Bernie Sanders: ‘Wall Street Is Fraud’

Bernie Sanders of Vermont garnered lots of applause at the first one-on-one debate with rival Hillary Clinton when he took a shot at candidates on the other side of the aisle.

The ferocity of Clinton’s remarks in the debate was risky, given that many voters, including some Democrats, already have an unfavourable opinion of her. She is also running far behind Sanders in the polls leading up to Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire, and her attacks – while geared towards undercutting his popularity here – might backfire with some undecided voters. The top two Democrats were face-to-face for the last time before the New Hampshire Primary.

“I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can’t do that”, Sanders said.

The last Quinnipiac poll released December 21 showed Clinton with a whopping 31 point lead over Sanders, 61 to 30. After he’s repeatedly called out Hillary Clinton on her endorsement from Goldman Sachs, the former First Lady still doesn’t have a clear answer as to why she accepted $675,000 from the company along the campaign trail.

Clinton supporters declared Thursday’s debate performance – in which she and Sanders argued over what it means to be a progressive – her best performance of the campaign.

While most expect Clinton to ultimately secure her party’s nomination, she faces a much steeper uphill climb than once imagined as the 74-year-old senator from Vermont whips up passionate support among young voters-earning him a double-digit poll lead in neighboring New Hampshire. Asked whether she would release the transcripts of those speeches she said she was “willing to look into it” but didn’t commit to doing so.

Clinton said she was not “bought”, or influenced by donors who were wealthy and powerful.

Clinton may say the right things, he suggested, but “one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk but walk the walk”. Clinton said the price tag was so steep because “that’s what they offered”.

“I really don’t think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you”, Clinton said to Sanders. “I’m so much into this, into New Hampshire, that I just – I don’t care about that anymore”, he told CNN Thursday in Manchester, New Hampshire, five days before the Feb 9 primary contest there.

The results of the new poll will come as a major boost to senator Sanders, who has seen his campaign give Hillary Clinton a razor-sharp fight in the Iowa caucuses.

Clinton seemed energized by her underdog status in New Hampshire, delivering her most aggressive debate performance of the campaign. “But experience is not the only point, judgment is”, Sanders said.

The candidates tested the boundaries of that agreement this week in a spat over whether Clinton’s progressive bonafides are genuine.

“I am 100 percent confident”, she said. A majority of GOP voters think every candidate except Cruz, Trump, Rubio and Ben Carson should drop out, according to a new poll from HuffPost/YouGov.

Sanders attributed the down votes not to an opposition of states having waiting periods if they wanted to, but to federal overreach.