[brid video=”33613″ player=”2077″ title=”Bernie Sanders on Clinton 'I do question her judgme…”]
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate on Thursday that Hillary Clinton is experienced, but he question’s her judgement. Sen. Sanders, a self-described socialist, made the remarks in response to CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer reciting previous comments suggesting that Hillary does not have the judgment to be a good president.
Transcript, via CNN:
BLITZER: Thank you, Secretary.
We are going to deal with many of the issues both of you just raised. I want to begin with a question that goes right to the heart of which one of you should be the Democratic presidential nominee.
Senator Sanders, in the last week, you’ve raised questions about Secretary Clinton’s qualifications to be president. You said that something is clearly lacking in terms of her judgment and you accused her of having a credibility gap.
So let me ask you, do you believe that Secretary Clinton has the judgment to be president?
SANDERS: Well, I’ve known Secretary Clinton, how long, 25 years?
We worked together in the Senate. And I said that in response to the kind of attacks we were getting from the Clinton, uh, campaign. “Washington Post” headline says “Clinton Campaign says Sanders is Unqualified” and that’s what the surrogates were saying.
Does Secretary Clinton have the experience and the intelligence to be a president?
Of course she does.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: But I do question…
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: — but I do question her judgment. I question a judgment which voted for the war in Iraq…
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: — the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country, voted for virtually every disastrous trade agreement which cost us millions of decent-paying jobs. And I question her judgment about running super PACs which are collecting tens of millions of dollars from special interests, including $15 million from Wall Street.
I don’t believe that that is…
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: — the kind of judgment we need to be the kind of president we need.
BLITZER: Secretary Clinton?
HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it is true that now that the spotlight is pretty bright here in New York, some things have been said and Senator Sanders did call me unqualified. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first.
(LAUGHTER)
CLINTON: And then he did say that…
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: — he had to question my judgment. Well, the people of New York voted for me twice to be their senator from New York and…
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: — and…
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: — and President Obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of State for the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: So, look, we have disagreements on policy. There’s no doubt about it. But if you go and read, which I hope all of you will before Tuesday, Senator Sanders’ long interview with the “New York Daily News,” talk about judgment and talk about the kinds of problems he had answering questions about even his core issue, breaking up the banks.
When asked, he could not explain how…
(LAUGHTER)
CLINTON: — that would be done and…
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: — when asked…
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: — when asked about a number of foreign policy issues, he could not answer about Afghanistan, about Israel, about counterterrorism, except to say if he’d had some paper in front of him, maybe he could.
I think you need to have the judgment on day one to be both president and commander-in-chief.
BLITZER: Senator…
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And let’s talk about judgment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And let us talk about the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country…
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: I led the opposition to that war. Secretary Clinton voted for that. Well, let’s talk about judgment. Let’s talk about super PACs and 501(c)(4)s, money which is completely undisclosed. Where does the money come from?
Do we really feel confident about a candidate saying that she’s going to bring change in America when she is so dependent on big money interests? I don’t think so.
