The battle between Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on Thursday was a bloody one to say the least.
The candidates took the stage in New York in a debate hosted by CNN, and with less than a week before the crucial New York primary, things got ugly fast.
Sanders began his jabs at Hillary with a more cordial attack, claiming that he believes that she is qualified enough, and smart enough to be president for sure, but that he also does "question her judgement." Hillary's response was simply to bring up that in the past, Sanders has claimed that she is not qualified to be president, a term that she was unfamiliar with, and responded, "I've been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first."
That was just the beginning of the endless punches to come between the two. Economic policy proved to be a he said, she said battle over who would really be willing to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and despite the recent backlash by the public against the idea of this new policy, the candidates continued their spat over whether or not Hillary only truly supports a $12 an hour raise, which was what she had published on her website. Although this seems to be a controversial economic plan that could end up hurting the Democrats in the end, the two continued to argue and interrupt one another until they no longer sounded like adult, presidential candidates. Instead, they sounded like a couple of naughty school kids fighting over the same toy who had to be put in the corner by their moderator, Wolf Blitzer.
The next blow to Clinton by Sanders came from her lack of transparency. Sanders claims that Hillary has paid speeches from Goldman Sachs that she refuses to release, which Clinton has said she will when other candidates do. Clinton then went on the offense and brought up Sanders' lack of tax returns that he has not released. Sanders responded by saying that he would release one year of his tax returns the next day, but overall, the American people learned nothing new from this petty five minute argument.
When policy was actually discussed, it was clear that although these candidates have the same goal in mind, how they get there will be very different. Sanders has very idealistic views on how to get things done in a big way, while Clinton seems to take the more realistic approach in order to make sure that Congress can work together.
So who won the debate? No one really knows. Hillary's experience in the political arena was very clear in this debate, she was clearly prepared for the punches that were thrown. Sanders also came prepared with plenty of jabs for Clinton, showing that he in fact is still a formidable opponent.
Make sure to look out for the real results of this debate on Tuesday, when New Yorkers will select their candidate, a day that could change the course of this campaign completely.
