Donald Trump is not the only politician out there who holds a grudge. He is not the only person in the political ring who enjoys driving the stiletto in another’s back then twisting it. President Barack Obama followed the old adage: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. This politician could have been his worst enemy.
A mere two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Secretary Hillary Clinton appeared in The Hollywood Reporter interview. The magazine reporter asked:
‘In the doc, you’re brutally honest on Sanders: “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.” That assessment still hold?’
Clinton appeared reluctant to answer:
‘Yes, it does.’
Then, when the interviewer asked if she would vote for Sanders should he win the primaries, she did not answer “yes” as most Democrats and independents will have done to ensure a blue-wave win against Trump:
‘I’m not going to go there yet. We’re still in a very vigorous primary season. I will say, however, that it’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women. And I really hope people are paying attention to that because it should be worrisome that he has permitted this culture — not only permitted, [he] seems to really be very much supporting it.
‘And I don’t think we want to go down that road again where you campaign by insult and attack and maybe you try to get some distance from it, but you either don’t know what your campaign and supporters are doing or you’re just giving them a wink and you want them to go after Kamala [Harris] or after Elizabeth [Warren]. I think that that’s a pattern that people should take into account when they make their decisions.’
Then, the journalist asked her about Sanders’ alleged comment to Warren about not thinking a woman could win. He denies it. Clinton responded:
‘Well, number one, I think [that sentiment] is untrue, which we should all say loudly. I mean, I did get more votes both in the primary, by about 4 million, and in the general election, by about 3 million. I think that both the press and the public have to really hold everybody running accountable for what they say and what their campaign says and does.’
That’s particularly true with what’s going on right now with the Bernie campaign having gone after Elizabeth with a very personal attack on her. Then this argument about whether or not or when he did or didn’t say that a woman couldn’t be elected, it’s part of a pattern. If it were a one-off, you might say, “OK, fine.”
‘But he said I was unqualified. I had a lot more experience than he did, and got a lot more done than he had, but that was his attack on me. I just think people need to pay attention because we want, hopefully, to elect a president who’s going to try to bring us together, and not either turn a blind eye, or actually reward the kind of insulting, attacking, demeaning, degrading behavior that we’ve seen from this current administration.’
That’s particularly true with what’s going on right now with the Bernie campaign having gone after Elizabeth with a very personal attack on her. Then this argument about whether or not or when he did or didn’t say that a woman couldn’t be elected, it’s part of a pattern. If it were a one-off, you might say, “OK, fine.”
When asked if the media coverage for the 2020 campaign had improved in four years, she responded: “I don’t.” Then, the magazine asked what advice she could give the two women candidates Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. She was brief and telling:
‘I’ve talked to them.’
When asked whether she should have been more aggressive, Clinton responded with a lukewarm answer:
‘It’s hard still. Very hard. I thought Elizabeth did a good job [at the Jan. 14 Democratic debate] with, “The only people on this stage who have won every one of their races are Amy and me.” I thought that was clever. Some people loved it, some hated it.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
