Share

Bernie Sanders’ Ad Underscores Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street Ties

Bernie Sanders in the Hawkeye State has shriveled, from seven percentage points last month to just two points now -which is less than the highly-regarded survey’s 4 point margin of error. But he’s also a 25-year veteran of Congress.

Advertisement

Clinton is also suggesting that Sanders, who backs a single-payer health care system and free tuition at public colleges and universities, is pitching policies that are unachievable in a divided government. The Sanders campaign pushed back hard Wednesday, accusing Clinton of “flip-flopping” on her previous assertion that it “undermined core Democratic values” and provides “aid and comfort” to opponents when Democrats attack each others health care plans. Challenged anew by Bernie Sanders, Clinton is reverting to some of the same themes, even strikingly similar attack lines, from her 2008 primary loss to Barack Obama.

“To claim that expanding Medicare to all would hand it over to state governors is a crude, inflammatory distortion, and shows an indifference to all those people who continue to be harmed by a broken system”, NNU co-President Jean Ross said.

Interestingly, the ad doesn’t name Hillary Clinton, with whom Sanders is locked in a very tight battle for both early states.

Senator Sanders has fought this false narrative by reinforcing his ideas about healthcare on television, and pointing out that Hillary’s campaign is resorting to dirty tactics.

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, at Keene State College in Keene, N.H.

Kirk said in prepared remarks that of all the presidential candidates, the Vermont senator has most consistently talked about the dangers facing the nation’s democracy.

“While there’s not much new in the ad – anger at Wall Street is, arguably, the driving force behind Sanders’ surging campaign – it underscores Clinton’s close ties to the financial sector”.

Still, there’s no doubt Sanders’ unexpected strength has the Clinton campaign on edge. “We need not only to extend social security benefits, we need to expand them.” Sanders said his plan would boost Social Security benefits $65 a month, on average.

“The reality is we have always anticipated this would be a close race”, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the former Democratic Iowa governor and a supporter of Clinton’s, told MSNBC on Thursday.

The skirmish over middle class taxes began last fall, when Clinton first drew contrasts between Sanders’ tax proposal and her own.

“We have differences on guns, on taxes, on healthcare”, Clinton said, “and I think people should have that information before they go to the caucus or the primary”. “I don’t think that is the right way to go”.

Advertisement

Clinton’s campaign appears confident that Sanders will not be able to conjure up a similar brand of political magic this time around.

BernieAd