--- title: Bernie Sanders' Wife: Albright's Comments Were 'Unfortunate' description: Dr. Jane Sanders weighed in on controversial comments made by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright canonical: https://time.com/4216845/jane-sanders-madeline-albright-bernie/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T01:14:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:17.344Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders' Wife: Madeleine Albright's Comments Were 'Unfortunate' og:description: Dr. Jane Sanders weighed in on the comments about her husband og:url: https://time.com/4216845/jane-sanders-madeline-albright-bernie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05cad038f00db119/69887d2ee20a8751b0a8f7d0/jane-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Jane Sanders, wife of Vermont Senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, stands for a photograph following a campaign event and interview in Fort Madison, Iowa on Jan. 29, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders' Wife: Madeleine Albright's Comments Were 'Unfortunate' twitter:description: Dr. Jane Sanders weighed in on the comments about her husband twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05cad038f00db119/69887d2ee20a8751b0a8f7d0/jane-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders' Wife: Madeleine Albright's Comments Were 'Unfortunate and Disturbing' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: TIME Raw: Madeline Albright's "Special Place in Hell" Comments at Clinton Rally [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Madeline Albright's "Special Place in Hell" Comments at Clinton Rally](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sbLTIAa9.m3u8) (0:17)  _Published 2016-02-08. Albright has come under fire in recent days for their remarks over the weekend seen as hectoring younger women into supporting Clinton._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Feb 11, 2016 1:14 AM UTC  Jane Sanders, wife of Vermont Senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, stands for a photograph following a campaign event and interview in Fort Madison, Iowa on Jan. 29, 2016. Jane Sanders, wife of Vermont Senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, stands for a photograph following a campaign event and interview in Fort Madison, Iowa on Jan. 29, 2016.T.J. Kirkpatrick—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Feb 11, 2016 1:14 AM UTC Dr. Jane Sanders weighed in on controversial comments made by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and feminist activist Gloria Steinem over the weekend that appeared to chastise young women for voting for her husband Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton. On Saturday, Albright [reminded women voters](http://time.com/4210769/hillary-clinton-madeleine-albright-new-hampshire/) that “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” a saying she has [repeated often over the past four decades.](http://time.com/4212577/madeleine-albright-hillary-clinton-special-place-hell-defends/) But the comments were widely interpreted on social media as scolding young women who support Sanders instead of Clinton. In a [HuffPost Live segment Wednesday,](http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/highlight/56bbb57899ec6d0b4a000073) Dr. Sanders said she thought Albright’s comments were “unfortunate and disturbing.” “I think that women today are a little bit more intelligent to not say, ‘Okay all I care about is gender,'” she said. “By that case, if Bernie won the Democratic nomination and Carly Fiorina won the Republican nomination, we should be supporting Carly Fiorina. We’re looking for the right candidate.” Steinem also found herself in hot water last weekend after she told HBO’s Bill Maher that younger women were only supporting Sanders because “the boys are with Bernie.” Steinem, 81, [has since apologized for those statements,](https://www.facebook.com/GloriaSteinem/posts/10153237059092854) which caused widespread offense among younger women. Dr. Sanders said the comment was a mistake but acknowledged Steinem’s apology. “She apologized. I know that young people were offended by it, but it was a mistake,” Dr. Sanders said. “We know her life has been about equity for women and feminism. She made a mistake, she said so. I absolutely still respect her very much.” Dr. Sanders went on to define “feminism” as “equal treatment,” and lauded young voters for sticking up for themselves. “What I like is that young people expect equal treatment and act as if they should be treated equally,” she said. “If they aren’t, they speak up. That wasn’t the case when I was younger.” Sanders won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday by a large margin, with widespread support from young women and younger voters as a whole. 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