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The issue of US social security Bernie Sanders Levels CNN And Delivers The Truth To The Mainstream Media 
Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yBCVYf3g4o Original article: http://www.politicususa.com/en/bernie-sanders-cnn Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | ||
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Bernie Sanders Levels CNN And Delivers The Truth To The Mainstream Media
Sen. Bernie Sanders went on CNN and confounded the mainstream media simply by telling the truth that only 15%-20% of Americans support the Republican agenda. Written by Jason Easley November 18, 2011 Here is a clip from CNN (I’ll post the full interview when it’s available): Here’s the transcript: BLITZER: Let’s talk a little politics for a second while I have you. How enthusiastic or unenthusiastic is the liberal progressive base out there that helped President Obama get elected in 2008 this time around? SANDERS: Well, I will tell you. President Obama said vote for me because John McCain wants to cut your Social Security. Now, if Obama comes forward and says, hey, I want to cut your Social Security, how enthusiastic do you think – BLITZER: He doesn’t want to cut Social Security. He wants to make changes, though. SANDERS: No. Wolf that is called a cut. You know what it would mean? You know what this change in CPI means? It means $560 a year when you’re 75, starting at 65. It means $1,000 a year when you get to be 85. That in plain language, in the real world, is called a cut. And so the president, if he were to support that proposal, would be going back on his word. The problem that the president has is he ran a brilliant campaign. He inspired a whole lot of people. But people now are nervous. They’re not quite sure where he is coming from. He needs to stand up for the working class, the middle class of this country and say I am going to protect you. SANDERS: I am not. But here’s the point to be made. I don’t think it’s made enough in the media. If you look at the ideology of these right wing Republicans, more tax breaks for rich, cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, deregulate Wall Street after Wall Street caused this horrendous recession we’re in, more unfettered free trade so we can lose more jobs to China. Do you know how many people believe in that ideology? Maybe, 15, 20 percent max. The real issue is why Democrats aren’t winning by 30 or 40 percent. BLITZER: Why not? SANDERS: Because they are not clarifying they reality that — that’s their problem. They have got to make it clear they are on the side of the middle class and working class and differentiate themselves from Republicans. So when the president and other Democrats come forward and say, well, we’re thinking about maybe cutting Social Security. The average person says is there a difference – BLITZER: Do you think, and we’re almost out of time, but you think the president has been too wishy-washy? SANDERS: Absolutely. I think the three previous agreements that the president and the Democrats negotiated with the Republicans have given the Republicans almost everything they wanted. Now is the time for the Democrats to stand up and say we are on the side of working families and the middle class. American people, you decide where you’re coming from. As much as I agree with President Obama on lots of issues, Sen. Sanders is correct. There is no need for Social Security to be in the current deficit reduction conversation. By law, Social Security revenues and funds are separate from the budget. The program isn’t adding a penny to deficit. Social Security is a self-sustaining program that by the way is not going broke. Sen. Sanders went on the increasingly right tilting CNN and delivered a bit of truth that every mainstream media outlet needs to understand. The right wing that they are so terrified of and cater to only makes up 15%-20% of the population, the vast majority of Americans and most Republicans do not agree with their positions on issues like Social Security, Medicare, and increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Networks like CNN are so busy caving to the right and fruitlessly pandering to an audience of a few million that Fox News has locked up that they have given most of their programming a right wing bias. As soon as CNN climbed into bed with the Tea Party, they made it known that they were ready to whore themselves out in order to seduce viewers away from Fox News. Sen. Sanders was correct. The mainstream media acts like a political fringe is the majority view. It took Bernie Sanders moments to level the myth that the mainstream uses as a basis for their biased coverage. Sen. Sanders turned CNN on it’s with a simple fact. Most Americans aren’t right wingers, and they would really appreciate if they could get their news without the corporate agenda and political bias. The mainstream media and too many Democrats have gotten themselves sucked into the right wing narrative, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is still standing tall and speaking the truth.
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