Bernie Sanders Clarifies, Cleans Up Comments Calling Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign ‘Establishment’
Bernie Sanders on Tuesday sat down with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and created a small firestorm by labeling some progressive organizations as being part of the “establishment.” Thursday, Sanders worked to correct his comments, and, as Maddow said (video above), “walked back” and “defended and took it back.”
Speaking to NBC’s Kasie Hunt, Sanders insisted that calling Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and HRC part of the establishment is not what he meant.
He re-iterated that those groups are not part of the establishment. “They’re standing up and fighting the important fights that have to be fought,” Sanders said.
“The question was the endorsement,” Sanders said. “I am a very very strong supporter of Planned Parenthood. I think they are doing a fantastic job, under very difficult circumstances.”
He went on to describe himself as a “very strong supporter of NARAL,” and a “strong supporter of the Human Rights Fund.”
(Note: Sanders was referring to the Human Rights Campaign.)Â
“I think I have a hundred percent voting record for all of these organizations. What I said in response to a question about endorsements is that sometimes the grassroots are asking, ‘How does it happen, if somebody has a hundred-percent voting record in support of your issue and doesn’t get endorsed?'”
He conceded that “sometimes the leadership of an organization may look at the world a little differently than the grass roots.”
“We’re a week out in the election, and the Clinton people will try to spin these things,†Sanders added.
Lamenting the loss of some endorsements, Sanders had told Maddow on Tuesday, “I have friends and supporters in the Human Rights Fund and Planned Parenthood. But, you know what? Hillary Clinton has been around there for a very, very long time. Some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment.”
Â
Image: Screenshot via MSNBC