Democratic senator says news media giving Bernie Sanders ‘a pass’

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday, McCaskill was asked if she was “concerned” about Sanders’ recent uptick in national polls, as well as some polls that put him 10 points behind Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in early primary state New Hampshire.

“No, I think the media is giving Bernie a pass right now,” McCaskill said. “I very rarely read in any coverage of Bernie that he’s a socialist. I think everybody [in the media] wants a fight and I think they are really not giving the same scrutiny to Bernie Sanders that they’re giving, certainly, to Hillary Clinton and the other candidates.”

Sanders regularly claims to hold socialist values, which is frequently noted in news coverage. (On Wednesday, the New York Times reported Sanders’ beliefs “have been characterized by a focus on class-based solidarity and uplift, reflecting his style of democratic socialism.”)

McCaskill, who has endorsed Clinton to receive her party’s nomination, said Sanders is unelectable and that this would become “clear” when the media began “treating him as a serious candidate.”

“Any other candidate that had the numbers that Hillary Clinton had right now would be talked about as absolutely untouchable,” she said. “And all of a sudden, ‘Oh, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.’ I think Bernie is too liberal to gather enough votes in this country to become president and I think Hillary Clinton is going to be a fantastic president.”

In the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, Clinton leads the Democratic field at 62 percent and Sanders is in a distant second with 12 percent.

Asked to name specific examples of Sanders being “too far left” to win the election, McCaskill pointed to healthcare.

“I think he would like to see Medicare for all in this country, have everybody have a government insurance policy,” she said. “I don’t think most Americans want government to have every insurance policy.”