In the first Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders neutralized Lincoln Chafee’s attempt to attack Hillary Clinton’s character when he proclaimed that America doesn’t care about her “damn” email scandal. But apparently, that doesn’t mean the Vermont senator is above making some subtle jabs about the former secretary of State’s judgment and ethical standards.
On Sunday, the Sanders campaign said it’s spending $2 million to broadcast a minute-long ad in Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton is never mentioned in the spot, but it describes Sanders as the “son of a Polish immigrant who grew up in a Brooklyn tenement” (not a middle-class Chicago suburb), who voted against the Iraq War (Clinton supported it), and someone who’s known as an “honest leader” (unlike some people he could name).
It closes with a line from Sanders’s stump speech: “People are sick and tired of establishment politics and they want real change.” That could be interpreted as both a dig at Clinton, and a promise to bring about more of the “hope and change” promised by Obama … or maybe the campaign just wanted to show some fun retro footage of Sanders, and remind people that he’s one of the best mayors Burlington, Vermont, has ever seen.
