MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell welcomed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on to her Wednesday show to discuss just how awful Republicans are on COVID relief and whether Joe Biden's prospective cabinet meets left-wing diversity demands.
Mitchell sounded like a Nancy Pelosi press release when she told Sanders, "Of course it's taken nine months to get this far. The House passed their act back in May. Mitch McConnell wouldn't put anything on the floor."
Ignoring that Pelosi admitted to only moving toward a compromise now because Biden won, Mitchell then asked "So how important is it for Americans to see changes in the way the Senate operates?"
Sanders took the softball question and used it to accuse Republicans of running "one of the worst do-nothing Senates in American history" and for not passing his agenda, he hoped that the two Democratic candidates in Georgia would win their runoffs.
Mitchell's anti-McConnell spin was not the first for an MSNBC anchor on Wednesday. Earlier, Stephanie Ruhle condemned McConnell and Republicans for confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court while "people were dying" as if one had anything to do with the other.
As for Mitchell, she then moved onto Biden's cabinet, which like the rest of the media, Mitchell fawned over for its historic diversity, "Turning to the transition, you just saw Pete Buttigieg being tapped to be Transportation Secretary and President-Elect Biden talking about a cabinet that will more than look like the face of America, that will be the most diverse in history."
Still, Mitchell wondered if it was enough, "Do you think this cabinet is diverse enough? What more would you want to see?"
But, more important than the nominees race, sex, or sexual orientation is what they actually believe. It would be nice if the media could focus on that, which up to this point, they have not.
This segment was sponsored by Fidelity.
Here is a transcript for the December 16 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:37 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: Of course it's taken nine months to get this far. The House passed their act back in May.
BERNIE SANDERS: Right
MITCHELL: Mitch McConnell wouldn't put anything on the floor. So how important is it for Americans to see changes in the way the Senate operates?
SANDERS: Oh, absolutely. I mean, look, there's no question that under Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership, this has been one of the worst do-nothing Senates in American history. You talk about the health care crisis. There hasn't been any discussion. We talk about the starvation wages that millions of Americans are working for, no discussions on the senate floor to raise the minimum wage to a living wage of at least 15 bucks an hour. Climate change, no discussion, criminal justice, virtually nothing, Immigration reform, virtually nothing. So I hope, by the way, in Georgia, the good people of Georgia elect two Democrats so we can have Democratic control over the senate and start moving an agenda that works for working people and not just the billionaires of this country.
MITCHELL: Turning to the transition, you just saw Pete Buttigieg being tapped to be Transportation Secretary and President-Elect Biden talking about a cabinet that will more than look like the face of America, that will be the most diverse in history. He's talking about Denis McDonough, we understand, for Veterans Affairs. You of course have been such an important player on that in committee and elsewhere. Do you think this cabinet is diverse enough? What more would you want to see?
SANDERS: Well, to me diversity is a very big word, in the sense that you certainly want a cabinet to look like America in terms of representation for African-Americans and Latinos, and every other group in America. That When people turn on the TV and they see that cabinet room, they should say, “hey, that looks like me,” and that's right. But equally important or more important is having a cabinet that stands up and fights for working people at a time when wages have been stagnant for 45 years, at a time when 92 million Americans have no health insurance or are underinsured, at that time when working class kids can't afford to go to college and people are working for starvation wages and we've got to deal with climate change.
