Gabbard Blasts Own Party at Debate: Dem Party Isn't Of, By or For the People
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard took aim Wednesday at the Democratic Party establishment, claiming the party is not “of, by and for the people.”
During the Democratic presidential debate, Gabbard was asked about her feud with former Secretary of State and two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Our Democratic Party, unfortunately, is not the party that is of, by and for the people,” Gabbard said.
“It is a party that has been and continues to be influenced by the foreign policy establishment in Washington, represented by Hillary Clinton and others’ foreign policy, by the military-industrial complex and other greedy corporate interests,” she added.
Gabbard said she wants to be elected president so she can “rebuild” the Democratic Party and “puts it in the hands of the people of this country.”
The Hawaii Democrat described her ideal of a Democratic Party “that actually hears the voices of Americans who are struggling all across this country and puts it in the hands of veterans and fellow Americans who are calling for an end to this ongoing Bush-Clinton-Trump foreign policy doctrine of regime-change wars, overthrowing dictators in other countries, needlessly sending my brothers and sisters in uniform into harm’s way to fight in wars that actually undermine our national security and have cost us thousands of American lives.”
“These are wars that have cost us as American taxpayers trillions of dollars since 9/11 alone,” she said. “Dollars that have come out of our pockets, out of out hospitals, out of our schools, out of our infrastructure needs.”
Gabbard said if she wins the presidency, “I will end this foreign policy, end these regime-change wars, work to end this new Cold War and arms race and instead invest our hard-earned taxpayer dollars actually into serving the needs of the American people.”
Watch her remarks below:
Video: Here’s the first Q and A with @TulsiGabbard….24 minutes into this #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/dCTHqD4Csq
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2019
Gabbard’s comments led to sparks flying between her and fellow candidate Sen. Kamala Harris of California:
WATCH: Sen. Harris heavily criticizes Rep. Gabbard’s record, and Gabbard fires back. pic.twitter.com/7fLwSVpLbu
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 21, 2019
Last month, Clinton claimed Gabbard is a “favorite of the Russians.”
“They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far,” Clinton said, adding that Republicans “know they can’t win without a third-party candidate, and so I don’t know who it’s going to be, but I will guarantee you they’ll have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states that they most need it.”
Gabbard responded with defiance in a series of tweets that referred to Clinton as “the queen of warmongers.”
“Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton,” Gabbard tweeted.
“You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.”
Gabbard also blasted what she called the “concerted campaign to destroy my reputation” and blamed Clinton — along with her “powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine” — for being behind it.
Finally, the Hawaii lawmaker challenged Clinton to run again herself.
“Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.”
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