[rad-green] CNN Host Michael Smerconish Rebuked for Comparing Sanders Surge to Spread of Coronavirus

*Talk about tone deaf! Attacks like this and Chris Matthews' comparing
Sanders' win to the Nazi invasion of France could backfire completely.
Brings to mind Hillary's "deplorables" comment, which came back to haunt
her big time.*








*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/29/cnn-host-michael-smerconish-rebuked-comparing-sanders-surge-spread-coronavirus
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/29/cnn-host-michael-smerconish-rebuked-comparing-sanders-surge-spread-coronavirus>Common
Dreams          February 29, 2020CNN Host Michael Smerconish Rebuked for
Comparing Sanders Surge to Spread of Coronavirus"Nice to wake up to
discover that CNN is giving a platform to the idea that the left is a
disease. That's never led to anything bad happening before."by Jon Queally,
staff writer*

[image: CNN weekend host Michael Smerconish was criticized Saturday after
introducing a segment by comparing the rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders to the
spread of the coronavirus. (Photo: CNN / Screengrab)]

*CNN weekend host Michael Smerconish was criticized Saturday after
introducing a segment by comparing the rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders to the
spread of the coronavirus. (Photo: CNN / Screengrab)*

Radio personality and *CNN* weekend host Michael Smerconish came under fire
Saturday morning—along with the network—for "casually" portraying the surging
prospects
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/28/california-poll-shows-sanders-double-support-closest-rival-just-days-ahead-super>
of
Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders as comparable to
the threat of the infectious coronavirus which continues to spread
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/29/trump-cries-hoax-nurses-california-warn-quarantines-124-health-workers-show-us>
in
the United States and around the world.

Faiz Shakir, Sanders' campaign manager, said
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/1233764166613323778> he just had "to
laugh at their foolish panic," but others said it was just the latest
example of a snide and potentially dangerous attack by a member of the
corporate media's pundit class that remains antagonistic towards the
Democratic primary's most progressive candidate.

Watch:

Here is @cnn <https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>'s @smerconish
<https://twitter.com/smerconish?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> casually linking
Corona Virus and @BernieSanders
<https://twitter.com/BernieSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> in the same
sentence. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/6i7Q4ucm1l <https://t.co/6i7Q4ucm1l>

— Jordan (@JordanChariton) February 29, 2020
<https://twitter.com/JordanChariton/status/1233790396033007616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The comments come as South Carolina voters head to the polls in the last of
the fourth single-day early voting states and three days before Super
Tuesday on March 3.

Author and activist Naomi Klein, who endorsed Sanders last year, said the
remarks by Smerconish signal an incredibly dangerous manner of thinking:

Nice to wake up to discover that CNN is giving a platform to the idea that
the left is a disease. That's never led to anything bad happening before.
https://t.co/2LhmBEnOuC

— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) February 29, 2020
<https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/status/1233781462731755521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Later in his show, Smerconish interviewed Pressley Stutts, the chair of the
Greenville Tea Party in South Carolina, who falsely claimed Sanders is a
communist and then called his supporters "skulls full of mush." Notably,
observers pointed out, the *CNN* host did not push back on either comment.

Guest calls Bernie a communist. @smerconish
<https://twitter.com/smerconish?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> does not correct him.

Guest calls Bernie voters “skulls full of mush.”

Jfc. pic.twitter.com/yHJYNhPTvJ <https://t.co/yHJYNhPTvJ>

— once again i am asking (@BernieWatchdog) February 29, 2020
<https://twitter.com/BernieWatchdog/status/1233760448761278465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

With Sanders running as the first Jewish candidate with a very serious
chance of becoming the Democratic nominee, Ruben Chandrasekar, executive
director of the International Rescue Committee, agreed with others who
warned that comparing Bernie's surging campaign to a disease has serious
and worrisome anti-Semitic undertones.

"Smerconish comparing the spread of coronavirus to movement leading the
Sanders campaign is tone deaf at best,' Chandrasekar tweeted
<https://twitter.com/Just1RC/status/1233795795796856833> from his personal
account in response to the clip. ⁦He said journalist David Doel, who hosts
the *TRN Show* on YouTube, was "right to point out to the historically
racist tropes comparing Jews to viruses. ⁦CNN⁩ must apologize."

You can’t look at this chyron and think that the media is treating Sanders
fairly. This is f-ing ridiculous. https://t.co/Zm8sAvrkzY

— David Doel (@daviddoel) February 29, 2020
<https://twitter.com/daviddoel/status/1233772947074011136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Following Smerconish's comments, Doel posted a short video in response in
which said the remarks were "crazy" and "absurd," and that even though he
first laughed when he saw them, the implications of the segment are very
serious.

Watch:

"This is indefensible," argued Doel. "If this happened to any other
candidate it wouldn't be a big deal, but the fact that it happened to the
Jewish candidate in the race, makes it completely ridiculous, absurd, and
stunning."

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