In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, on “Meet The Press” last Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders responded to accusations from Hillary Clinton that he was primarily responsible for her humiliating 2016 loss to President Trump.
In the interview the Independent Senator from Vermont, Chuck Todd noted that in her recently released memoir, “What Happened,” Hilary explicitly called out Bernie Sanders and his fans as a prime reason that she lost.
Todd played a video clip from Clinton’s recent appearance on “The View.” Clinton points out what she saw as a harmful double standard, and instance where Bernie was not being a team player, “I was arguing with my supporters at the Denver convention in 2008 about why they had to quit complaining that I didn’t win and get out and support Barack Obama. And I didn’t get that respect from him (Bernie) and his supporters.”
Todd told Sanders, “She believes you didn’t work hard enough to bring your supporters to the fold the way she did in ’08, which is what she was pointing there.” He continued the accusations, “and if anything, your supporters may have undermined her candidacy in the general election. Do you accept that criticism?”
“Wow,” Sanders responded, clearly floored by the brazen allegations leveled against him.
“But let me just say this,” Sanders retorted, “I worked as hard as I could after endorsing Hillary Clinton. I went all over this country. And I would remind people, you know, people say, ‘Well, not everybody who voted for Bernie ended up voting for Hillary.’ No kidding. That’s what happens in politics.”
He also presented the argument that a number of Clinton supporters in 2008 voted for Senator John McCain in 2008 general election.
“Most people, you know, are not rigidly Democrats or Republicans. They vote where they want. I worked as hard as I could to see that Hillary Clinton was — would be elected president.”
Todd also parroted another one of Hillary’s criticisms to Bernie – the fact that he does not identify as a Democrat, but as an Independent. Bernie agreed, and insisted that he still wants to seek re-election as an independent, because, “the current model of the Democratic Party obviously is not working.”
“Republicans control the House, the Senate, they control the White House,” Sanders observed. “They control two-thirds of the governors’ offices throughout this country. In my view, Chuck, what we need to do is to reach out to independents. There are a heck of a lot more independents in this country than there are Republicans or Democrats. I am an independent. I’ve always been a Democrat. I have worked within the Democratic caucus in the House and the Senate for over 25 years. I’ll continue to do that.”
