WATCH: Buttigieg Demolishes Sanders On Healthcare, Socialist Plans
During the NBC Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg ripped into socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over his health care plan.
Buttigieg hammered Sanders over his lack of transparency, hitting the senator for repeatedly stating that he doesn’t know the cost of this own plan, and has only outlined tax hikes, including on folks in the lower-middle class, to pay for a fraction of the estimated cost.
Sanders “said it was impossible to even know how much it’s going to cost, and even after raising taxes on everybody making $29,000, there is still a multi-trillion dollar hole,” Buttigieg said of Sanders’ pricey Medicare for All plan.
“Matter of fact,” the former mayor continued, “if you add up all his policies together, they come to $50 trillion. He’s only explained $25 trillion worth of revenue, which means the hole in there is bigger than the size of the entire economy of the United States.”
On if Bernie Sanders's release of doctors' notes in lieu of full medical records is sufficient, Pete Buttigieg says, "No, it's not," says, "I am certainly prepared to get a physical, put out the results, I think everybody here should be willing to do the same."
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Earlier in the debate, Buttigieg hit Sanders for being “polarizing” and “not even a Democrat.”
“We have got to wake up as a party,” Buttigieg said, according to Breitbart News. “We could wake up two weeks from today, the day after Super Tuesday, and the only candidates left standing will be Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg, the two most polarizing figures on this stage.”
“And most Americans don’t see where they fit if they have got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil, and a billionaire that thinks that money ought to be the root of all power,” he continued. “Let’s put forward somebody who actually lives and works in a middle-class neighborhood in an industrial Midwestern city. Let’s put forward somebody who’s actually a Democrat.”
Sanders responded: “If speaking to the needs and the pain of a long-neglected working class is ‘polarizing’ – I think you have got the wrong word. What we are trying, finally, to do is to give a voice to people who, after 45 years of work, are not making a nickel more than they did 45 years ago. We are giving a voice to people who are saying, we are sick and tired of billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg seeing huge expansions of their wealth while a half a million people sleep out on the street tonight. And that’s all what we are saying, Pete, is maybe it’s time for the working class for this country to have a little bit of power in Washington, rather than your billionaire campaign contributors.”
“We can actually deliver health care without taking it away from anyone,” Buttigieg retorted. “We can actually empower workers and lift wages without further polarizing this country. And we can build a movement without having legions of our supporters online and in person attacking Democratic figures and union leaders alike.”
The former mayor also said Sanders was not being transparent enough with his health. “I am certainly prepared to get a physical, put out the results. I think everybody here should be willing to do the same.”
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We shouldn't have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and one candidate who wants to buy this party out. #DemDebate
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