Bernie Sanders: We Need Liberal Equivalent to Fox News

Well, they don’t call him “Crazy Bernie” for nothing.

This week, Hillary Clinton’s most persistent political pest – Sen. Bernie Sanders – said that it was time for some changes in the American political landscape.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Sanders said, “I think the American people are sick and tired of establishment politics and economics. And, by the way, a little bit tired of corporate media, as well. They want real changes in this country and I think as president of the United States, we can ignite those changes.”

Maddow’s ears perked up. “What`s the solution to corporate media?”

Sanders, oblivious to irony, said, “I think we have got to think about ways that the Democratic Party starts funding the equivalent of Fox television. Number two, I think that pressure has got to be put on media to say that you know what, maybe as a nation, the American people are entitled to hear real discussions on real issues.”

We can dismiss the second half of his comment as the usual folderol that politicians say. Oh, we’re gonna have to do this or that. We must pressure this sector of the economy or that one. Yay activism. It’s just a stand-in for the real answer to Maddow’s question, which is, “I have no earthly idea.” Or perhaps, “I have an idea, but I can’t say it because then the American people will realize how radical I really am.” In either case, it can be safely ignored.

But the first half is really something to behold, especially since he said it on MSNBC of all places – a network whose unofficial motto is: We’re the liberal alternative to Fox News. Even leftists understand this. Has Sanders ever watched the Rachel Maddow show? It’s as far to the left as you can get without joining a commune in Oregon.

Result being: the network has been hemorrhaging viewers. In recent months, new management has made some positive changes, replaced unpopular and abrasive personalities with better anchors, and shifted focus away from commentary and towards political news coverage. The oppressive liberal bias is still there, but it’s a bit less confrontational.

But there’s simply no real demand for a liberal equivalent to Fox. Not because liberals don’t watch television, but because that “equivalent” already exists: it’s called Everything on TV that Isn’t Fox! Fox News triumphed because there was nothing else like it on the dial. Suddenly, Americans had an outlet that wasn’t spewing the same old propaganda. If the mainstream media had been relentlessly conservative for forty years, a “Liberal Fox News” channel might have thrived. As it stands now, MSNBC is just the worst of many liberal echo chambers.

Sanders has said many comical things over the last six months, but this one’s right up there with the kookiest of them.