Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden Bicker over Biden’s Record: ‘Get Real, Joe’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Joe Biden (D) sparred on social media Thursday over the former vice president’s past remarks on entitlements.

While Sanders remains notorious for refusing to take advantage of his political challengers’ trove of political baggage — from Hillary Clinton’s Clinton Foundation corruption in 2016 to the controversies surrounding the Biden family corruption starring Hunter Biden — Sanders has demonstrated a willingness to go after the former vice president over his past positions on the Iraq War, trade, and Social Security. This materialized again on Thursday after Biden isolated a clip from President Trump’s Fox News town hall, featuring the president vaguely stating that there will be entitlement cuts to address the growing national debt.

“But we’re also going to have growth like you’ve never had before,” the president added.

“Here’s the deal, folks: social security is on the ballot this year, and the choice couldn’t be clearer: I’ll protect and expand it. Donald Trump will cut it and take it away,” Biden said, prompting a response from Sanders:

“Here’s the deal: Joe Biden has repeatedly advocated for cuts to Social Security. I’ve fought my whole career to protect and expand it,” Sanders said, drawing a distinction between himself and his Democrat competitor:

“Get real, Bernie,” Biden replied, steering the focus back to Trump and telling Sanders to spend more time attacking the president:

“Get real, Joe. One of us has a history of not only fighting cuts to Social Security but working to expand benefits. And that’s why we are the campaign best positioned to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders said:

The Biden campaign has long fought against Sanders’ persistent critique, accusing the Sanders campaign of releasing what it considered to be a “doctored video” of a speech delivered by Biden at the Brookings Institution in April 2018. It shows Biden “saying Ryan was ‘correct’ in trying to dismantle Social Security, a remark his campaign says he made sarcastically.”

The Sanders campaign, however, stood by its position.

“Joe Biden should be honest with voters and stop trying to doctor his own public record of consistently and repeatedly trying to cut Social Security,” Sanders said.

“The facts are very clear: Biden not only pushed to cut Social Security — he is on tape proudly bragging about it on multiple occasions,” he added.