Joe Biden has escalated his attacks on Elizabeth Warren, suggesting she and other 2020 Democratic rivals who don’t understand the need to unite the country should leave.
The former vice president, 76, on Wednesday told donors gathered at a Washington, D.C., law firm that hyper-partisan politics would make governing near impossible for a Democrat, should the party wrest control of the White House from President Trump and Republicans.
Those who believe you can lead without first uniting the country should “find a reason to go to Canada because we’ve got a problem. You can’t do it without bringing the country together,” Biden said, according to a pool report.
The 36-year Democratic senator told the crowd governing “a divided nation” and reasserting American leadership in “a world in disarray” would take a potential nominee with a track record of working with GOP allies.
“Somebody who, in fact, knows how to reach across the aisle and get things done. Now the people that are running against me tell me I’m naïve, one said I should be in the Republican primary, God love her. That’s not the way you get things done, man. You don’t go in and tell people that they disagree there’s something fundamentally wrong with them,” Biden said.
The White House hopeful added, “the American character is literally on the ballot,” and that GOP voters were also “looking for people of character on the ballot.”
Biden and Warren, 70, have sharpened their attacks on one another in recent weeks as the pair clash over healthcare policy. The Massachusetts senator is an advocate of “Medicare for all,” while the two-term vice president would prefer to extend coverage through the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — the signature domestic achievement of his former boss, President Barack Obama.
Biden unloaded on Warren earlier this week at another fundraiser in Pittsburgh for being “condescending” and exuding “elitism” for her “my way or the highway attitude,” saying it was possible to be “extremely progressive but not be socialist.”
Warren rankled her more centrist competitors for the nomination last week by ripping those who would prefer a “safe” standard-bearer during her address at the Iowa Democratic Party’s storied Liberty and Justice Celebration, a fundraiser that doubles as a high-profile opportunity for candidates to make their pitch to potential caucus-goers.
“Look, anyone who comes on this stage and doesn’t understand that we’re already in a fight is not the person who is going to win that fight. Anyone who comes on this stage and tells you they can make change without a fight is not going to win that fight. Anyone who comes on this stage and tells you to dream small and give up early is not going to lead our party to victory,” the former Harvard Law School professor and financial policy expert said Friday.
Biden’s attacks coincide with another Iowa poll that suggests he’s in trouble in the first-in-the-nation state. A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday found that Warren leads the field with 20% support, fewer than 100 days before the caucuses on Feb. 3. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 37, earned 19% of the vote, while Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 78, picked up 17%. Biden came in fourth, attracting 15% support.
