If you’ve seen the back and forth between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton the last few days, you’d know that by far the worst thing you can say about a political opponent is that they’re unqualified.
After Sanders ripped off a list of reasons Hillary is not qualified to be president, Camp Clinton responded in apparent shock and horror that the socialist senator from Vermont would stoop so low.
Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, called the assertion that his boss is not qualified a “new low” and demanded he take back his words.
Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said the statements were sexist, claiming “calling Hillary Clinton not qualified is like fingernails on a black board to many women across this country.”
The candidate herself told the Today Show that Sanders is “silly” for repeatedly asserting she is not qualified to serve as president.
That said, calling one’s political opponent is neither new, sexist, nor silly. In fact, it’s very Clintonesque.
Here are four times the Clinton’s referred to our current President, Barack Obama, as unqualified to run for the highest office in the land.
- In 2008, Hillary Clinton told reporters that both she and John McCain have the experience to run for President, but Barack Obama does not: “He (McCain) will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.”
- Hillary repeated the claim almost verbatim a few weeks later, proving it was a calculated attack to call Obama unqualified: “I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”
- In a speech questioning Obama’s judgment, Bill Clinton called his wife’s opponent’s campaign a fairy tale: “Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.”
- Perhaps the most egregious example of the Clinton’s trying to portray Obama as unqualified came when Bill scoffed at the future President saying he should have been getting them coffee: “[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”
If you need video clarification of the Clintons attacking Obama as unqualified, feel free to check out the video below …
So the next time you hear Hillary or her surrogates saying any questions about her qualifications are a ‘new low,’ ‘sexist,’ or ‘silly,’ remind her that she and her husband started it all in 2008.
Cross-posted at The Political Insider