Democratic Presidential Candidates Take Swipes at Trump and Each Other
Democratic primary contenders Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley participated in their third and final debate of the year Saturday night
Sanders, the 74-year-old socialist senator from Vermont, took the opportunity to apologize to Clinton as well as his own voters for the recent revelation that his aides had accessed Clinton's voter database.
Clinton said she accepted Sanders’ apology and wanted to move on to the issues. "I don't think the American people are all that interested in this," said Clinton.
A great deal of what Sanders and Clinton wanted to discuss ended up being Donald Trump.
As quoted in The New York Times, Clinton said, “I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States, and literally around the world, that there is a clash of civilizations.” The 68-year-old former Secretary of State expressed her concern that Trump's language would encourage radicalization.
Sanders brought up Trump’s anti-Muslims comments, as well as his previous pejorative attacks on Mexican migrants entering the U.S. “Somebody like Trump comes along and says, ‘I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they’re criminals and rapists. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists,’” said Sanders.
Clinton criticized Sanders for making expensive government programs part of his presidential plans and yet not providing enough information on how those programs might actually come to be funded.
Both Sanders and O'Malley disagreed with Clinton's notion that the way to fight the Islamic State would necessitate deposing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
Clinton defended her position by pointing out the carnage associated with President Bashar al-Assad. “I think it’s fair to say Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians,” she said.
As reported in the New Republic, O’Malley attacked both Clinton and Sanders for what he described as their “flip-flopping” approach to politics.
At 58, O’Malley was the youngest politician on stage. He chose to make the point obvious with a flippant remark aimed at the age gap between him and his opponents. “May I offer a different generation’s perspective on this?” he asked.
The jab was immediately met with boos from the audience.
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