On Saturday night, Sanders announced his support for legislation that would reverse a 2005 law he had supported that granted gun manufacturers legal immunity.
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Bill Clinton is regularly mentioned on the debate stage and along the campaign trail, and Sunday night was no exception. It was the last Democratic matchup before voting begins in two weeks, and both sides were eager to rumble as polls showed the race tightening in the leadoff states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Sanders was talking about… you guessed it. Hillary Clinton.
On Sunday, just hours before the debate Sanders released details of his plan for a sweeping single-payer universal health care system, an idea that Clinton has argued would undercut President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
Mr Sanders said he wanted to build on the Obama law by making health insurance more affordable.
Sanders sees Wall Street as a force of political evil, and charges Clinton is too cozy with big money interests.
Sanders countered: “No one is tearing this up; we’re going to go forward”.
Sanders, in turn, said Clinton’s assertion that he kowtowed to the gun lobby was “very disingenuous” and pointed to his lifetime rating of a D- from the NRA. He painted Ms Clinton as a defender of the status quo who accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees as a former secretary of state from Wall Street backers. She rattled off a list of provisions she said Sanders had supported in line with the NRA: “He voted against the Brady Bill five times”.
As Clinton suggests, Sanders’ plan would indeed mean a radical change in direction – one that makes the government the payer of health care for everyone, not just for the elderly or the poorest Americans or members of the military. Sanders did not appear to consider the possibility that, even with campaign finance reform that reduces the influence of big money, a great many lawmakers might still oppose him, whether because they don’t believe in the European model, they don’t believe that Sanders’s version of the European model would deliver on his unbelievable promises or they don’t want to further strain the nation’s politics. “We’re not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act”.
“Look back to 2008, you couldn’t have had a more intense competition between Secretary Clinton and President Obama”.
Clinton defended her outreach to Russia early in her term as secretary of state, but hesitated when asked to describe her relationship with Vladimir Putin, whose return to the Russian presidency heralded the worsening of U.S.-Russian relations.
He noted that he talked about Bill Clinton only because someone asked him about it Friday during an Iowa town hall.
“I’m going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry, and getting results”. He called the former president’s behavior “deplorable” but said he wants to focus on issues “not Bill Clinton’s personal life”.
Clinton nodded and smiled throughout his comments.
Clinton also accused Sanders of being weak on gun control.
In South Carolina, the first state where the black vote will dominate the Democratic primary, Sanders was pressed on his lack of support among minority voters.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders were joined by former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who lags badly in polls, in what was the fourth debate between the Democratic contenders.
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The debate was sponsored by NBC, YouTube and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute.
