the Bern”? Or the little bird that landed on his podium during a stump speech (Berdie Sanders—get it?), which made national news. Oh, I could go on.) The media focused on his adoring, largely youthful, crowds and parroted his slogan-like campaign promises, while tending not to vet him or point out the shortcomings in his policy positions. Just like they did with that other white guy—you know, the one who is now our president.

NRA & Gun Manufacturers

That the gun manufacturers’ lobby, the NRA, has been a supporter of Bernie Sanders in the past is an inconvenient truth, indeed. Especially when that person is trying to portray himself as a progressive who eschews support from corporate interests, given that the NRA is a wealthy, behemoth mouthpiece for American gun manufacturers. The other piece of this, however, looks even worse. Over the years, Bernie has voted in favor of dangerous, NRA-backed laws and against common sense public safety legislation.

For example, who thinks gun manufacturers should be completely immune from suit for the carnage inflicted by their products? Bernie Sanders apparently does because he voted for that bill in 2005, which ended up becoming federal law. He continued to maintain that this was his position in 2016.

But for the Brady Bill we wouldn’t have any background checks at all, much less universal background checks—but he voted against the Brady Bill four times.

In 1993, Bernie voted for an amendment to the Brady Bill, now known as the “Charleston loophole,” which allowed Dylann Roof to obtain a gun and commit mass murder against African Americans in a church The NRA-backed amendment provides for an exception to the background check requirement if the gun dealer can’t complete the check after three days.

In 1996, Bernie voted against allowing the CDC to research gun violence, and then flip flopped on this point (yes, even ideological purist Bernie flip flops!) in 2015.

Bernie has also opposed a seven-day waiting period for firearms purchases so gun owners wouldn’t “get caught up in a bureaucracy.”

To those who try to rationalize Bernie’s votes by saying, well, Vermont has a lot of rural areas and gun-owning hunters who support him, I say, (1) but they’re not the ones who contributed thousands of dollars to get Bernie elected, (2) tell that to the mothers of the Sandy Hook massacre victims who now have no recourse for what happened to their murdered children, and (3) that’s not exactly the truth either: Ed Cutler, president of the Gun Owners of Vermont, has said, “We have 4,000 members, and I can only think of one person who is for Sanders.”.

Obamacare/ACA

Bernie is no bestie of the Affordable Care Act and has waffled on his support of President Obama's signature achievement. While everyone agrees that the ACA needs improving, Sanders’ insistence on a single-payer system, while Republicans control both houses of Congress, seems ill-fated at best. Let’s focus on preventing the GOP from stripping healthcare insurance from tens of millions of Americans, shall we? (Reminder: Bernie gets health insurance either way—due to his job as U.S. Senator—paid for in large part by us, the taxpayers.)

"Pony" campaign promises

In her new book, Hillary Clinton mocks Bernie's pie-in-the-sky campaign promises from the 2016 election, likening them to promising a pony to a child. For example, Bernie promised free college tuition for all Americans without having any tenable plan for how to pay for it. Voters needed to be aware that, like Donald Trump’s campaign policies, many of Bernie's proposals did not have (and still don’t have) substance behind the grandiose goal and are unachievable. If you think they do, despite experts saying otherwise, then I have a bigly, beautiful wall to sell you (and Mexico will pay you back, I promise).

Russia

Although many progressives are chomping at the bit to impeach Trump for colluding with Russia to influence the election, there is a strange silence on the part of Bernie when it comes to Russia’s influence in our election. He thinks we shouldn’t “politicize” it or jump to any conclusions about Trump. Bernie is also one of only two senators to vote against tighter sanctions against Russia (as part of a wider sanctions bill) even now that we know they committed cyber warfare against us, and are likely to do it again. Like Trump, Bernie only benefitted from Putin's desire to keep Clinton from winning the presidency at all costs, we now know, by using fake news and bots on social media. We don't know if Bernie's campaign had any behind the scenes dealings with Russians, however, it did have a very well paid American consultant (thanks to all those contributions from Bernie’s supporters) with far-reaching ties to Russia. This is something that could be looked into further, perhaps, mainstream media? In the meantime, read these recent pieces in Medium and The People’s View, and see what you think.

