Tensions rising, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed in sometimes personal and biting fashion Thursday in a final, hastily scheduled debate before the first primary of the Democratic presidential contest.
Advertisement
The tone turned as Sanders once again questioned whether Clinton was truly a progressive and called her part of the establishment for raising money from Wall Street, drug companies “and other special interests”. “The business model of Wall Street is fraud”, said the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist.
Facing New Hampshire voters makes candidates better, and prepares them more for the Oval Office than the made-for-TV campaign stops that will dominate the summer.
Hillary Clinton responded to Sanders’ statement that she is not progressive enough.
“I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit”, Sanders said during the MSNBC debate.
“There is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money in our political system”, Sanders said, arguing the money was “undermining American democracy”. He worked to tar her with Wall Street connections.
Clinton called the server issue a “political ploy” before turning to news that former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are now facing a similar problem.
Clinton, meanwhile, described herself as a “progressive who gets things done”, and ripped Sanders for suggesting Clinton can not be a “moderate” and a “progressive” at the same time.
“But experience is not the only point, judgment is”, he said, noting as he often has during the campaign that Clinton voted to support the invasion of Iraq and he did not.
Clinton went on to insist that at the time of the speeches, she was undecided on whether to seek the White House.
Asked directly whether she could “reassure” Democrats on this, Clinton said: “Absolutely I can”.
The intensity reflected a race that has seen Clinton’s once prohibitive lead in polls shrivel against Sanders as the two vie for the Democratic nomination for the November 8 election.
Sanders seized on the opportunity to blast Goldman Sachs, and by implication, Clinton’s association.
“Back in 2002 when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way, and one of us didn’t”, he said.
While the former secretary of State squeaked out a win at the caucuses by just a 0.2 percent margin, Sanders is up by an average of 20 points in a RealClearPolitics average of polls in New Hampshire, a state she won in 2008.
Clinton disputed the establishment label, saying it was “quite amusing” to accuse “a woman, running to be the first woman president, as the establishment”.
Sanders didn’t hold back either, continuing to rail against the political establishment and campaign finance system.
Clinton backers, however, attribute his Granite State success to Vermont’s proximity to New Hampshire. Looking to put the brakes on Sanders’ upstart campaign, she derided him for acting as the “self-proclaimed gatekeeper” of who qualifies as a progressive. “I happen to respect the secretary very much”, he said.
Sanders, pointing out that he helped draft the Affordable Care Act, countered, “The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we’re waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate…”
Sanders said his proposal for free tuition at public universities would be paid with a tax on Wall Street speculation.
Advertisement
The debate at 9 p.m.in New Hampshire airing on MSNBC comes a day after a combative CNN town hall meeting in which Clinton and Sanders feuded over who best represents progressive values.
