Previous post
Next post
This might be the figurative, if not literal, end of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign run.
The news broke this morning that after experiencing “chest discomfort” on Tuesday evening, the 78 year old Bernie went to the hospital in Las Vegas after a campaign stop.
“During a campaign event yesterday evening, Sen. Sanders experienced some chest discomfort. Following medical evaluation and testing he was found to have a blockage in one artery and two stents were successfully inserted,” said Sanders’ senior adviser Jeff Weaver on Wednesday in a statement.”
“Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days,” Weaver said. “We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates.”
Sanders remains hospitalized, a source told ABC News.”
I give Bernie credit for acknowledging it immediately without trying to hide a hospital visit (take a note, Hillary), and like his competitors, I hope his recovery is easy. This kind of heart procedure has definitely become more routine, but when it comes to heart health, nothing should be taken for granted.
Bruce, Team Warren, and I are sending all our best wishes for a speedy recovery to @BernieSanders. I hope to see my friend back on the campaign trail very soon.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 2, 2019
.@DrBiden and I are sending our best wishes to @BernieSanders, Jane, and the whole Sanders family. Anyone who knows Bernie understands what a force he is. We are confident that he will have a full and speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him on the trail soon.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 2, 2019
But what also can’t be ignored are the optics. Between age, inability to gain traction in the polls, and now this heart procedure, Bernie Sanders is pretty much finished in this primary race. And while the campaign isn’t conceding anything yet, there’s a definite air of inevitability in their latest announcement.
The Sanders campaign also canceling Iowa TV buy, per ad tracker, which was supposed to begin 10/3 https://t.co/wmFmOHXmDg
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 2, 2019
Bernie was already having a hard time fighting off Elizabeth Warren (who is a much more appealing version of Bernie’s policies) in the polls, and his heart issues now push Warren into a head-to-head race with Biden for the nomination. All the other candidates are nowhere near where Biden, Bernie, and Warren were polling (Buttigieg is the next-closest in the current polling, and he’s had his chance for a “breakout” moment – at this point, Buttigieg may be the strongest candidate for vice-president, but has no hope of getting the nomination), and if this news has the effect that I think it will, Warren is going to start picking up Bernie supporters at a much faster rate. The progressive base may unify around her, making her a much more formidable opponent against Biden, whom the press (if not the Democrat base) has pretty much decided to offer up as a sacrifice on the leftist altar of “getting Trump.” Ol’ Joe was the “safe bet,” not the exciting one, and he got less exciting as time passed. With the albatross of Hunter now being hung on him, the hard left is fully prepared to throw Joe over if it means Trump’s impeachment.
Which means with Bernie’s heart news, Elizabeth Warren just got a whole lot closer to locking up the Democrat nomination.
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click
Joe R. says: OR. . . just a face-saving move [I know, a little late, but maybe he could service a herd of goats to get his self-esteem back].
George V says: Heart problems are nothing to wish on anyone, and I do wish the Senator a quick recovery and recommend he takes plenty of time for recuperation, preferably on a warm tropical island with no microphones.
Now, to get back to politics – when we have the health care of the UK National Health Service, how is some poor schlub supposed to get stents put in with 24 hours of the heart attack? When you have to wait for specialists, and for the procedure itself? Maybe the Bern needs to reflect on the quality of care he received, and what he’s trying to foist off on the rest of us.
Cameron says: He won’t reflect on anything. He’ll just double down and insist that our health care needs to go away and usher in a utopian ideal.
Anchovy says: Cuban hospitals were closed for the night?
Charles N. Steele says: This shouldn’t remove comrade Sanders from the race. Hillary Clinton could hardly walk and was given to coughing fits and moments of delirium in 2016. Better yet, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko each served as General Secretary of the USSR and both appeared to be dead when on reviewing stands at Red Square parades. This seems to be a time-honored leftist tradition. They are all unfit for office on intellectual and moral grounds already, so why should being physically unsuited be the disqualifier?
Doug says: Why didn’t he go to the first class, ‘Medicare for All’ socialist hospitals in Venezuela? Surely he would have gotten better care there rather in the profiteering US hospitals.
Wozzup says: This are the questions I wish to ask Bernie. Did you use the facilities of private medical service providers (hospital, specialists and surgeons)? Or did you use purely public facilities? If you did use private medical services then why are you such a hypocrite insisting as you do, that everyone else’s access to private medical services be dismantled?
7 Comments