We apologize in advance for using the words “Bernie Sanders” and “Playboy” in the same sentence, but here goes:

Sanders, Vermont’s independent U.S. senator, is the subject of the storied Playboy interview in this month’s issue. Not that we subscribe or anything. We just heard about it from a friend.

Interviewing Sanders for the men’s mag was writer and activist Jonathan Tasini, who previously interviewed Paul Krugman for Playboy. His history as a gadfly political candidate in New York is reminiscent of Sanders’ own early electoral outings. Tasini challenged and lost to then-senator Hillary Clinton in 2006 and scandal-plagued Congressman Charles Rangel in 2010.

While Tasini doesn’t break a lot of new ground in the interview, he does elicit an interesting response when he asks Sanders about a potential 2016 presidential candidacy. Sanders demurs at first, saying that “to run a serious campaign, you need to raise hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Nevertheless, the Vermonter says, Americans “are hungering for a voice out there,” and “it would be tempting to try to raise issues and demand discussion on issues that are not being talked about…”

Here’s a little bit more:

PLAYBOY: Hillary Clinton will probably be the Democratic nominee. Does that offer an alternative to the country?

SANDERS: No, it does not.

PLAYBOY: Are you absolutely ruling out running for president, 100 percent?

SANDERS: Absolutely? 100 percent? Cross my heart? Is there a stack of Bibles somewhere? Look, maybe it’s only 99 percent. I care a lot about working families. I care a lot about the collapse of the American middle class. I care a lot about the enormous wealth and income disparity in our country. I care a lot that poverty in America is near an all-time high but hardly anyone talks about it. I realize running for president would be a way to shine a spotlight on these issues that are too often in the shadows today. [pauses] But I am at least 99 percent sure I won’t.

Anyway, check it out if you’re into that kind of thing. If not, we hear the magazine has other interesting content.

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Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

2 replies on “Morning Read: Playboy Interviews Bernie Sanders”

  1. He gives Playboy an interview but shuns actual Vermont Media? Being Senator means you can never get enough bum kisses from the masses.

  2. “Nevertheless, the Vermonter says, Americans “are hungering for a voice out there,” and “it would be tempting to try to raise issues and demand discussion on issues that are not being talked about…””
    How the hell does this egomaniac know that: 1) “Americans are hungering for a voice out there,” and b) that the “voice” they are supposedly “hungering” for is his?
    By the way, is he a “Vermonter” if he was born in Brooklyn and still talks like it? Just askin’

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