Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Sunday night said that he does not regret saying that former President Bill Clinton’s past behavior was “totally disgraceful and unacceptable,” but noted that he did not bring up the issue himself and that he will continue to debate Hillary Clinton on the issues.
During the Sunday night Democratic presidential debate, moderator Andrea Mitchell asked Sanders if he regretted his response about Bill Clinton’s behavior during a town hall earlier in the month.
“Look, Hillary Clinton is not Bill Clinton,” Sanders said at an Iowa town hall when asked about Hillary Clinton’s support for her husband. “But what Bill Clinton did was totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable. But I am running against Hillary Clinton, not Bill Clinton.”
On Sunday night, Sanders emphasized that he has not brought up Bill Clinton’s past himself.
“I was asked a question,” Sanders said. “And that question annoys me.”
“I cannot walk down the street, Secretary Clinton knows that, without being told how much I have to attack Secretary Clinton,” he continued, nothing that he’s avoided “vicious” attacks.
“You didn’t have to answer it that way though, why did you?” Mitchell asked in response.
“Then if I don’t, there’s another front page,” Sanders replied. “Yes — and I mean this seriously, we’ve been through this — yes, his behavior was deplorable.”
The Vermont senator said he was determined to debate his Democratic rivals “on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton’s personal behavior.”
Watch the clip:
I would love to ask Andrea Mitchell how exactly this question helps the American people determine which candidate to support. Because it doesn’t. Which makes it a worthless question and she should be embarrassed for having asked it.
“I wouldn’t want anyone not to vote for Senator Kennedy because he’s catholic.”
—Richard Nixon
Andrea Mitchell has some nerve asking a question about Hillary’s husband.
I would love to ask her how she has the nerve to show her face when it was HER husband, Alan Greenspan the Fed Chairman, who presided over the worst financial debacle in history.
And his excuse was that he honestly believed that corporations would never do anything against their best interests.
At least Bill’s behavior didn’t lead to financial ruin for thousands of Americans.
They must be out there, but I can’t think of a sentence in which Andrea Mitchell is referenced to which could not be added the modifiying adjectives “loathsome” and “complicit”.
(Yes, I do not like Andrea Mitchell).
i know it’s a cheap shot, but i would have loved if sanders had rephrased it in terms of ‘you know andrea, just like i don’t hold you accountable for your husband’s, alan greenspan, complicity in the collapse of the world’s economy, i will not hold hillary clinton responsible for the atrocious behavior of her husband.’…