The Bernie Sanders Health News — What Happened, What We Will Be Told

BERN NOTICE: When You See The Word "Stent" -- Remember Medicare for All

HELLO somebody #MedicareForAll https://t.co/4jpLWv4S8W

— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) October 2, 2019

by Thomas Neuburger

As most people know by now, on Thursday it was announce that Bernie Sanders had a medical event (not a medical "scare"). He complained of chest "discomfort," a medical evaluation revealed a blockage in one of his arteries, he was taken to a hospital and the blockage corrected with the use of stents.

Afterward senior advisor Jeff Weaver released the following statement: “Following medical evaluation and testing, he was found to have a blockage in one artery and two stents were successfully inserted. Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days. We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates.”

To be clear, this was not a "heart attack." He did not collapse and have to be ambulanced to the emergency room. He did not have open heart surgery. He merely complained of discomfort, a coronary blockage was found and treated with a procedure that's "minimally invasive" and almost always successful, and he'll be released in a few days.

He's already raring to go back on the trail. According to Shaun King, who spoke with the Sanders family, "He’s already feeling so much better & is having to be held back by everybody to not just get right back on the campaign trail." King later added: "Bernie is not quitting the campaign. If doctors and family would allow it, he’d campaign tonight."

Bill Clinton had the same procedure done in 2010. After experiencing "chest discomfort" (same phrase), Clinton was likewise taken to a hospital and treated by "inserting stents in one of his coronary arteries."

Clinton's symptoms were described this way: "[Clinton’s cardiologist, Dr. Allan] Schwartz also said Clinton’s symptoms should not be described as chest pains. Rather, he had experienced feelings of pressure and constriction in recent days. They were “brief in nature, but because they were repetitive, he contacted me,” Schwartz said during a news briefing outside New York-Presbyterian Hospital."

Sanders prognosis, like Clinton's, is good and recovery is expected to be rapid. I expect him to be ready to go for the October debate.

What Will Cable News "Analysts" Make of This?

I present the news in the way I did preëmptively, as a way of preparing you for the way this will be spun. Expect cable news to present the news as news, just as you've seen it, then hosts like Chris Matthews will turn to guest "analysts" to offer their opinions, who are free to say anything they want, as this person did recently:

"If you're still supporting Sanders instead of Warren, it's kind of showing your sexism" — says MSNBC guest analysts Emily Tisch Sussman, a child and grandchild of wealth and the former VP of Campaigns at Neera Tanden's Center for American Progress

While the host may be more moderate in language, you can tell what a host wants said by the guests she brings on. Thus, while anchors won't muddy the waters when reporting the story, expect commenters to use phrases like "medical emergency," "heart attack," "raced to the hospital" and "open heart surgery" when responding to it in an attempt to make this story more than it is, to make it a story about how Sanders is unfit for the presidency.

Don't be surprised, therefore, when people like Ms. Tisch Sussman call for Sanders to drop out and endorse Warren "for the good of the country" while cable hosts quietly nod, or quietly assume he's no longer in the race for real.

Ain't gonna happen, of course — he's not dropping out — but the pressure from neoliberals at think tanks, in the press and among the professional commentariat is likely to mount to great heights even after Sanders returns to the trail at more than full strength. (Do you remember these same "liberal" commenters calling for Hillary Clinton to drop out when she collapsed in public in September, 2016? Neither do I. I remember them making criticism of her health as toxic as they could make it.)

Quoting Shaun King again: What you’ve been seeing was Bernie WITH a heart blockage. Now it’s removed. The man should be back stronger than before.

And if the calls to drop out continue, Sanders has the perfect response: When you see "stent" — remember Medicare for All. Stents cost six times more in the U.S. than in Europe. 

 Amen.