Former Vice President Joe Biden defended his record amid criticism from the left in a Medium post Tuesday.
“The other day I was accused by one of my opponents of running in the wrong primary. Pretty amazing,” Biden wrote, referencing a comment by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whom he did not identify by name.
“On one level, it is kind of funny. I have fought for the Democratic party my whole career. I know what we stand for, who we stand with and what we believe. And it’s not just policies or issues. It’s in my bones. That’s not something everyone in this primary can say,” he added.
{mosads}However, Biden went on to call such criticism a “serious problem” that indicates an “angry, unyielding viewpoint.” Echoing language used by South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Biden accused his progressive detractors of a “my way or the highway” approach to politics.
“It’s representative of an elitism that working and middle class people do not share: ‘We know best; you know nothing’. ‘If you were only as smart as I am you would agree with me.’ This is no way to get anything done. This is no way to bring the country together. This is no way for this party to beat Donald Trump,” he wrote.
The former vice president defended both his tax plan and his health care plan amid criticism from candidates such as Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), both proponents of a wealth tax and “Medicare for All.”
Biden also specifically tied his candidacy to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) days after she expressed skepticism that Sanders or Warren could win the Electoral College.
“She knows what it took to win back the majority in the House of Representatives. And she doesn’t want to put that majority at risk. She knows what it takes to get big things done. Nancy Pelosi believes we should build on the Affordable Care Act. There has never been a Speaker who was tougher, smarter, or had a bigger vision for this country than Nancy Pelosi,” Biden wrote.