MSNBC Host Joy Reid Attacks Bernie Sanders; Jane Sanders Responds

Politics is a contact sport. People can get hurt. The spouses of political figures know this. That's the life they chose. That said, it is a a fool's errand to pretend that you know exactly what is going on between a husband and a wife unless one of them tells you. And even then you usually won't get the full truth. So it's usually a good idea not to speak authoritatively about someone's spousal relationship other than your own. Jane Sanders, Bernie Sanders' wife, recently reminded MSNBC host and frustrated would be White House Press Secretary, of this fact. Reid, as she is wont to do, was taking another shot at Bernie Sanders. There was no real rhyme or reason to this other than the fact that Reid does not like Bernie Sanders and blames him in part for Clinton's loss in the 2016 Presidential Election. Fair enough, though perhaps someone should remind Reid that Sanders lost the nomination to Clinton. Anyway Reid decided to attack Bernie's feminist credentials by alleging that he mistreated his wife. Mrs. Sanders wasn't having that. She responded.

This isn't really worthy of notice other than to point out that (1) attacking alleged mistreatment of a wife based on nothing more than your strong dislike of the husband is exactly what then candidate and now President Trump did to Khizr and Ghazala Khan and (2) if you are going to charge mistreatment you should talk to the alleged victim. That would seem to be Journalism 101. But Reid is not really a journalist.

@SenSanders Bernie Sanders.

— Jeffrey Cawthorne (@zo7vette) November 29, 2017

Um... I get that he has a hardcore following, but his own attitudes toward women, from his weird early writings to his physical dismissal of women in his presence (including his own wife) make that an incredibly dubious prospect.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 29, 2017

I didn't answer your biased reporting about Bernie during the last 2 years @JoyAnnReid. But don't ever use me to demean my husband. I am very happy & very proud to be Bernie's wife. Your perception couldn't be more wrong. Have you ever talked with him? You've never spoken w/me. https://t.co/SZG7uV8cfO

— Jane O'Meara Sanders (@janeosanders) November 29, 2017

Reid has been wrong about quite a lot recently. She thought that Russia was still Communist, the Czech Republic was part of Yugoslavia and that Trump married "Soviet" women, among other gaffes. But everyone makes mistakes. None of us are perfect. My problem with Reid isn't that she makes mistakes or has different politics than Sanders. It's that she embodies a hectoring fact free self-righteousness that no matter where it comes from, is not good for American politics. Smearing someone as a sexist because he had the audacity to run and lose against Clinton is nonsensical. Doing so in today's environment is malevolent.