No More Messrs. Nice Guy: First Sanders, Now O’Malley Takes Glove Off.WSJ
For months, politeness reigned and the Democratic presidential candidates barely mentioned one another.
No more.
With the contest entering a new phase – the field shrinking, the Iowa caucuses less than 100 days away — the Democratic hopefuls now are only too eager to paint each other as deeply flawed.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley delivered his sharpest attack to date on front-runner Hillary Clinton in an appearance Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Mr. O’Malley, running a distant third, also took aim at Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, casting his two rivals as career politicians with little record of achievement.
He dismissed both Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton as “two candidates who have been in Washington for about 40 years, neither one of whom has gotten much done.”
Reprising his line from the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines on Saturday, Mr. O’Malley likened Mrs. Clinton to a “weathervane” who “shifts its positions in the wind.”
He mentioned her recent announcement that she was opposed to the 12-nation Pacific trade pact that the Obama administration has made a top-tier priority. As secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton described the trade deal as the “gold standard” of such agreements.
“I am clear about my principles,” Mr. O’Malley said. “I know where I stand. I was against the [trade deal] eight months ago. Hillary Clinton has changed her position on virtually every defining issue in this race, except for one — and that is to protect the big banks on Wall Street and go along with business as usual. I don’t believe that that’s what the people of our country are looking for.”
That sounds like a candidate who isn’t surrendering, whatever his standing in the polls. Nor does it sound like someone who is angling for a spot as Mrs. Clinton’s vice president. It would be tough to walk back such comments should there be a Clinton-O’Malley ticket.
Mr. Sanders is also stepping up her criticism of Mrs. Clinton. At the same dinner in Des Moines, he described her as a flip-flopper with no real conviction.
As for Mrs. Clinton, she is starting to take a few modest jabs at Mr. Sanders. At the dinner, she didn’t mention him by name, but there was no doubt she had the 74-year-old socialist in mind when she said: “It’s not enough to rail against Republicans or the billionaires. We have to win this election!”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/10/26/no-more-messrs-nice-guy-first-sanders-now-omalley-takes-glove-off/
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