Martin O’Malley said it was “pretty shameful” for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton to invoke the 9/11 attacks to deflect criticism at a debate about her relationship with Wall Street.
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Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has fared well so far in her bid for the 2016 nomination in attracting support from organized labor, even as her chief rival, Vermont Sen.
“Not good enough”, Mr. Sanders retorted when Mrs. Clinton insisted during the debate that Wall Street opposed her plans that include prosecuting executives and seizing their bonuses.
“We will support those who take the fight to ISIS”, she said.
Clinton accused Sanders of trying to “impugn my integrity” and said that as a NY senator, she helped NY City’s financial hub rebuild. “And I’m very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent”, said the former NY senator, adding that she spent a lot of time on Wall Street after the 9/11 terrorist attack.
“So I’ve said, if the big banks don’t play by the rules, I will break them up”, Clinton stated. “She did so early and often”.
Clinton’s comment in the debate came in response to questions by Sanders about her willingness to accept campaign contributions from Wall Street.
“They had been on the march in both Iraq and Syria for a few time”, Rhodes said. I like how you stand up. “I think it’s premature to say the exact numbers”, he said, but he called for an increase in the number of “special operators on the ground”.
The exchange highlighted one of Sanders’ main critiques of Clinton: That she has maintained close ties to Wall Street executives during her political career and would be less forceful in policing the risky behavior of financial firms that Sanders says led to the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009.
The former secretary of State showed a command of the world scene, and she reminded the crowd that she pushed for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
On the issue, Sanders said, “the business model of Wall Street is fraud”.
Clinton & Co. clearly thought they’d found a way to spin cordiality with downtown financiers as something positive for the public – and thus counter suspicions she’d be susceptible as president to what detractors see as excessive Wall Street clout.
Sanders said “I don’t think the term (radical Islam) is particulary helpful”, and O’Malley said “radical jihadist” was the correct term.
In her speech, Clinton made no mention of Wall Street and emphasized that her focus is squarely on the needs of middle class families. Look for the economy to continue to dominate the Democratic campaign.
And during that same debate, Hillary Clinton refused to use the words, ‘radical Islam’.
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“I don’t believe that the people watching were applauding the notion that Secretary Clinton was pumping up the smoke screen and wrapping herself in the tragedy of 9/11”, O’Malley told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
