Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Sunday brushed off comments unearthed this weekend in which his former rival, Hillary Clinton, said that his supporters were “still living in their parents’ basement.” His answer: they are.
Clinton’s comments, recorded at a fundraiser in McLean, VA in February and published by the Washington Free Beacon, also included several other digs at Sanders and his fans, saying that he was offering them a “false promise.” But Sanders, far from taking offense, confirmed Clinton’s condescending remarks.
Clinton had said (emphasis added):
Some are new to politics completely. They’re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents’ basement. They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don’t see much of a future.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, Sanders said (emphasis added):
Well, I agree with her. What she is saying is what I suggested a moment ago. There are young people who went deeply into debt, worked very hard to get a good education, and yet they are getting out of school and can’t find decent, paying jobs. And that is a major problem. They are living in their parents’ basements. So that’s the point there. So I personally do believe we do need a political revolution. That we do need to transform this society; create decent, paying jobs, make sure Donald Trump and his billionaire friends start paying their fair share of taxes; do what Donald Trump does not want us to do, address the crisis of climate change; transform our energy system, do what Donald Trump does not want us to do; raise the minimum wage to a living wage; and have pay equity for women. So I think that Secretary Clinton — and by the way, as I said, I just talked to her a few days ago, she is prepared on all of those issues to move forward within the first 100 days of her administration. And on top of that, unlike Donald Trump, she understands that Citizens United Supreme Court decision is undermining American democracy. It has got to be overturned. She will be supporting the constitutional amendment to do that so that billionaires cannot continue buying elections in this country.
Asked by Tapper what he would say to a supporter who found it condescending to be described as a “basement-dwelling barista that is buying false promises from Bernie Sanders,” Sanders said that supporters should choose between the candidates based on their positions on the issues.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.