Asked this week if Clinton is a progressive, he said: “Some days, yes”. But when “a Wall Street executive destroys the economy” and pays a $5 billion settlement, he has no criminal record.
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Republicans are also swarming to New Hampshire for the crucial February 9 vote, with Donald Trump eager to reclaim the lead after he was beaten in Iowa by arch-conservative Senator Ted Cruz.
“In your definition as being a gate-keeper of progressivism, I know a lot of hard working in the Democratic party”, Clinton said.
Clinton represents one view, calling for continuity and pragmatism, while Sanders represents the polar opposite, with his outspoken calls for “revolution”. “The business model of Wall Street is fraud”, said the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist. “Even the late great Sen”. Paul Wellstone, a liberal icon, could not meet.
Bernie Sanders: “There is nothing wrong with being a moderate but you can’t be a moderate and a progressive”.
For Sanders, the path is more direct. He wants “Medicare for all”.
Sanders wasn’t interested: “Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power”. And besides, she added, Wall Street is only part of the problem. “The numbers just don’t add up”, Clinton said.
“A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year”. Jeanne Shaheen, who backs Obama’s trade pact, would all fail to make the cut. Sanders insists that Clinton isn’t progressive enough.
To this, Clinton responded with more indignation. She at one point accused him of a smear.
The exchanges had intensified ahead of the debate, the first since former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley dropped out on Monday night.
“Instead of arguing, talk the talk, walk the walk, no super PAC”, Sanders said. “But if we’re going to get into labels, I don’t think it was particularly progressive to vote against the [landmark gun-control] Brady Bill five times”. She denounces the excesses of the financial sector.
She spoke Thursday night before a crowded town hall at a local school in Derry, N.H., receiving a standing ovation when she was introduced by former New Hampshire Sen. “I don’t know the status, but I will certainly look into it”.
He said after speaking with precinct captains, the campaign believes they may have “at least two more delegates”. One suspects that the transcripts of Clinton’s paid speeches will eventually end up being released.
Later in the debate, Sanders was challenged on his lack of foreign policy experience.
He did not have an answer to moderator Chuck Todd’s question on whether he’d keep troops placed in Afghanistan.
Asked about foreign threats outside of the Middle East, Sanders singled out North Korea while Clinton mentioned Russian Federation.
When the debate moved the foreign policy, Clinton sought to portray herself as more experienced and a trusted Obama adviser in the operation to kill Osama bin Laden. Say what you want about how Clinton is a career politician and Sanders is an outsider, but he’s grasped something important about how messaging.
Establishment Democrats have been claiming that Sanders is getting millennials energized and that, ultimately, they will simply fall in line and vote for Clinton.
Sanders won the first hour of the debate because he forced Clinton to make the case that she is just as ardently progressive as he, a tall task given where he falls on that spectrum.
Clinton and Sanders described starkly different philosophies on national security and how to wage war against terrorism, a rift magnified by Americans’ growing fears. Will the Granite State give her yet another boost? It is highly unlikely these two will be on the same ticket next fall.
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Sanders called for improvements to how results are determined in the early primary contest.
