The Washington Post smacks Sen. Bernie Sanders — and progressives — in a biting editorial that calls out the Democratic presidential contender for "playing the role" of "brave truth-teller" when he's really just "selling his own brand of fiction."
The stunning critique Thursday comes just four days before voting in Iowa, where Sanders is less than 2 points behind rival Hillary Clinton in an
averaging of recent polls — and less than two weeks ahead of the New Hampshire primary, where he has a
double-digit lead.
The editorial argues he's doing so well in those states largely "because he is playing the role of uncorrupted anti-establishment crusader."
"But Mr. Sanders is not a brave truth-teller," the editorial argues. "He is a politician selling his own brand of fiction to a slice of the country that eagerly wants to buy it."
The Post says the surging contender needs a "reality check."
"When reality is ideologically or politically inconvenient, he and his campaign talk around it," the editorial states. "Mr. Sanders's success so far does not show that the country is ready for a political revolution. It merely proves that many progressives like being told everything they want to hear."
The Post takes bitter issue with Sanders's stances on Wall Street and health care.
"Wall Street has already undergone a round of reform, significantly reducing the risks big banks pose to the financial system," It states. "And even with radical campaign finance reform, many Americans and their representatives would still oppose the Sanders agenda."
"He admits that he would have to raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for his universal, Medicare-for-all health-care plan, and he promises massive savings on health-care costs that would translate into generous benefits for ordinary people, putting them well ahead, on net," the newspaper adds.
"But he does not adequately explain where those massive savings would come from."
The Post also dismisses the Sanders campaign's explanation of tackling future deficits.
"His advisers claimed that more government spending 'will result in higher growth, which will improve our fiscal situation.'" the Post writes. "This resembles Republican arguments that tax cuts will juice the economy and pay for themselves — and is equally fanciful."
The Post derides, as well, Sanders's promise that he'll lead a "political revolution" to assert his agenda, saying the promise simply "ignores the many legitimate checks and balances in the political system that he cannot wish away."
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