Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that rival Hillary Clinton used racially-coded language in 1996 when she cited “super-predators,” in reference to criminal justice legislation that former president Bill Clinton signed that year.
“We all knew back then what that language meant,” Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week,” Sunday. “It was referring to young blacks. I don’t think in this country … elected officials or leaders should be using that type of terminology.”
Sanders, sticking by past attacks on Clinton, also argued that her campaign started a dispute over whether either Democratic presidential candidate is not qualified to be president.
The Vermont senator said Clinton is unqualified to be president because of policy positions, even if many of those positions are similar to those of President Obama.
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“After we won Wyoming, there was a change in tone on the part of the Clinton people,” Sanders told George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s “This Week,” Sunday. “Their tone has changed. They used the word, or their surrogates used the word.”
“She didn’t quite say [unqualified], but her surrogates implied that,” Sanders said.
“If you vote for the war in Iraq, which turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of America, if you take through your super PAC tens and tens of millions of dollars through Wall Street and other special interests, if you support almost every disastrous trade agreement in this last 30 years,” Sanders said, before Stephanopoulos cut him off.
Stephanopolous said Obama, though he opposed the invasion of Iraq, could be criticized on similar criteria.
Obama “is very qualified,” Sanders said without elaborating. “But my point is it’s a question of judgment. It’s a question of judgment. You know, fracking, Secretary Clinton supports a $12 minimum wage. Now it’s clear we want a $15 minimum wage.”
“The issue is of judgment,” Sanders said. “Does she have experience? Is she extremely intelligent? We all know that she is.”
