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| The Commie and the Demo. |
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While Hillary Clinton launched her harshest debate attacks yet on
Bernie Sanders Thursday in a clear attempt to distinguish their
differences to voters, the Democratic candidates spent almost as much
time uniting in their criticism of America’s criminal justice system,
the financial sector and more.
The debate fell at a time when Sanders is trying to
build his momentum after his big New Hampshire win, while Clinton is
trying to regain hers.
As Sanders pointedly reminded her, “You’re not in the White House yet.”
But the candidates at times offered a similar
message. This was evident as they vociferously called for an overhaul of
local police departments that they suggested are unfair to black
people.
“We need fundamental police reform,” Sanders said,
adding he’s “sick and tired” of seeing unarmed black people shot by
police. He likened heavily equipped police departments to “occupying
armies.”
Clinton, meanwhile, echoed those themes, joining
Sanders in calling for sentencing reform while saying the country’s
“systemic racism” goes deeper and must be addressed – in education,
housing and the job market.
“We are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we need to root out,” she said.
The comments were part of each candidate’s revived
appeal to minority voters, a key voting bloc as the Democratic
presidential primary heads to South Carolina.
But even as they stressed those issues, differences
were laid bare at the PBS-hosted debate in Milwaukee. And Sanders came
prepared to counter Clinton’s attacks, showing a feistier side than he
did at their last showdown.
When Clinton used her closing remarks to suggest
Sanders was taking shots at President Obama, Sanders called it a “low
blow” and countered: “One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that
candidate.”
He even underscored his critique of Clinton’s foreign
policy by pointing to a book where Clinton said she was mentored by
former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
“I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my
friend,” Sanders said, calling him “one of the most destructive”
American diplomats.
Clinton fired back that “we have yet to know” who Sanders listens to on foreign policy.
“Well, it ain’t Henry Kissinger,” Sanders said.
The two also clashed sharply over Sanders’ high-cost, big-government plans.
“We are not England. We are not France,” Clinton said.
Clinton accused Sanders of pushing programs that
would grow the federal government by 40 percent. She suggested his
health care promises “cannot be kept “and will be far more costly than
he admits.
“We should level with the American people,” she said.
She also said Sanders’ plans would upend ObamaCare – though Sanders said he would not “dismantle” it.
“That is absolutely inaccurate,” he said, when she claimed his plans would leave many people worse off.
“In my view, health care is a right of all people … and I will fight for that,” Sanders said, adding it would take “courage.”
Clinton also criticized Sanders for voting against a 2007 immigration reform bill backed by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Sanders explained that the bill had a guest-worker program that progressive groups opposed.
“I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea of what needed to be done,” Clinton said.
Yet the candidates agreed in their joint criticism of the Obama administration’s recent deportation raids.
Sanders, meanwhile, once again hammered Clinton for
her Wall Street ties, suggesting the financial sector’s big donations
are meant to buy influence.
“Let’s not insult the intelligence of the American
people. People aren’t dumb,” Sanders said. “Why in God’s name does Wall
Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of
it.”
They sparred on the issue as Sanders touted the fact
he’s “the only candidate up here” who has no super PAC supporting him. A
super PAC backing Clinton, he said, recently raised $15 million from
Wall Street.
Clinton countered by noting that Obama took Wall
Street donations too, but “when it mattered, he stood up and took on
Wall Street.”
“Let’s not in any way imply here that either
President Obama or myself would in any way not take on any vested
interest,” she said, calling for more regulation of the financial
sector.
The showdown comes as Clinton tries to reset the
race, which heads next to Nevada and South Carolina. Her narrow victory
in Iowa and resounding defeat in New Hampshire have raised fresh
questions about her candidacy, which at one point was seen as a sure
thing for the Democratic nomination.
Publicly, the Clinton campaign is voicing confidence.
The campaign has been refocusing on the battle to lock down minority
voter support, asserting that with their help, the former secretary of
state can easily make gains against Sanders. But Sanders is at the same
time making a bid to expand his own support beyond rural, white voters
-- who largely decide Iowa and New Hampshire.
While the Clinton campaign is banking on minority
voters as it heads into South Carolina and other delegate-rich states
down the primary calendar, Tuesday’s contest exposed serious problems
for her. She lost in New Hampshire across almost every demographic,
including women.
