The founder of the progressive online channel “The Young Turks” on Friday criticized former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro for going after former Vice President Joe Biden during last night’s debate, saying the move was too aggressive.
“I love being aggressive and even for me Julian Castro might’ve been a tad too aggressive,” Cenk Uygur said during an interview that aired on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”
During the third Democratic debate, Castro accused Biden, 76, of “forgetting” details of his health care plan, which Biden denied.
The attack was widely panned as an ageist attack, with some Democrats like former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel even going so far as to call the move a “disqualifier.”
Castro claimed after the debate that his attack was not aimed at Biden’s age and doubled down on the jab.
“I wouldn’t do it differently,” he told CNN’s John Berman a day after the exchange. “That was not a personal attack, this was about a disagreement over what the vice president said regarding health care policy.”
Uygur defended Biden, saying he didn’t think he actually forgot the details of his health care plan. But he added that Castro was right to challenge Biden over his record, citing the exchange where Castro pressed the former vice president over the number of deportations under the Obama administration.
“He’s absolutely right about that — you can’t get away with that — that’s nonsense,” he told Hill.TV.
—Tess Bonn
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