Sanders touts controversial comedian's 2020 support, sparking criticism

[rooster59]

Sanders touts controversial comedian's 2020 support, sparking criticism

By Amanda Becker

 

FILE PHOTO: Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders' decision to highlight an unofficial endorsement from Joe Rogan drew criticism on Friday due to the comedian's brand of humour that some see as dismissive of issues like equal pay and transgender rights.

 

The online flap comes as Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has been trying to move past a weeks-long controversy over whether he told rival Elizabeth Warren, a friend and progressive ally, in a 2018 meeting that a woman could not beat Republican President Donald Trump, a charge he has denied.

 

Sanders, who is leading some opinion polls in the important early-voting state of Iowa, tweeted a video clip of Rogan on Thursday saying he would "probably vote for Bernie. He's been insanely consistent his entire life."

 

"Look, you could dig up dirt on every single human being that's ever existed if you catch them in their worst moment and you magnify those moments," Rogan continued in explaining his support.

 

Sanders has been criticized in the past for failing to denounce a following of "Bernie Bros," men who levy gender-based attacks at women political rivals on social media.

 

Sanders spokeswoman Briahna Joy Gray said that building a coalition to beat Trump requires "sharing a big tent" that includes "those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values."

 

Rogan's podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," is downloaded millions of times each month. In the show, which is ideologically inconsistent and often veers into territory that is deemed not politically correct, Rogan has interviewed politicians, including Sanders and fellow 2020 rivals Andrew Yang and congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

 

Rogan has also been accused of criticizing transgender individuals, has said divorce laws are anti-feminist and biased against men, and has argued that a gender-based pay gap does not exist or companies would hire all women to save money.

 

"Men don't make more money because they do the same job and make more money at that job than the woman does; they do different jobs," Rogan said in a 2018 podcast episode.

 

While some studies showing a gender pay gap compare the median annual pay of all women working full-time to the median annual pay of all men working full-time, others that compare pay within occupations and industries also show gender-based compensation differences.

 

"Deeply disappointing to see you celebrate this," Democratic consultant Evan Sutton responded to Sanders on Twitter.

 

(Reporting by Amanda Becker; editing by Ginger Gibson and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-25

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[bendejo]

Oh Bernie!

This is the kind of comedian who would turn "feel the Bern" into a masturbation joke.

 

Either Bernie is getting soft in the head or he thinks this guy will do insult battle with DT on his behalf, should he make it to general election.

 

 

[sucit]

Rogan is popular, and he is real. His show is aired without cuts. Can we say this about any other media we consume today?

 

This is going to be hugely positive for Bernie. Of course the mainstream media is going to try to spin a story about Bernie in any negative way they can. But the fact is, support from a popular, authentic host like Rogan is going to be positive.

[sucit]

20 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Oh Bernie!

This is the kind of comedian who would turn "feel the Bern" into a masturbation joke.

 

Either Bernie is getting soft in the head or he thinks this guy will do insult battle with DT on his behalf, should he make it to general election.

 

 

All the other candidates have begged to be on his podcast. He wont even have them on. Of course one could view that as "biased", and that very well may be, but you can't deny that his semi endorsement will be helpful to Bernie. Biden, Warren and the rest of those stiff dems would have killed for it. 

[Grumpy John]

Sanders is a POS done <deleted> all loser the shouldn't be president of the senior citizens committee at the retirement home he should be residing in. 

[RPCVguy]

4 hours ago, sucit said:

All the other candidates have begged to be on his podcast. He wont even have them on. Of course one could view that as "biased", and that very well may be, but you can't deny that his semi endorsement will be helpful to Bernie. Biden, Warren and the rest of those stiff dems would have killed for it. 

You're right, most of the candidates would have loved to be interviewed. This is sour grapes and trying to downplay an endorsement they wish they had.
He did have Tulsi on for an interview. Good, interesting, and wide ranging conversation. helped her candidacy then and I'm sure this will help Bernie now.

[mogandave]

This is similar the when the KKK supported Hillary. It can help him in the primary, but could hurt him in the general.

[DoctorG]

JR is one of the lefties I follow. Good fun mostly but his political knowledge is not deep. That is OK because he is not pretending to be a political commentator.

[Kelsall]

Makes no difference.  Bernie is destined to be an also-ran in this primary just like the last one.  Pelosi is seeing to that.

[Jingthing]

6 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Makes no difference.  Bernie is destined to be an also-ran in this primary just like the last one.  Pelosi is seeing to that.

No she isn't. That's a fake conspiracy theory. 

[sanuk711]

10 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Elizabeth Warren, a friend and progressive ally, in a 2018

With friends like that, you don't need .........etc etc.....

Edited January 25, 2020 by sanuk711

[Jingthing]

Seems like a trivial issue overall.

[blazes]

Some are beginning to see that Bernie is as much of a disruptor as Trump himself.  From totally opposite sides of the human spectrum, these two guys threaten the cosy "business-as-usual" expectations of the liberal elite in Washington DC.

That is, the jobs of so many of these sycophantic, moronic, narcissistic media mouths and congressional cringeworthies depend utterly on the concept of "business-as-usual", where everyone in DC and in the NY media religiously push the prevailing narrative:

 

 construct a straw-man enemy (Russia once more, if you believe the twisted ugly mind of the tedious Schiff and ignore the Mueller report) and then use the "enemy" to "justify" all the invading of other countries, the imposing of American weaponry upon all the grateful recipients of American aid, with the mindless support of the hangers-on to that "business-as-usual" scenario - the lobbyists, the journalists repeating the mantra, like the pigs in Animal Farm, "Russia bad, America good.  Trump/Bernie bad; Crazy Joe Biden/Bloomberg good."