Sanders calls pharma execs murderers, but dodges questions on comments

By Kyle Hooten

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders accused pharmaceutical executives of murder but declined to defend the comments when pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Tapper played a clip of Sanders comparing Pharma executives to murderers at a rally one week ago before asking the senator to defend his position on Sunday’s “State of the Union” show on CNN.

“Pharmaceutical executives see themselves as people who help save lives and improve lives, do you really see them as murderers?” inquired Tapper. “This is a philosophical issue we have to deal with,” replied Sanders, before launching into an extended discussion of the insulin market without ever defending his original characterization.

“You can call them whatever you want,” Sanders demurred. “I will tell you that as president of the United States we are gonna take on the pharmaceutical industry … what they’re doing involves corruption in my view,” he continued.

Sanders also promised that as president he would use anti-trust laws to break up what he believes is a medication monopoly, and appoint an attorney general specifically to prosecute drug manufacturers.

Sanders’ positions on pharmaceutical companies and public health care have earned him some criticism from other Democratic presidential candidates. Both Former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have called Sanders’ unrealistic, and advocate for other ways to lower the cost of medication, according to Open Secrets.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Michael Vadon

8 thoughts on “Sanders calls pharma execs murderers, but dodges questions on comments

  1. Big Pharma does a lot of good, but some of the drugs they push have some bad side effects. I got curious a couple of years ago about the rash of mass shootings. On a hunch I went online and typed in “mass killings/driugs.” I was surprised to find that unlike illegal drugs that I was expecting, that legal anti-depressants have a rare but strong link to these tragic events. They also are linked to thehigh rate of veteran suicides. When I checked with my rep in Montpelier about this, he told me that big pharmaceutical companies ‘donate’ loads of money to legislators and that when Vermont tried to regulate thesedrugs, the Federal Government stopped us. So maybe Bernie has a point about pharma EO’s being murderers. He just didn’t research it enough.

    • Mike Gill over in NH is in the middle of a big whizzing contest over the corruption there involving state agencies, the IRS, insurance companies. Google “Mike Gill State of Corruption YouTube”

      You will be amazed.

      Meathead Sanders is just trying to generate votes using drug cost hysteria. He has no means of producing a viable Sanders version of Obamacare with a sane budget.

  2. Big Pharma is playing the game the government set them up for. As long as political hacks
    accept payola for votes in favor of pharma the games will continue.. As for burnee same screaming
    different day, different target and still no evidence of what he spews.. pathetic ol commies don’t
    change their stripes they just spew louder at voting time..

  3. As I stated in a recent post Sanders would do or say anything in order to become president. I do not believe he is an honest man ( never earned a paycheck until he was 40 years old, was kicked out of a commune for being lazy, now has 3 houses and a multi million dollar bank account. He claims most of it was from a best selling book. I find it hard to believe he sold that many books because a majority of folks believe the same as I do.) I hope that the pharmaceutical CEO’s sue him for slander and relieve this “RICH” socialists treasure that he earned writing a crappy book and making under $ 200,000 a year as a member of congress. Can you imagine the chaos and destruction this man would cause as president ? Please GOD do not let this happen.

  4. Big Pharma has more wrong with it than price fixing but that’s what comrade Sanders fixates upon because it’s easiest and hits in the wallet. Pharma spends billions in advertising, lobbying and promotions. You can tell by the voting who gets what.

    Why is it that the “healthcare” industry costs are so high? Could it possibly be that it’s actually “sickcare”? Pharma makes a whole lot more dough selling to repeat customers, that’s why we;re seeing so many adverts all over the place for this or that brandy new super drug to treat all the new ailments and diseases being created by accident– or not… The pharma biz thrives on the economic model of treating, rather than curing. Ask anyone who is “hooked” for life on any of the insulins, blood pressure meds, cardiovascular conditioners, etc. Then there’s pills for your pills to treat the side effects of your meds because they got approval without adequate pre-release testing on human subjects. And just try to find a generic form of a newly released drug.

  5. Vermont’s Socialist Sanders backstepping ” again ” with his rhetoric and this clown thinks
    he’ll be President …….. No that’s funny.

    So if there is a problem with price-fixing, then why doesn’t the Senator and the gaggle of
    Senate fools in DC, hold the drug companies accountable ?? They won’t……

    Leave it to Bernie to get a plugin on his run, I will tell you that ” as ” president of the United
    States, we are gonna take on the pharmaceutical industry !!……..sure.

    So, Bernie, you’ve been in DC for over twenty years, so what have you done so far against the pharmaceutical industry except spew your rhetoric …….. as President, you’d do the same just
    feed us your BS !!

    • Excellent comments! Sanders has never done anything for anybody other than Bernie Sanders. He has made a name and feathered his nest by tearing down everything and everyone. Have you ever heard Bernie Sanders say one good word about America or any American business? No, all he does is bitch and whine constantly. Well Senator, if you don’t like the way companies handle their affairs then start your own pharmeceutical company and show us how it’s done.
      I do appreciate all of the cars with Bernie stickers on them………………..it readily identifies those of diminished capacity, or as the comedian says “Here’s your sign”!

Comments are closed.