Former President Bill Clinton began his remarks at a rally for Hillary Clinton on Monday by lamenting that he has to watch his words more now that he’s campaigning for his wife.
“The hotter this election gets, the more I wish I were just a former president and just for a few months not the spouse of the next one because, you know, I have to be careful what I say,” he said at the rally in New Hampshire.
His Monday comments follow remarks he made during a campaign rally on Sunday bashing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for his “hermetically sealed” view on politicians’ relationships with big banks and criticizing some of the Vermont senator’s supporters who have launched “sexist” attacks on women who back Hillary Clinton.
During his speech at the rally on Monday, Bill Clinton defended Hillary Clinton from Sanders’ attacks painting her as a member of the establishment.
“It bothers me to be in an election where debate is impossible because if you disagree, you’re just part of the establishment. You’ll have to forgive me, but I don’t think your governor and your senator, I don’t think of them as establishment politicians wedded to the old ways,” Bill Clinton told the audience in New Hampshire.
He then mentioned Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D), who supports Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.
“Nor do I think of the governor or Vermont, the only governor in the country who tried to get single-payer health care, who had to give it up because it would have doubled the budget of the state and it wouldn’t pass, that’s hardly an establishment credential,” Bill Clinton said.
He also thanked the millennial supporters of Hillary Clinton.
“They’re just as mad as the ones who aren’t, it’s just that they know they gotta translate their anger into answers and their resentment into results,” he said.
Before introducing Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton made the point once more that his wife is not part of the establishment.
“We can’t get in a place where we’re so mad that we demonize anybody who’s against us, where we can’t have an honest discussion about who’s got a better health care plan, where everybody who’s on the other side is part of some mythical establishment, including people like Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign Fund,” he said.
