Bernie Sanders made a comparison Sunday between the challenges women face in politics today and his running for president at the age of 78 as the Democratic presidential candidate continues to face questions over his recent feud with Elizabeth Warren on sexism in politics.
During an hourlong appearance on New Hampshire Public Radio, Sanders was asked if he thinks female candidates have a different experience as presidential candidates than him and whether gender is still an obstacle for female politicians. Sanders answered yes.
“But I think everybody has their own sets of problems,” the Vermont senator said. “I’m 78 years of age. That’s a problem.”
He then went on to note that age concerns could also be a challenge for 38-year-old former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, saying “if you’re looking at Buttigieg, he’s a young guy.”
“And people will say, well he’s too young to be president. You look at this one, she’s a woman,” Sanders said. “So everybody brings some negatives if you like. I would just hope very much that the American people look at the totality of a candidate, not at their gender, not at their sexuality, not at their age, but at everything. Nobody is perfect. There ain’t no perfect candidate out there.”
Asked after a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday to comment on Sanders’ statement and if being a woman was a problem, Warren said only, “I have no further comment on this.”
Division among Sanders and Warren became fierce last week after the two progressives had largely left the other unscathed for much of the 2020 race. Warren and Sanders disagreement comes over a private 2018 meeting.
Warren contends then that Sanders told her he didn’t think a woman could win the White House. Sanders has vocally disputed that claim, but on Sunday tried to avoid talking about the meeting.
“I really don’t want to get into what was a private conversation,” Sanders said on the public radio program. “But to answer your question, let me just say this, it is hard for me to imagine how anybody in the year 2020 could not believe that a woman could become president of the United States. And if you check my record, I’ve been saying that for 30 years.”
(AP)
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6 Responses
interesting that they don’t mention that Bernie’s senility is an obstacle to being elected, but I guess no one in the dems noticed that Bernie is still a Bundist socialist, a self hating Jew and is married to a non Jew….
At 78 he would be the second oldest Head of State in the world (number one is Queen Elizabeth, and her required duties only involve signing lots of documents, attending Privy Council meetings and opening Parliament an average of once a year). President of the United States is much more demanding. Perhaps it is time for people eligible for social security to realize why the government has decided they should be retired (this goes for many of the candidates, from both parties). .
Sanders had a heart attack on the campaign trail. That should mean an end his campaign of campaign. All the rest is … not commentary, but a word I would not say (nor would YWN post) on line.
Att’n luckshun kugel: See my earlier comment, and note that I am a registered Democrat and unregistered (unless Trump’s thugs are keeping a list) liberal. I am fully aware that Sanders’ wife is not Jewish, that he says he is the “s” word (socialist), though he had done little, and advocated little, that is genuinely socialist. As for being a self-hating Jew, I have been accused of the same sin on this website, and the accusers are wrong about me, and that casts doubt on Sanders’ accusers. I don’t know Sanders’ state of mind on being Jewish. He surely ain’t frum, but that don’t mean he hates being Jewish.
And, just to be clear, I don’t think I would support Sanders if he were 30 years younger.
Classic identity politics
huju, being a friend with Linda Sorsur, defending Hamas and Hezbollah, whitewashing antisemitites Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib is the definition of the “Self Hating Jew”.