Today was democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ turn to woo Pennsylvania labor unions, appearing at the state AFL-CIO convention, one day after his rival Hillary Clinton in the primary race.
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Clinton and her allies have been highlighting a recent Sanders interview with New York Daily News interview that was widely panned, suggesting it showed him unqualified for the White House.
“He’s going to talk about differences he has with her on issues”. It’s all about rolling up our sleeves and getting to work.
“My response is if you want to question my qualifications, then maybe the American people might wonder about your qualifications, Madame Secretary”, he said. “Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you’re raising millions of dollars from Wall Street?”
Wednesday morning Clinton gave a wink and a nod to Joe Scarborough’s question of whether Sanders is qualified.
So, just find someone who fits that bill, get them past the campaign gauntlet, and we’re all set.
Clinton was commenting on criticism leveled at the senator about a New York Daily News interview published Tuesday, particularly over his lack of specificity on his plans to break up big banks. He is now lagging behind Clinton in polls by 10 points in NY – a state the senator has long emphasized is key to his campaign moving forward, mostly for the large number of delegates up for grabs on April 19.
They are especially targeting upstate, western districts where she won strong support in her two Senate runs in 2000 and 2006, but where the state’s heavy industry has taken a pummeling and where voters may be open to Sanders’ hard line on trade deals.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep”, she told reporters while campaigning in the Bronx, where she rode the subway joined by a local Democratic politician. “But I’m going to trust the voters of NY who know me and have voted for me three times”. “I’ve been in the trenches for a long time, and I believe in electing Democrats up and down the ticket”.
During a campaign rally at Temple University in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Sanders questioned whether Clinton is “qualified” to be president.
Indeed, whoever started it, these charges and counter-charges about who’s qualified to be President are harming both candidates. I’m not going to get beaten up; I’m not going to get lied about. “I don’t think you are qualified if you have supported virtually every disastrous trade agreement which has cost us millions of decent paying jobs”, he said to applause. “I think the families do deserve an apology”.
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The Panama Papers scandal, which exposed massive-scale tax evasion by corporations and world leaders tied to a shady law firm in the country, feeds right into Sanders’s campaign agenda. He said he thinks Sanders is responding in kind to Clinton’s rhetoric, but he wished the entire race would tone down.
