NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell tried and failed Monday to coax Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., into saying something disparaging about his 2016 Democratic presidential competitor, Hillary Clinton.
The moment occurred on MSNBC, just as recent polling data shows that Sanders is within striking distance of the former secretary of state. It’s a huge leap for Sanders, considering party insiders had long considered Clinton a shoo-in for the party’s nomination.
“To what do you attribute this narrowing of the [polling] gap? Is this related to the email controversy and the trust factor?” Mitchell asked, referring to Clinton’s controversial use of an unauthorized and unsecure private email server when she worked at the State Department.
“I don’t think so, Andrea,” Sanders said. “I think the American people want a government that represents all of us and not just Wall Street and a handful of very wealthy people.”
As Sanders continues to close in on Clinton, reporters and commentators have anxiously anticipated a nasty primary season filled with mudslinging. And Mitchell did her part Monday to get the ball rolling, but to no avail.
“Now, you have resisted attacking Hillary Clinton,” she said. “Are you braced for the onslaught that could come your way from her?”
Sanders refused to engage.
“What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Hillary Clinton?” Mitchell pressed, referring to a recent poll showing most Americans associate her with the word “liar.”
Sanders again rejected the bait.
“I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. And I know her to be a very hardworking, intelligent person, somebody I worked with in the Senate,” he said. “So I am sorry, I am not going to get into the media game, Andrea, of attacking, making personal attacks, against Hillary Clinton.”
“I just am not going to do that. I don’t think that’s what the American people want. I think we have got to focus on the real issues. Why is the middle class disappearing and almost all new income and wealth going to the top 1 percent? Why don’t we have a trade policy that works for the American worker and not the CEOs of large corporations? Why do we have a system where families cannot afford to send their kids to college?” he asked.
“A lot of issues to talk about,” Sanders finished. “You’ll forgive me but I’m not going to get into attacking Hillary Clinton personally.”
(h/t Mediaite)
