Democrats across America were thrilled during the first Democratic debate when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rose to the defense of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and received a thunderous ovation from Clinton and Sanders supporters for saying that the American people are “sick and tired of hearing about [Clinton’s] damn emails.” How right he was — how excited Democrats were!
{mosads}While Republican candidates escalate their attacks on each other to levels that can only help Democrats, there are signs that the Democratic candidates may be turning a corner and beginning to attack each other in ways that would be unhealthy for the party.
In recent days, Clinton administered a low blow (no pun intended) to Sanders by falsely stating that he is sexist because he suggested that politicians should stop “shouting” about gun control. This was not sexism by Sanders. He and many others have long used the gender-neutral figure of speech about shouting in many a debate. Sanders is not sexist, and Clinton knows this. She would be well-advised to conduct her campaign against Sanders with a higher standard than that.
Similarly, in recent days, Sanders has abandoned his debate stance that Americans are tired of hearing about the Clinton emails and now has begun saying that investigations should continue, implying the topic raises a character issue about Clinton. Sanders knows very well that Clinton has been attacked, investigated and persecuted by numerous partisan Republican committee investigations in Congress — most recently, the widely discredited House Select Committee on Benghazi. Sanders should defend Clinton against these abusive partisan attacks that misuse taxpayer money for bogus investigations. He was right during the first Democratic debate.
It is perfectly legitimate for Sanders to draw distinctions with Clinton over progressive issues, to point out that he has championed some of those issues longer than she has, and would often go further than she would. It is equally legitimate for Clinton to suggest that her position on gun control is more aggressive and sweeping than the positions long held by Sanders and contrast the substance of her positions and experience with his.
What is not OK, in my opinion, is for these two Democrats to start becoming personal or negative toward other.
Dear Hillary and Bernie: cool it. Calm down. Stick to the issues. Avoid personal or negative attacks against each other. Democrats would rather enjoy Republicans attacking each other than watch Democrats attack Democrats and begin acting like Republicans. Get it?
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.