Socialist

While the term “socialist” isn't as deadly as it once was in the United States, most Americans approve overall of our economic system where individual efforts and achievements tend to be rewarded, thus spurring innovation and invention. Democrats want to level the playing field so that all Americans have the chance to achieve the American Dream, yet still subscribe generally to the theory that the merits of capitalism outweigh the flaws. Bernie has been a socialist going way back to the beginning of his political career. He believes in the redistribution of wealth as part of a political revolution. Perhaps some far left extremists agree with him, but the United States is not at its heart a socialist country, and was founded on principles of individuality. Sorry Bros.

Taxes

Hillary Clinton has released her tax returns dating back to 1977, and it is a tradition if not a mandate that presidential candidates do this as a matter of transparency to the American people. Consider it part of the employment application for the job of POTUS. We all know that Donald Trump has yet to release his tax returns, setting a dangerous precedent, and lots of outrage—rightly so—from progressives. Did you know, however, that Bernie also failed to release his tax returns. He finally begrudgingly released his 2014 tax return following a debate against Clinton, but even that return wasn't complete. It begs the question of what could be in those other tax returns and why has he refused to release them if he has nothing to hide? In fact, the FBI may want to see them as part of its bank fraud investigation. Just saying. The portion of the 2014 return Bernie did eventually produce showed some odd itemized deductions, given his stance about wealthy Americans needing to pay more, not less in taxes. As one writer in Forbes said, it’s not too late for you to make things right and pay your fair share in taxes, Bernie!

Votes

As someone who spent more than 25 years in Congress, Sanders has very little to show in the way of accomplishments: aside from bills renaming Vermont post offices, he has only sponsored five bills that eventually became law. I guess he’s more of an ideas man than an achiever. (Call me crazy but I prefer progressives who get things done.)

Also, from January 2007 to September 2017, Sanders missed 223 of 3,200 roll call votes, which is 7.0%. This is much worse than the median of 1.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.

One more thing: Sanders saw fit to risk the entire auto industry (and American economy to boot) when he voted against the Wall Street bailout package ultimately signed into law by President Obama. This law prevented a recession from turning into a depression. Thanks for nothing, Bernie.

For his questionable votes on gun legislation, see NRA/Gun Manufacturers.

Wealth

Bernie is moving up in the world of wealth, now that he’s written his own best-selling books. (See Bernie, capitalism isn’t so bad, is it? It’s difficult to resist the urge to cash in on one’s fame.) Anyway, we know from his financial statements that Bernie has gone from being more than comfortable in the top 4% of Americans to the top 1%. Yes—the top 1 percent that he can’t stand, and his net worth even includes income from speaking engagements, so I’m just waiting for all the far left outrage on that! Here’s hoping you pay your fair share of taxes now that you’re a multi-millionaire, Bernie. (We’ll have to check that out once you’ve turned over the rest of your tax returns.)

Women

Ah, Bernie. Not only are you not a woman, you’re not a particularly great woman “ally.” Let’s start with Bernie’s charming way of discussing the psychology behind the women’s equality movement in the 1970s—by writing about a woman’s rape fantasy involving two men. Project much, Bernie?

Recently, he has been much more understated in his sexism, by calling Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America part of the evil “establishment.” Yes, this is the same Planned Parenthood that provides crucial health services to millions of women, especially necessary for poor women.

How to describe Bernie’s stance on women’s rights? As one writer put it, “Can someone remind Bernie Sanders that abortion is an economic issue?” Certainly. Here goes:

Hey Bernie, listen up: Half of the American population is female. If we can’t determine whether and when to bear children, that has all sorts of economic ramifications—for the woman, for her family, and for the entire country. Reproductive rights are human and civil rights too. Just in case you’ve forgotten.

YouTube Videos

If you want to see what I mean about Bernie and foreign policy (did I mention that he is no foreign policy genius?), watch these videos. Would have loved to hear more from him than just that he voted against the Iraq War. It would have maybe helped if Chuck Todd pushed him a little harder.