Bernie slams Democrats' 'corporate wing' as it warms to Warren
Bernie Sanders on Wednesday lashed out at the “corporate wing of the Democratic Party,” seizing on a report that centrists in the party are coming around to Elizabeth Warren as a compromise nominee if the alternative is Sanders.
“The cat is out of the bag. The corporate wing of the Democratic Party is publicly ‘anybody but Bernie,’” Sanders wrote on Twitter, sharing a POLITICO story headlined: “Warren emerges as potential compromise nominee.”
“They know our progressive agenda of Medicare for All, breaking up big banks, taking on drug companies and raising wages is the real threat to the billionaire class,” Sanders added.
POLITICO’s report details how many moderate Democrats, united in their opposition to Sanders, are increasingly gravitating toward Warren as a more acceptable general election rival to President Donald Trump who could still harness the energy of the party’s progressive coalition.
Centrist think tank Third Way, which notably criticized Warren in a 2013 op-ed that highlighted intra-party divisions, has since praised parts of her candidacy and highlighted perhaps the most glaring distinction between Warren’s and Sanders’ campaigns.
“One is a Democratic capitalist narrative,” Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, told POLITICO. “The other is a socialist narrative.”
Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir lashed out Wednesday at Third Way on Twitter, writing that the organization’s “approach antagonizes no one, stands up to nobody and changes nothing.”
“This is a Washington think tank that takes Wall Street money, so if @ThirdWayTweet is the opposition to @BernieSanders' campaign, which is leading Trump in poll after poll, we welcome the contrast,” Shakir added.
Sanders and Warren have competed for months over the party’s left flank — both lobbying for the endorsement of liberal Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — while former Vice President Joe Biden, the ostensible Democratic frontrunner, has enjoyed the backing of more middle-of-the-road voters.
But Warren in recent weeks has vaulted to the top tier of 2020 candidates, and appears to have siphoned some support from Sanders, who still regularly ranks second to Biden in primary polling.
