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Mike Rowe: Bernie Sanders a ‘knucklehead’

by Jesse Byrnes - 12/16/15 10:32 AM ET

Television personality Mike Rowe is slamming Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), calling him a “knucklehead” for his remarks on college affordability.

The host of CNN’s “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” blasted a tweet from Sanders that suggested the government should pay for college to lessen the costs of incarceration.

At the end of the day, providing a path to go to college is a helluva lot cheaper than putting people on a path to jail.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 13, 2015

{mosads}”I wonder sometimes, if the best way to question the increasingly dangerous idea that a college education is the best path for the most people, is to stop fighting the sentiment directly, and simply shine a light on the knuckleheads who continue to perpetuate this nonsense,” Rowe wrote in a lengthy Facebook note.

“In less than 140 characters, he’s managed to imply that a path to prison is the most likely alternative to a path to college. Pardon my acronym, but…WTF!?” Rowe added.

The “Dirty Jobs” host, pictured in the post wearing a cap and gown depicting a graduate while sitting in a wheelbarrow with parts of his legs exposed, said he is “not sure what to make” of Sanders’s juxtaposition.

“The truth, in my opinion, is this: There is no alternative for an education, and no hope for a person who doesn’t want to learn something useful and apply it. But there are many, many alternatives to college. And none of them come with a prison sentence,” Rowe wrote.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who has sought to bring attention to how nations like Sweden and Norway have handled college tuition, has pushed for free tuition at public colleges and universities.

Tags Bernie Sanders College college tuition free college mass incarceration Mike Rowe