Sanders Blames The Media For His 'Unqualified' Tiff With Clinton

[MrWendel]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sanders-blames-media-unqualified-tiff-clinton

ByCAITLIN CRUZ

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blamed the media at a press conference on Thursday morning for instigating and perpetuating the disagreement between himself and rival Hillary Clinton about their respective qualifications for the highest political office in America.

"So when, you have headlines in the Washington Post, 'Clinton questions whether Sanders is qualified to be president,' my response is well, you know, if you want to question my qualifications, let me suggest this," Sanders said. "That maybe the American people might wonder about your qualifications, Madam Secretary, when you voted for the war in Iraq, the most disastrous foreign policy blunder in the modern history of America."

The Washington Post article he referenced pulled together numerous interviews in which Clinton said Sanders was ill-prepared for an interview with the New York Daily News and questioned his commitment to the Democratic Party. In those interviews, Clinton didn't explicitly say Sanders was unqualified for the presidency.

Sanders stressed that he was not willingly entering this "type of politics."

"This is not the type of politics that I want to get in, I know it's what the media loves," Sanders said in reference to Clinton and Sanders trading barbs. "It is not the type of politics that I want to get in, but let me also be very clear. If Secretary Clinton thinks that I just come from the small state of Vermont, we are not used to this, we will get used to it fast."

Sanders vowed that his campaign would not "get beaten up and lied about." He later pivoted to saying voters should question Clinton's qualifications after she raised "millions of dollars from Wall Street."

"I don't think I have to explain to the American people what Wall Street did to this economy," Sanders said. "Are you qualified to be president of the U.S. when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessly and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?"

Sanders added he respects Clinton, though.

"What I just said is that she has attacked me for being unqualified. And if I am going to attack for being 'unqualified' I will respond in kind," he said, adding he hopes to move away from personal attacks.

[LexVegas]

1. Lips are still moving. nt

[virtualobserver]

2. He wasn't blaming the media....he was blaming Hillary and her campaign.

[GreatGazoo]

5. exactly

She is all about message discipline and only having certain people talk to the media and stay on message. The WaPo is tightly synched with the Clinton campaign so why would anyone assume that they are inaccurate with their pro-Hillary headlines.

Whether she specifically used the phrase "Sanders is not qualified..." is Clintonian word parsing -- "the definition of 'is' is" type stuff. She has been hammering on "not a Democrat" since late last year.

Passive aggressive comes to mind. It is worse than aggressive because it adds denial. They did this stuff in 2008 too:

Maggie Williams, campaign manager for Clinton, played down the significance of the picture. "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/25/barackobama.hillaryclinton

[NWCorona]

3. There is this

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/04/bernie-sanders-doesnt-back-unqualified

[BeyondGeography]

4. Translation: Wave a headline in my face and I'll say something stupid to hurt myself

without reading the story, you know, just to make sure.

Weak.

[Lucinda]

6. If he is just now learning that the media causes trouble, he really

really shouldn't be running for POTUS.

And it is crazy weak sauce as far as excuses go. Do your homework Bernie!

[pnwmom]

8. Thank you, straightiron.

And welcome to DU!

I would like to suggest that if you include links showing sources of info like this that would be helpful. You sound like someone who is very familiar with this issue but it would help those of us who are less informed.

Thanks!