It was not easy Sunday to figure out what Bernie Sanders was trying to say about Hillary Clinton’s email problem.
The Vermont senator wants to be an honest candidate. He also wants to stay on his message of economic populism and avoid what he deems unrelated personal attacks on Clinton.
Remaining on message and the high road means Sanders does not launch attacks on Clinton over her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state, or over her husband’s past sex scandals. But Sanders’ effort at candor means he also opines on those topics if asked.
The result is a muddle. Sanders’ bid on separate talk shows Sunday to neither bring up nor dodge news that the State Department designated 22 of Clinton’s State Department messages as top secret resulted in confusion. Some news outlets touted his references to the matter. Others publications noted Sanders had declined to fault Clinton.
Sanders did, more or less, refer once Sunday to the email matter on his own. Pressed on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” if as a general election candidate he would get “slapped” with a “socialist” label Sanders said: “Look at the front pages in terms of what Secretary Clinton is getting slapped with.”
When Stephanopoulos asked Sanders if the issue would harm Hillary’s electability, the candidate agreed, sort of.
“You know, well — what you just said is true,” Sanders said. “Republicans are talking about — what I have said is that there is a legal process underway right now. And I’m not going to politicize that issue. I am not attacking Hillary Clinton on that issue.”
Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” if his November statement to Clinton that Americans “are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails” meant he believes she has done nothing wrong, Sanders said no.
“No, that is not, I think, a fair assessment,” he said. “I think this is a very serious issue.” But Sanders added that he is focused on “issues impacting the middle class of this country,” not attacking Hillary.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders boiled it down better: “I’ve been asked every day, you know, by the media, [to] attack Hillary Clinton, attack Hillary Clinton,” he said “What I have chosen to do in this campaign is to focus on the issues facing working families and the middle class and not make personal attacks against Hillary Clinton.”
Sanders wandered into similar rhetorical territory early this month when he responded to a question at an Iowa Town Hall about Bill Clinton’s affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Sanders called Clinton’s conduct “totally disgraceful and unacceptable,” then noted: “I am running against Hillary Clinton. I’m not running against Bill Clinton.”
In a subsequent Democratic debate, Sanders defended his characterization by arguing he was compelled to answer the question.
“Then if I don’t answer it, then it’s another front page, “Sanders said. “Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not.”
