Anderson Cooper Offers No Apology for Slandering Bernie Sanders

[marmar]

Anderson Cooper Offers No Apology for Slandering Bernie Sanders

By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
19 October 15


Who was the richest person in CNN’s Democratic presidential debate?

The richest person in the Democratic presidential candidate debate on October 10 was not a candidate. The richest person on that Las Vegas stage was CNN moderator and Vanderbilt heir Anderson Cooper, whose $100 million net worth ($100,000,000) is greater than all the candidates’ worth combined (about $84,000,000). In a very real, if unspoken sense, this “debate” was more like an exclusive club interview with Cooper vetting the applicants for their class credentials.

These class aspects of the debate went unmentioned. In American politics, class issues have traditionally gone unmentioned. The tacit understanding is that if you have the bad taste to ask, then you have no class. If you have class, you will have the right opinions. This year is different because of Bernie Sanders, part of whose popular appeal is that he is so clearly the scion of no great wealth and even less pretension. Sanders is calling for a social revolution against the ruling class of millionaires and billionaires, yet even he did not publicly object to having multi-millionaire Anderson Cooper of the One Per Cent running the show. Sanders likely understands that his best chance to win is not to confront the rich, but to surround them with everyone else whose net worth is more like his ($700,000) or less.

Net worth is notoriously hard to pin down with any accuracy, but ballpark figures are good enough at the highest levels, even if the numbers usually come from the candidates themselves. In a candidates’ net worth listing published October 13, the Democrats were evaluated as follows (with an alternative set of estimates in parenthesis):

Hillary Clinton: $45 million ($31.2 herself, with Bill $111 million)

Lincoln Chaffee: $32 million ($31.9 million, mostly his wife’s trust)

Jim Webb: $6 million ($4.6 million)

Bernie Sanders: $700,000 ($528,014)

Martin O’Malley: $-0- ($256,000)

.....(snip).....

Cooper’s life of wealth illuminates his gift as a glib carnival barker

Like most debate moderators, Anderson Cooper seemed most interested in promoting a food fight among the candidates. While he had snark for everyone, his most provocative and least conscionable jibes were saved for Sanders, served up with class-based relish. .....................(more)

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/33022-focus-anderson-cooper-offers-no-apology-for-slandering-bernie-sanders

[Thinkingabout]

1. Now, what is Anderson Cooper supposed to be apologizing?

[emulatorloo]

2. my opinion is that Cooper was setting Bernie up for a WIN!

Cooper is smart enough to know the question is going to be posed time and time again.

Sanders is beyond capable of answering questions about democratic socialism and how he can win.

Bernie knocked it out of the park. The question gave Bernie the opportunity to shine, and he did.