UPDATE: Jan. 28, 1:18 P.M.
The Washington Post editorial board published a harsh editorial about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign on Wednesday night, saying Sanders is “selling his own brand of fiction.”
The piece, titled “Bernie Sanders’s fiction-filled campaign,” describes Sanders’ campaign as spoon-feeding progressive voters the agenda they want to hear.
“When reality is ideologically or politically inconvenient, he and his campaign talk around it. Mr. Sanders’s success so far does not show that the country is ready for a political revolution,” the editorial board wrote. “It merely proves that many progressives like being told everything they want to hear.”
The editorial board called Sanders’ plan to raise taxes in order to pay for single-payer healthcare “fantastical.”
“He promises large benefits and few drawbacks,” the editorial read.
Sanders fired back at the Post at a breakfast Thursday with reporters sponsored by Bloomberg Politics.
“People are telling us, whether it’s the Washington Post editorial board or anybody else, our ideas are too ambitious — can’t happen,” Sanders told reporters, as quoted by the Post. “Too bold, really? Well, here’s something which is really bold. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class and working families of this country. The middle class has become poorer and trillions of dollars have been transferred to the top one-tenth of 1 percent.”
Sanders referenced the editorial multiple times in the breakfast, according to the Post reporter, including when talking about foreign policy.
“Getting back to the Washington Post, check out where all the geniuses on the editorial page were with regard to the invasion of Iraq,” Sanders added.
The newspaper has not yet endorsed any 2016 presidential candidate. In 2012 and 2008, the editorial board endorsed Barack Obama. In 1988, the paper refused to make an endorsement, calling the election “a national disappointment.”
