>> Over the weekend Bernie Sanders was in
the CNN hot seat over the topic of the Hyde
amendment and reproductive rights.
Here's Dana Bash asking him some fascinating
questions.
>> Joe Biden changed his position this week
opposes the Hyde amendment which prohibits
using taxpayer dollars for abortion services.
You oppose it too.
And you said this week that you have quote,
always voted against the Hyde amendment but
you have actually voted in the past to support
large spending bills that include the Hyde
amendment.
Is it misleading, senator, to say that you've
never voted for it?
>> Well, look, sometimes in a large bill you
have to vote for things you don't like.
But I think my record is being literally 100%
pro choice is absolutely correct.
Look, if you believe as I do that a woman's
right to control her own body is a constitutional
right, then that must apply to all women including
low income women.
That is what I've always believed, and that
is what I believe, right now.
>> So he's telling the truth there, it is
what he's always believed.
In fact, back in 1972, this is prior to the
Supreme Court ruling on Roe v Wade.
Bernie Sanders said the following in the Bennington
Banner which was a local paper, okay.
This is a direct quote from 1972.
Abortion is an issue with which brings out
deep feelings in people, and I respect the
feelings of those who are opposed to abortion
on moral grounds.
I feel however, that these people should not
be allowed to impose their sense of morality
or religious feelings on people who hold a
different opinion.
He continues to tell the paper.
It strikes me as incredible that politicians
think that they have the right to tell a woman
what she can or cannot do with her body.
This is especially true in Vermont where we
have a legislature which is almost completely
dominated by men.
1972 the Bennington Banner, okay.
So there's
>> Okay.
>> Point number one.
>> So before we get more videos from Bernie
Sanders and whether he's been consistent.
Look this is why people like Bernie Sanders
is probably his number one attribute.
He's a rock, you can't move him off those
positions.
So what is problematic about Dana Bash asking
this question?
Now, technically he did vote for the Hyde
Amendment, which was part of thousands of
things in these gigantic appropriations bills.
So, well, the reason is it's a bit of a gotcha
question.
Now, I almost never call anything a gotcha
question, because it's super fair to ask politicians
about their voting record, anything else that's
in their past.
And often times the Republicans will take
a fair question about policy, now you want
me to have a position on Libya, that's a got
you question.
No those are not got you questions.
The reason this one is, is because everyone
in the senate voted for those appropriations
bills, including Elizabeth Warren, and every
other Democrat that had the chance to vote
on it that's running for president.
So now, no one's questioning Elizabeth Warren
and other candidates, that have come out super
strong against the Hyde Amendment.
But they voted for those same appropriations
bills, and and they shouldn't be questioned
on it.
It would be wildly unfair to Elizabeth Warren,
who's an excellent candidate and very progressive,
for people to turn around and say, well, but
you voted for the Hyde Amendment is that an
appropriations bill, all right?
Haha.
But if you do that with Bernie Sanders and
you don't do that with any other candidates
that is unbelievably unfair.
And even if you do it to the other candidates,
no matter who you're doing it to, you should
explain within that context cuz other people
might not see your interview with Warren or
Kirsten Gillibrand or any of the other people.
You should explain that all of the senators
voted for those Appropriations bills, otherwise
you're misleading your audience.
It makes it seem like that whoever you're
talking to and in this case Sanders, is a
hypocrite and was not telling the truth, because
he did vote for it within the context of an
Appropriations bill.
>> Right.
>> That is terribly misleading, and you've
got to see that.
I think she knows, right, but one other thing
that I wanna note is, this is very similar
to what we saw with the crime bill because
Bernie Sanders has been a very vocal critic
from the very beginning in regard to the crime
bill.
But the crime bill contained a provision that's
incredibly important to him, incredibly important
to women here in this country which is the
Violence Against Women Act.
So he was kind of pushed or backed up into
a corner and he had to decide, all right,
well do I help to pass these protections for
women who have been, either brutalized by
their partners, victims of domestic violence.
So he goes out on the floor and he basically
says, this crime bill has a lot of issues.
I am not in favor of this crime bill.
But we need to protect women.
I'm obviously paraphrasing but he ended up
voting for it not because he agreed with everything
in the crime bill, but because in Congress,
law makers do this tricky passiky thing where
they put a bunch of different policies together
into one bill and then you're kind of again,
backed up into a corner.
What do you do?
Do you pass those protections for women?
Or do you refuse to do so because you disagree
with the crime bill?
>> And by the way, it is a political trick
that's done on purpose.
>> Right.
>> So for example, if Bernie Sanders voted
against the appropriations bill or Elizabeth
Warren, or anybody did.
They say, look at this obstinate person.
Like everybody's voting for it.
We have a compromise, it's bipartisan and
then here comes Bernie Sanders and he just
won't vote for anything.
Instead he does vote for it, they go, aaha.
>> Exactly
>> You voted for everything in that bill including
the Hyde amendment got you.
There is no winning on them.
The reason they put the Violence Against Women
Act inside the terrible crime bill is because
if people like Bernie Sanders voted against
the crime bill, they would then run ads against
them saying, you're for violence against women.
But wait a minute, I don't why don't you separate
them so I can vote on the Violence Against
Women Act, which I'm very much in favor of,
and vote against the rest of the crime bill
which is terrible.
Reason it and the guy who authored that bill
and did that political trick, by the way,
Joe Biden.
So that's a fact.
>> I think one of the most effective ways
in researching candidates is to, of course,
look at their voting record.
That's incredibly important, but at the same
time take a look at the types of speeches
they've given, either on the House floor or
the Senate floor.
What have they stood for, have they been consisting
or have they flip-flopped depending on where
the country was on particular issues?
Remember, you want a leader who's willing
to lead, not someone who just follows the
crowd and does what's politically popular
at that moment.
So with that said I just wanna be clear.
Bernie Sanders has been consistent when it
comes to reproductive rights.
I gave you those quotes from 1972 and I wanna
also show you this video from 1993.
>> 12 years of relentless assault by the Reagan
and Bush administrations on the rights of
women to control their own bodies has engendered
a climate of intimidation, intolerance and
violence.
And yesterday we saw the awful manifestation
of that hatred.
When a doctor who performs abortions is gunned
down in broad daylight, it is time for Congress
to act.
It is time for Congress to pass the Freedom
of Choice Act and to make it clear from one
end of this country to the other, that women
and women alone must have the right to make
the difficult choice regarding abortion.
>> So he's been consistent, it's abundantly
clear in the various examples that I've shown
you.
Yeah, so last thing about the media in this
regard, look, I think CNN actually has been
getting better.
So they now have Alexandra Rojas as a contributor.
She's the Executive Director of Justice Democrats,
so they're at least trying to get progressive
voices on there.
I read all the articles about the Hall of
Fame dinner that happened yesterday in Iowa.
CNN actually had the best and fairest coverage
of the progressive candidates, established
candidates and even us, okay.
So it's not a binary situation and I've seen
Dana Bash do very good interviews.
In this case, I think it was a misstep and
I think that it unfortunately misled their
audience about Bernie Sanders record.
They could have done readjusted, give you
the full context but, let's keep an open mind,
let's keep pressuring people to do the right
thing.
And by the way, the guy who pointed this out,
their hypocrisy on this, is Tommy Christopher
at Mediaite, who's written a ton of articles
against Bernie Sanders.
But was fair on this one, and pointed out
the context.
So let's give people a chance to do better
cuz we're not the right wing.
We don't want to tear down the media.
We want to make it better.
And so we hope we're helping with it.
And that's your full context.
