Social Security, that Democratic pillar of the New Deal, is the latest political hot-potato to occupy the presidential primary.
The popular government program (a phrase that isn’t often said) is at the center of a scrape between socialist Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Over the weekend, Biden accused the Sanders campaign of promoting what he claimed was a “doctored” video, in which Biden appeared to agree with Paul Ryan, the former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, about Ryan’s wish to privatize Social Security.
While not altered, the video does appear to take Biden’s remarks out of context, according to CNN, failing to provide a full picture of the former Veep’s views.
But despite Biden’s criticism of his tactics, Sanders doubled down in New Hampshire on Sunday.
“I think anyone who looks at the vice president’s record understands that time after time after time, Joe has talked about the need to cut Social Security,” Sanders told reporters. “That’s in the congressional record. He has said that many, many times. I don’t think that’s disputable.”
“Sanders campaign speechwriter David Sirota previously cited Biden’s Brookings speech in a newsletter to supporters, writing that Biden ‘lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare,’” the network reported.
Fact-checkers’ focus
PolitiFact rated that description as “false,” and found “Sanders campaign newsletter distorts what Biden said about Ryan’s plan.”
Specifically, the fact-checking site said the Sanders campaign omitted important qualifying remarks, including “the importance of protecting Social Security and Medicare and to change the tax code, which he said benefitted the mega-rich.”
Overall, PolitiFact added, “the point of Biden’s speech was to criticize tax cuts for the rich and call for more help to the middle class. The Sanders campaign plucked out part of what Biden said but omitted the full context of his comments.”