Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said she wants to get Donald Trump a pacifier, and expressed concern about delegates being “harassed” by pro-Bernie forces.
Wasserman Schultz noted on CNN this morning that “while certainly it’s understandable that as you get closer to a significant primary contest that it’s going to get a little bit more edgy, so to speak…my guidance — my caution, to not only the candidates but their supporters, is to really make sure that we continue to have the robust and substantive discussion on that debate stage that I’m so proud of both of them that we’ve had through the previous eight debates.”
After wrangling between the Sanders and Clinton camps, the two will face off in a CNN debate from New York tonight.
“And on the other side I really want to run down to the drugstore and get Donald Trump a pacifier because all we hear on the other side is whining about the rules and process, and they’re going to take something away from me,” the DNC chairwoman added. “I mean, really?”
“The American people — the people who are going to go cast their vote for who they want to be the 45th president — they want to hear about the ideas that each candidate has to help make sure that we can help them succeed. And that’s what I’m confident we’ll continue to hear from our candidates tonight.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been under fire from Hillary Clinton supporters since a backer of his, healthcare activist Dr. Paul Song, said at a Wednesday night rally, “Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to big pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us.”
“I am very sorry for using the term ‘whore’ to refer to some in congress who are beholden to corporations and not us. It was insensitive,” Song tweeted, adding, “I have never said anything personal about her. Am deeply sorry for my poor choice of words. It was truly about congress.”
The Sanders campaign tweeted this morning: “Dr. Song’s comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There’s no room for language like that in our political discourse.”
Wasserman Schultz said it’s good that Sanders “recognized that it was outrageous and inappropriate and that he reined it in and apologized.”
“But, that’s what I mean. We need to make sure that on our side of the aisle — that’s the side of the aisle that I care about the most — that we are sticking to the ideas that our candidates have,” she said. “Because when we get to the general election in November, as we go through that general election campaign, we are going to win this election because like in the last five out of six presidential elections the American people stand with us.”
Reacting to a website reportedly connected to Sanders supporters that’s publishing superdelegate contact information, the DNC chief said “it’s certainly completely fine because superdelegates are for grabs, so to speak, all the way until we get to the convention.”
“But using tactics that border on harassment, that feel like stalking, is really something that I hope our campaigns really condemn and that we make sure that their supporters’ enthusiasm is fantastic,” she said. “Making sure that we have appropriate contact and outreach is just great, but intimidation is not OK and I’m not suggesting that that’s occurring right now, but I think we need to make sure that we are careful about how we persuade, so to speak.”
Wasserman Schultz said the Democratic Party was “likely on track” to not have a contested convention.
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