Debate rivals zero in on Sanders
Easing ahead of pack, he’s night’s target
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democrats unleashed against Bernie Sanders’ electability and Mike Bloomberg’s past with women in the workplace in a debate Tuesday night.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren questioned the Vermont senator’s ability to lead the nation.
“Bernie and I agree on a lot of things, but I think I would make a better president than Bernie,” Warren said.
Pete Buttigieg seized on Sanders’ self-described democratic socialism and his recent comments expressing admiration for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s push for education.
“I am not looking forward to a scenario where it comes down to Donald Trump with his nostalgia for the social order of the
1950s and Bernie Sanders with a nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s,” Buttigieg declared.
Sanders, under attack for much of the night, noted the additional attention: “I’m hearing my name mentioned a little bit tonight. I wonder why?”
The Democrats met for the party’s 10th debate of the 2020 primary season. Tuesday’s forum, sponsored by CBS and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, came just four days before South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary and one week before more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday.
The Democrats’ 2020 class will not stand side by side on the debate stage again until the middle of next month.
Candidates spoke over each other Tuesday as they focused on Sanders. Even some critics, Bloomberg among them, conceded that the Vermont senator could build an insurmountable delegate lead as soon as next week.
SHOTS AT BLOOMBERG
And while the knives were out for Sanders, Bloomberg also faced sustained attacks that gave him an opportunity to redeem himself after a bad debate debut one week earlier.
Warren saved her fiercest attacks for the New York billionaire.
She cut at Bloomberg’s record as a businessman, bringing up reports of one particular allegation that he told a pregnant employee “to kill it,” a reference to the woman’s fetus. Bloomberg fiercely denied the allegation, but acknowledged he sometimes made comments that were inappropriate.
Bloomberg “cannot earn the trust of the core of the Democratic Party,” Warren said. “He is the riskiest candidate standing on this stage.”
His fortune ensures he will remain a factor at least through Super Tuesday. Bloomberg has already spent more than $500 million on a nationwide advertising campaign.
On his wealth, Bloomberg reiterated a commitment to releasing his tax returns when they are ready.
The billionaire said that he is working on readying his returns for release “as fast as we can.”
All the other contenders on stage have released their tax returns. The other billionaire on stage, California climate activist Tom Steyer, noted that he had released a decade’s worth of tax returns.
Steyer is worth approximately $1.6 billion.
Turning toward Sanders, Bloomberg made the case that both President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are in lockstep in their belief that Sanders would make the weakest Democratic general election rival for the incumbent Trump. Last week, Sanders acknowledged that he had been briefed by intelligence officials who said that Russia is attempting to interfere in the elections to benefit him.
“Vladimir Trump thinks Donald Trump should be president of the United States and that’s why Russia is helping you get elected so you lose to him,” Bloomberg said.
Sanders shot back, “Hey, Mr. Putin, if I’m president of the United States, trust me you’re not going to interfere in any more American elections.”
Bloomberg also is urging restraint on fully legalizing marijuana, saying that more scientific research is needed.
He said that it’s “just nonsensical” to push forward to full legalization without more research on the effects of the drug, particularly on young people.
Many Democrats in the field have advocated various levels of loosening drug policies, ranging from decriminalization to legalization. Bloomberg said he backs decriminalization.
BIDEN’S S.C. HOPES
Former Vice President Joe Biden was also looking to make a big impression in South Carolina, where he was long viewed as the unquestioned front-runner because of his support from black voters.
But heading into Saturday’s primary after three consecutive underwhelming finishes, there were signs that the former vice president’s black support may be slipping.
One reason is Steyer. The billionaire activist has been pouring money into black outreach, which threatens to peel away some of the support Biden badly needs.
Steyer noted Tuesday that he was the only candidate on stage who supported reparations for descendants of slaves.
Bloomberg also weighed in on race: “I know that if I were black my success would have been a lot harder to achieve,” he said. “That’s a fact that we’ve got to do something about.”
Biden said he is committing to putting the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Biden said during the debate that he is “looking forward” to making that a reality.
Also, on Monday, Biden rolled out a $640 billion national housing policy, which would prevent mortgage servers from foreclosing during loan modification and set up a timely notification system for such changes.
Following up on Biden’s comments, Steyer said he would work toward trying to “correct injustice” in the loan service industry. He then launched into his common campaign trail theme of arguing his support for a conversation on reparations and the creation of a commission to study race relations in America.
Biden slammed Sanders for his record on guns at the event, held close to the church where a gunman killed nine black members in 2015.
The former vice president condemned Sanders’ support of the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, legislation that protects gun manufacturers and sellers from laws that attempt to hold them liable for dealing firearms that end up in the hand of criminals.
“My friend to my right, and others, have in fact also given in to gun manufacturers’ absolute immunity,” said Biden, referring to Sanders backing of the controversial gun legislation. “Imagine if I stood here and said, ‘We give immunity to drug companies. We give immunity to tobacco companies.’ That has caused carnage on our streets. ”
Sanders proudly highlighted his “D minus” rating from the National Rifle Association. And just last week, several gun-control advocates who survived the Parkland, Fla., school shooting endorsed him.
In response to Biden, Sanders said he has “cast thousands of votes, including bad votes. That was a bad vote.” The issue came up after an introductory question that included mention of the 2015 massacre at Mother Emanuel AME Church — just steps from the debate venue — in which nine black Bible study participants were slain.
Sanders, in 2005, supported a proposal backed by the NRA granting gun manufacturers broad legal protections.
In a turn on the issue, Buttigieg also took on Sanders, saying the senator’s position on guns wasn’t an old one but “is a current bad position that Bernie Sanders holds.”
On Israel, Sanders says he would study the issue of relocating the American Embassy in Israel to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem but wouldn’t commit to commanding the change.
He said he is “very proud of being Jewish” but also pressed that “you cannot ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
In 2018, the Trump administration reversed decades of U.S. foreign policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the American Embassy there. Trump also closed Palestinian diplomatic offices in Washington and cut funding to Palestinian aid programs.
The other Jewish candidate onstage, Bloomberg, said, “You can’t move the embassy back.” Instead, he said, “The answer is to obviously split it up.”
Capping off the issue, Warren said moving the embassy is not a decision for the U.S. to make, adding, “We should let the parties determine the capitals themselves.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar was also fighting to win over moderates while decrying Sanders’ chief policy priorities.
SLIP OF THE TONGUE
At one point, Bloomberg was speaking about how he spent $100 million to help Democratic candidates flip U.S. House seats held by Republicans. He began to say “I bought,” before catching himself and saying “I got them,” noting their elections helped Nancy Pelosi become speaker of the House.
Bloomberg is one of the world’s richest men and has funded numerous candidates and political causes.
Trump’s campaign spokesman and eldest son were among those on Twitter highlighting the flub.
“Wow!!! He’s admitting he BOUGHT those seats!” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted.
Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed her skepticism about Sanders but says she will support the Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.
Clinton, who beat Sanders for the Democratic nomination only to lose the 2016 election to Trump, made waves with comments about Sanders in the new documentary Hillary saying “nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him.”
But in comments at the Berlinale film festival Tuesday where she was promoting the four-hour documentary that will debut on Hulu in March, Clinton said her top priority was unseating Trump.
“I’m going to wait and see who we nominate,” she said. “I will support the nominee, and it won’t surprise you to hear me say that I think that it’s imperative that we retire the incumbent.”