Bernie Sanders, What Are You Even Doing?

Daniella Diaz at CNN: CNN to Host Town Hall Debate Monday with Graham, Cassidy, Sanders, and Klobuchar.

CNN will host a town hall with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, who will be debating health care with Sens. Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar on Monday, September 25 at 9 p.m. ET.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper and chief political correspondent Dana Bash will moderate the 90-minute live event from Washington.

Graham and Cassidy are the namesake sponsors of a last-ditch effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act ahead of an end-of-the-month deadline, while Sanders introduced a new "Medicare for all" health care bill with a third of the Senate Democratic caucus by his side.

This is such a bad idea. It's a bad idea for a lot of reasons — not least of which is that Bernie Sanders is not actually a good debater (see: the 2016 primary) — but mostly because it's playing directly into the hands of Republicans who have been trying to frame the issue as "Republican garbage legislation vs. single-payer," pretending that improving on the Affordable Care Act isn't even an option, and now Sanders, with his shitty timing in introducing his bill and agreeing to do this fucking debate, has handed them precisely the optics they need to make that frame work.

It's a false frame, but it's one that Republicans want and need to make their heinous legislation appealing to people who are reflexively afraid of "socialist" healthcare.

Dems already worrying this will allow Rs to frame bill as alt to single-payer.

Quiet griping that Sanders jumped gun likely to grow louder. https://t.co/vhPolFkGZx

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) September 21, 2017

A Democrat weighs in: "The only way Graham and Cassidy can pass their bill is a distraction. Bernie is serving one up on a silver platter." https://t.co/uYsAzyY1Y1

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 21, 2017

Further, this debate shouldn't be happening on television; it should be happening in Congress.

Which I am hardly the first or only person to observe.

why is this happening on tv & not in congress https://t.co/OD1cIaHfwV

— Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) September 21, 2017

Wait, but why ARE we having a debate about about Graham-Cassidy on CNN instead of just forcing its supporters to explain it on CNN?+

— Bran's Not Hot, B. (@ItsTheBrandi) September 21, 2017

CNN will give Graham and Cassidy the freedom to lie their asses off without any pushback from the moderators, which will give the illusion of parity between their "facts" and Sanders' and Klobuchar's arguments. Just two sides to every issue!

Having the debate on TV means that it's incumbent on just two Senators to make sure the public understands that Graham and Cassidy are lying and that their bill is dangerous rubbish. If the debate were held in Congress, the pushback wouldn't have to come from just two Senators; every Democratic Senator would have a chance to make the case. The chances of failure would be significantly lower.

We don't need to be lowering our chances to defeat this horrible bill, for fuck's sake.

There's about 50 million ways this debate can go wrong and only one way it can go right. I really genuinely hope he doesn't fuck up

— Molly (@isteintraum) September 21, 2017

So do I.

Although, to be perfectly blunt, having agreed to this debate is already a pretty big fuck-up. Of course, that's only from my perspective, with an objective of protecting and expanding healthcare access for as many people as possible. That's not necessarily Sanders' objective.

Dem source: "This is exactly the debate Graham & Cassidy want to have. Sanders is looking out for himself rather than being a team player" https://t.co/o8wQ7sZqFN

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 21, 2017

And, just as a reminder: Sanders' plan still doesn't deal with the Hyde problem, so this debate is quite literally about two healthcare coverage options neither of which guarantee comprehensive care for more than half the population. Cool.