By Kyle Drennen
In a surprisingly tough series of interviews on all three network morning shows on Wednesday, Bernie Sanders was grilled over his endorsement of Hillary Clinton. The hosts suggested he was simply supporting the “lesser of two evils” in the campaign and fretted that the socialist senator was “capitulating” his left-wing “values.”
On NBC’s Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie pressed: “Senator Sanders, let’s be blunt about it. Is this an enthusiastic endorsement of Hillary Clinton or is this more about you saying Donald Trump really ought not to be president? In your mind, is this really a choice between the lesser of two evils?”
Moments later, Guthrie actually brought up Clinton’s e-mail scandal and wondered if it gave him “pause” in voicing support for the Democratic candidate:
Last week, the FBI director came out and said that Hillary Clinton was extremely careless with highly sensitive e-mail information. That in fact many of the explanation she’s given about her e-mail practices, turned out to be not true. Did any of that from Director Comey give you pause before you endorsed her? And if not, why not?
Sanders tried to dodge the question: “Well, look, Hillary Clinton is not a perfect human being, Bernie Sanders is not a perfect human being…. it’s not Donald Trump as a person, not Hillary Clinton as a person.” Guthrie interrupted: “But that’s not a personal – that’s not a personal issue.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos began the exchange by worrying that Sanders had “betrayed” his supporters: “…a lot of your supporters still pretty upset. Some Facebook posts. ‘You broke my heart and betrayed the left, Senator Sanders.’ That’s from Cesar Diaz. Jessica Boyer, ‘You chose her over us.’ What do you say to your supporters who feel betrayed?”
In part, Sanders replied: “What I say is absolutely imperative for the future of this country that Donald Trump not be elected president of the United States.” Stephanopoulos remarked: “So it’s about the lesser of two evils?” Sanders denied the charge: “No, it’s not about the lesser of two evils.”
CBS This Morning didn’t refer to Clinton as “evil,” but co-host Norah O’Donnell did demand: “You have made attacking Wall Street a pillar of your presidential campaign. Are you now capitulating some of your values by endorsing Hillary Clinton?” Later, she asked: “If I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter, raised money for you, campaigned for you, I want to know from Bernie Sanders, what did you extract from Hillary Clinton? What promises did you extract from her?”
Fellow co-host Charlie Rose wondered: “Do you believe you have pulled her to the left?” Sanders declared: “I think when you get 13 million votes, which is what we got, when you win 22 states, when young people all over this country are demanding real change, Secretary Clinton and her team are smart enough to understand that they have got to go where the action is…”
Editor’s note. This appeared at newsbusters.org.