Hillary Clinton’s campaign spokeswoman defended her boss’ political flip-flopping on her vote in 2002 to invade Iraq by saying that vote was a long time ago, and that the Democratic front-runner has “evolved” since then.
“Yes, it’s true that she voted for the Iraq War, but I got to tell you: How many years ago was that now?” longtime Clinton confidant Karen Finney said Friday in an interview on MSNBC.
Her question came as MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart asked her to respond to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ claim that Clinton has a history of obvious pandering and political flip-flops.
“Karen, is it negative campaigning to talk about what the other candidate did or didn’t do in positions? Because, again, nothing that he is saying there is untrue, right?” the host asked, noting the Clinton camp’s irritation with the tone of Sanders’ campaign ads.
Finney characterized Clinton’s flip-flops as evolving.
“Hillary’s position, as she’s talked about, has evolved on that position. I think that is a good thing in leaders, they get more information and say, ‘You know what? Maybe I was wrong this. Maybe I need to change the way I am thinking about this,'” she said.
She then noted that Clinton’s vote for the war in Iraq was a very long time ago.
“But we’re still talking about it. It’s still a political position on both sides of the aisle,” Díaz-Balart responded.
“She has put forward a plan to deal with [the Islamic State], and she clearly has the experience that we need to deal with the threats that we’re facing around the world. Again, folks are questioning. He wants to normalize relations with Iran. And to put Iranian soldiers with, you know, in Syria, right at Israel’s doorstep. Then he kind of says I didn’t say that. I guess my point is Senator Sanders has had a few evolutions of his own,” Finney said.
“You’re thinking he’s not boringly consistent as he says he is,” Díaz-Balart said.
“I’ll tell you what’s different, though. What you’re hearing Hillary Clinton talk about is the issues that matter to people. She is focused,” Finney continued.
