Sanders has long said that he is the only Democratic candidate to run a campaign without the help of moneyed Wall Street players, and that Clinton, who is being supported by two super-PACs, has given voters no indication that she would govern free of their influence.
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Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Clinton’s nearest frontrunner in the Democratic primary, suggested that he has the backing of SEIU’s “rank-and-file”.
“I represented NY, and I represented NY on 9/11, when we were attacked”, she began, likely already raising a few eyebrows in the audience. “I don’t think they saw that as something appropriate to do, to mask her coziness and her closeness to Wall Street and all of the architects of the crash of 2008”.
Pundits and opponents immediately pounced on Clinton’s statement. In the post-debate “spin room”, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters, “I’ll let her answer that gaffe”. Following her speech, both Clintons ignored multiple questions from Yahoo News about whether her comment about 9/11 in the debate was “exploitative” as she greeted members of the audience.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus denounced the suggestion as a “new low” for the Democratic candidate. Bernie Sanders said donations from Wall Street, oil and coal, and other big industries would influence candidates.
Even as the field responded somberly to the deadly attacks in Paris, the debate Saturday night marked a feistier phase in the Democratic campaign.
Offstage, however, Mr. Sanders has been taking his shots, and his barbs have gotten sharper. And it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you’re going to see countries all over the world – this is what the Central Intelligence Agency says – they’re going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops.
On social media, Sanders largely edged Clinton out, picking up the most new Twitter followers (nearly 19,000 by noon Sunday) and becoming the most searched on Google and the most discussed on Facebook, according to data provided by the companies and collected by Bloomberg.
But the Sanders team appeared to make a conscious decision to lay off Clinton on the 9/11 remark.
“I am sorry if whoever tweeted that had that impression”, Clinton said at the time.
“We can not afford four years of policies that will hurt working families while lining the pockets of big corporations”, said Cherie Mancini, president of Las Vegas’ SEIU Local 1107.
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In an interview with Yahoo News’ Katie Couric on Tuesday, the Vermont independent said Mrs. Clinton invoking September 11 to defend her Wall Street connections – as she did in Saturday night’s debate – was “silly and absurd”. “That is the sort of economy, that is the sort of economic advice that she would follow”.
