Hillary Clinton threw shade more suitable for YouTuber drama than American political discourse when her new documentary was leaked last Tuesday.
In it she called Bernie Sanders “unlikeable” and asserting that he “got nothing done” in Congress.
While the former is a matter of opinion, the latter statement is
patently false.
After nearly 30 years in Congress, Sanders has done plenty.
In just numbers alone, Clinton’s assertions of a do-nothing career politician are incorrect.
Sanders has a history of prolific and productive voting in Congress. So much so that in 2005, Rolling Stone magazine named him the “amendment king” of the House.
The title is well-earned. Between 1995-2007,
17 amendments he sponsored passed by roll call vote, more than any other member of the House at the time, according
to Politifact.
Roll call votes are when Congress members vote in person for a bill or amendment to pass as it is called by a clerk.
Politifact also noted that in a similar time period, Clinton passed zero roll call amendments as the New York senator between 2001-09.
Now, Clinton may not have meant for her statement to be taken literally and perhaps meant that Sanders has not backed any meaningful bills, but even then she would be wrong.
Since the beginning of his career, Bernie Sanders has been passing important legislation, such as the Cancer Registries Amendment Act in 1992.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, this amendment established and funded a nationwide cancer database that represents 97% of the
U.S. population.
The database is used in potentially life-saving research.
Arguably, Sanders was also instrumental to the successful passing of the Affordable Care Act, since he pushed for $11 billion to fund community health centers, especially in
rural areas.
This brought together the left-leaning Democrats and the more conservative Democrats which helped secure the 60 votes needed to pass the ACA, according
to Politifact.
While likability is in the eye of the beholder, Sanders has his share
of fans.
After Clinton’s statement, the internet was quick to come to Sanders’ defense, with #ILikeBernie trending on Twitter soon after
the interview.
Other hashtags gained traction last weekend such as #hotgirlsforBernie- make of that what you will.
Clinton pointed out that only one senator supported him in his 2016 presidential run (Sen. Jeff Merkley, OR), which is true.
However, his 2020 campaign has eight Congressional supporters, including rising stars such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar as well as California’s very own House Representative,
Ro Khanna.
His curriculum vitae is vast, but there are obvious reasons for bad blood between Clinton and Sanders.
They were opponents for the 2016 Democratic Party primaries in what was an especially acrimonious race.
Some believed that in being such a popular contender, Sanders served as a spoiler for Clinton’s presidential ambitions which paved the way for Donald Trump.
Likewise, according to the New York Times, there are those in the Sanders camp that believe that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee rigged the race in their favor.
On top of that, Sanders and Clinton have deep ideological differences that are almost representative of the
party itself.
Clinton did no one any good by putting Sanders on blast like that, least of
all, herself.
Her words are a petty attempt to bring him down and widening the rifts in the party that their opponent will gleefully exploit.
