Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday expressed disappointment that former Republicans were given more speaking time at the Democratic National Convention than progressive votes.
“I think the future of our country is with the progressive movement and I would have liked to have seen more progressives have a chance to come out and talk about their vision on the future of America,” Sanders told Washington Post Live from The DNC’s choice to mark Republicans like John Kasich and Colin Powell over progressives like the freshman squad.
Sanders, I-Vt., Sei rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez deserves a traditional speaking slot at the virtual convention, and the only reason she got 60 seconds is because he asked the New York Democrat to be one of his two nominating speakers.
The Democratic National’s two-time presidential candidate also blamed the Democratic National Committee and the media for the “confusion” over Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks about implicating the progressive squad leader speaking on behalf of Joe Biden, when, in fact, the DNC did not invite them for that role.
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Ocasio-Cortez got a lot of backlog for not mentioning Biden in her covenant remarks and for focusing on Sanders. But Sanders said the criticism could have been avoided if the DNC had explained that AOC did not receive a traditionally speaking lock, but rather nominated the “perfunctory” duty of his.
“I remember what the DNC said, ‘Oh, she’s talking.’ They did not invite her. I think they should – and that’s a very different story,” Sanders said. “They would have more progressive speakers.”
Sanders also defended Ocasio-Cortez’s speech, which he said was misunderstood.
“She was accused of not, you know, and said she supported Biden – she nominated me,” Sanders continued. “Of course she supports Biden. That I think the confusion lies in, I think, what the DNC said, and certainly not that the media does not understand what is happening at a convention.”
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During the interview, Sanders did not rule out joining Biden’s cabinet when former Vice President Trump was ousted in November. “I would consider it,” he said.
It is customary for the Democratic primary runner-up to be formally nominated at the convention and its delegates counted in the state appeal.
In 2016, then-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was one of the nominating speakers for Sanders at the Philadelphia conference, wondering how “a somewhat frumpy and maybe even sometimes grumpy 70-year-old man could become the voice for millions.”
This year, Sanders chose Bob King, former president of the United Auto Workers Union, and Ocasio-Cortez.
“I think there’s some confusion about it, and I think the reason for the confusion has to do with the DNC and it has to do with the media,” Sanders said.
In the one-minute speech, she seconded the nomination for her mentor, saying that Sanders “organized a historic grassroots campaign to restore our democracy.”
“I asked Alexandria,” Sanders said. “We were told by the Biden campaign, which was good, that … you’ll have two one-minute slots [for the nomination speeches]. “
Ocasio-Cortez exposed NBC News for tweeting about her speech with the headline: “In one of the shortest speeches by the DNC, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Joe Biden did not endorse: ‘I second the nomination of Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont for President of the United States of America. ‘ “
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She wanted the news network to apologize for making people “familiar and angry.”
“The misleading headline from NBC, which confused and angered thousands of people, was not a mistake. It was clickbait. It was not just a tweet either. It was repeated in other headlines & messages,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
