Bernie Sanders yelled about ‘Medicare For All’ a LOT during his appearance at last week’s Democratic debates. Any question moderators asked him was met with some loud yelling, rambling and the insistence that all Americans wanted Medicare.
Moderator: ‘Bernie, what is 2+2’?
Bernie: ‘EVERYONE WANTS MEDICARE FOR ALL! AND I WANT A HARD CANDY!’
And even though Bernie and a few others were determined to push home this Medicare disaster, plenty of Democrats seemed almost uneasy about doing away with private health insurance … here’s why:
Here's why the Dem operative class, particularly those working on congressional races, are so uneasy about eliminating priv insurance: their Trump-era coalition (and House maj) depends on upscale whites. The very voters who polls show don't want to end private hc.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 1, 2019
Wait, so there are evil rich white people on the Left too? But we thought that was just a Republican thing.
Heh.
The Dem House gains in '18 were in no small part thanks to these voters. And in the Senate, incumbents like Brown + Stabenow won bc, even as their rural numbers continue to slip, they compensate for it by winning high-income voters around Columbus, Cincy and Det
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 1, 2019
Let’s hear it for the rich white Liberals!
HA HA HA HA HA
When I did a story on MFA earlier this year w @abbygoodnough we asked Kaiser to break down their polling by income
64% of those making over $90K opposed MFA when they found out it would eliminate priv healthcare.
Given Trump-era class realignment, those are lots of D voters
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 1, 2019
But hey, push that Medicare For All, Democrats. You can do it!
…and this is why the hacks expect/hope a non-Bernie nominee would row back from ending priv insurance: even self-id’d liberals won’t penalize em for it https://t.co/fI5wNzD7fd
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 1, 2019
They’re going to end up with another Bernie Bro’s split … which would be delicious.
Related: