Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman both face-planted in their Bernie Sanders takedowns

Flacking for your favorite candidate is fine, just don't step on single-payer in the process

Bernie Sanders is having the last laugh.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

The worst aspect of Hillary Clinton's primary campaign so far has been how she has treaded on the very idea of social insurance for brief tactical advantage.

Her opponent Bernie Sanders has come out for higher taxes to fund things like single-payer health insurance. In response the Clinton campaign has attacked him from the right as a tax-and-spend liberal who will dismantle Medicare and reduce middle-class incomes — instead of, say, arguing the idea is good but politically infeasible.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.