2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPolitifact CALLS OUT Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders wrong to say, 'When you're white ... you don't know what it's like to be poor'By Louis Jacobson on Monday, March 7th, 2016 at 5:01 p.m.
During the Democratic debate in economically distressed and racially diverse Flint, Mich., CNNs Don Lemon asked both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders the same question:
"In a speech about policing," Lemon said, "the FBI director, James Comey, borrowed a phrase saying, Everyone is a little bit racist. What racial blind spot do you have?"
When it was Sanders turn to answer, he began by talking about several specific examples of racial discrimination. He then drew a contrast with what whites experience.
"When youre white, you dont know what its like to be living in a ghetto. You dont know what its like to be poor. You dont know what its like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car," Sanders said.
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Our ruling
Sanders says that "when you're white ... you don't know what it's like to be poor." On the contrary -- the most recent figures show that nearly 20 million white Americans are experiencing poverty. While thats smaller as a percentage than it is for other racial and ethnic groups, thats still a lot of people. In raw numbers, its actually more than any other group. We rate his claim False.
Read more:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/07/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-wrong-say-when-youre-white-you-dont/
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Enrique
(27,461 posts)good for Politifact for pointing out these facts.
Bernie of course knows there are a lot of poor whites. His state Vermont has a lot of them. He decided to answer the question with a platitude and he did it badly imho.
marew
(1,588 posts)That was the entire context! And it is true- being a minority and poor does make things more difficult. Let's not pretend it doesn't.
Politfact also said Wassermann Schultz lied when she claimed she scheduled debates on weekends so more people had accessibility. After doing the research, consulting media specialists, viewing statistics, etc., Politifact said no way! TV viewing is down on weekends!
fbc
(1,668 posts)Clinton supporters are really reaching here.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Thank you politifact for letting us know of this major omission in Sander's stump speeches.
It's reflective of their basic hypocrisy that the Clinton media pivots instantly from one mutually-exclusive frame to the other with neither irony nor shame.
Next week: Sanders is dismissive of the problems facing black people! News at 11!
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)Definitely not the level of the crap Hillary says regularly, like how much she doesn't support trade agreements. This post is an example of desperately spanking a monkey.
YCHDT
(962 posts)MaggieD
(7,393 posts)This is really how he thinks. That's why minority voters aren't voting for him. It's so very clear he's like your 80 year old uncle that just doesn't get it and never will.
I'm just surprised that his supporters really can't seem to see this. It's so obvious to me.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)He is not fast and flexible, which makes him very vulnerable to Hillary's razor sharp mind.
MaggieD
(7,393 posts)But this is normal for extremists. No nuance, no thinking things through. No need. It's all good or all bad. We have never had a president like that and never will as long as we don't go full out insane.
Some pundit opined that Sanders against Trump would be like Stalin against Hitler. And that is not far off, IMO.
BAD, BAD, BAD.