Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-proclaimed Democratic-socialist, was potentially taking a forceful jab from a liberal media host, but it wound up being an aw shucks soft tap across his chin.
Sanders was getting called out by CBS's "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan for writing a book "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism" but then appearing on the book tour to the tune of $95 tickets from Ticketmaster to promote the book.
Brennan attempted to call out Sanders' hypocrisy at the end of his Sunday appearance.
"But I have to ask you, you're going on tour to promote this book 'It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism,' and you're here talking about it," she began. "I understand, we're not the bad guys you're describing in the book when it comes to media. But tickets for your tour apparently are selling for $95 on Ticketmaster, which is accused of anti-competitive behavior. You know that. Some of your Democrats are criticizing them.
"Aren't you benefiting yourself from this system that you're trying to dismantle?"
Sanders attempted to deflect in a number of ways, blaming it on the publisher, saying the tickets were available for less than $95, and claiming the cost is actually for getting a copy of the book.
"First of all, those decisions are made totally by the publisher and the bookseller," Sanders said. "I think there's one case where in one place here in Washington, Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore, charging some tickets, most of them I think, are $40, $50. And you get a book as well. So if you want to come, you're gonna have to pay 40 bucks, I'll throw in the book for free.
"And we're doing a number of free events, but I don't make a nickel out of these things at all."
Brennan then brought up the unpleasantry of working with Ticketmaster, which is being investigated in Congress for charging excessive fees and was even alluded to in President Joe Biden's State of the Union address as an affront of working-class Americans.
"But, you're OK doing business with Ticketmaster?" she asked.
"No, not particularly," Sanders replied. "But that's again, I had nothing to do with that. That is, if you wrote a book, probably be the same process."
But here is where it turned kind for the fellow liberal before the liberal media host. She completed his sentence and provided a more eloquent excuse for him to take in his hypocrisy of calling out capitalism and then using it to the advantage of his publisher, if not himself.
"So you have to operate within the system," Brennan said, completing Sanders' thought.
"I do," Sanders agreed.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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