In Other Words, He Lied

The Washington Post's Fact Checker gives Bernie Sanders "three pinocchios" for claiming that Hillary Clinton said he was unqualified:

Sanders is putting words in Clinton’s mouth. She never said "quote unquote" that he was not qualified to be president. In fact, she diplomatically went out of her way to avoid saying that, without at the same time saying he was qualified. The Washington Post article appropriately noted she raised questions about his qualifications, but certainly never said or suggested she said Sanders was unqualified.

Sanders would have been on safer ground if he had said Clinton is raising questions about his qualifications and now he would like to raise questions about her qualifications. But he can't slam her for words she did not say.

Nonetheless, Sanders is continuing to defend himself this morning, in increasingly mendacious ways. He cites a CNN report, also cited in his fundraising email last night, in which a CNN reporter said he'd spoken to an unnamed Clinton campaign staffer who said their strategy moving forward was to "disqualify" him.

Okay. But an unsourced report of a staffer saying it isn't the same thing as Hillary Clinton saying it. And, more importantly, "disqualify" and "unqualified" are not even in the same galaxy. This is mendacious in the extreme.

The entire point of campaigns is to try to "disqualify" your opponent. That is patently not the same as saying they are unqualified.

I know I'm a broken record, but: When this campaign started, I had a lot of respect for Bernie Sanders. I don't have respect for him anymore.