Warren Camp Says Sanders Wasn’t Being Sexist: ‘That’s Not What This Is About’

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) greet each other at the start of the Democratic presidential debate on July 30, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Justi... Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) greet each other at the start of the Democratic presidential debate on July 30, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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A campaign official for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) presidential campaign has been advising supporters against accusing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of sexism over his comment about whether a woman could win the 2020 race.

According to screenshots of a private Twitter group chat obtained by BuzzFeed News, the unnamed staffer told supporters on Monday night that the campaign’s goal was “de-escalation and focusing on our shared goals” after Warren released her statement on her conversation with Sanders.

Then, on Tuesday morning, the official advised the group to “be careful with the ‘sexism’ angle” because “that’s not what this is about and I think it’ll be really bad news for us if that becomes what this is about (i.e. press asking her if she thinks Bernie is sexist).”

“Is that what this is about broadly? Absolutely,” the staffer wrote. “But no one here is actually claiming Bernie himself is sexist (regardless of your own personal beliefs on that topic).”

“Claiming you’re worried a woman can’t win/flagging that she’ll receive sexist attacks is something many, many people feel,” the staffer also wrote, echoing Sanders’ explanation of his comment.

“What I did say that night was that Donald Trump is a sexist, a racist and a liar who would weaponize whatever he could,” Sanders had said in his response to CNN’s report on the conversation. “Do I believe a woman can win in 2020? Of course! After all, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 3 million votes in 2016.”

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  1. Avatar for erik_t erik_t says:

    The knife wound in Senator Sanders’ back remains.

    (Which is fine by me, if in fact he said it. All’s fair in love and politics)

  2. Not a fan of Sanders, but also not sure why this is considered so off-limits for discussion.

    There’s certainly plenty of speculation and even polling about Buttigieg being gay and whether that would prevent him being able to be elected.

    There have also been questions about age, whether people are too old/ too young to win.

    In an ideal world, none of that would be an issue, but we’re dealing with the world we have, not the one which we might like to have.

    So it’s great to take principled stands, but does nothing for you if there’s still enough anti-women or anti-gay folks out there that you lose the elections because a chunk of the electorate is voting using that as a primary consideration.

  3. Avatar for rick rick says:

    The statement is more an appraisal of existing sexism than it is itself sexist. (Well, the “alleged” statement, the exact content of which still is in dispute.)

    Regardless, it’s clear Warren herself doesn’t want to bicker with Sanders.

  4. It’s obviously not off limits as a topic for peoplw to discuss and glad they are trying to communicate that this is a nothing-burger. Hopefully warren will take the same tack at the debate and this will pass.

  5. Actually, it is about sexism. Note Sanders and his supporters conduct in 2016.

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