Two Old Jews Argue Over Whose Arteries Are Worse
Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg Image by Getty/Forward Montage
By Aiden Pink February 19, 2020
The campaigns of Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg traded jabs Wednesday over each other’s health history.
After his heart attack in October, Sanders, 78, promised “full disclosure” about his medical status. But while the campaign has released letters from doctors assessing that he was fit to campaign again, he has yet to release results of a full medical workup.
When asked by CNN on Wednesday whether Sanders would release such a document, spokeswoman Briahna Joy Gray said that such questions were a “smear.” She also claimed that Bloomberg, who is the same age as Sanders, had “suffered heart attacks in the past” but hadn’t come under the same scrutiny.
Bloomberg’s doctor revealed in a medical report in December that the former mayor had a stent inserted in 2000 to alleviate a blocked artery and takes blood thinners for an irregular heartbeat. However, there is no record of Bloomberg having had a heart attack, let alone multiple ones.
Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said Gray’s claim of multiple heart attacks was “an absolute lie.” Gray later backtracked, writing on Twitter that she “misspoke” and that Bloomberg “underwent the same stent procedure as Bernie.” Sanders received two stents following his heart attack.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture How one Jewish woman fought the Nazis — and helped found a new Italian republic
-
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
-
Fast Forward Betar ‘almost exclusively triggered’ former student’s detention, judge says
-
Fast Forward ‘Honey, he’s had enough of you’: Trump’s Middle East moves increasingly appear to sideline Israel
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.