Bernie Sanders is doing his best to distance himself from his primary competitor for the Democratic nomination: Hillary Clinton. The two have already gone head to head on gun control, and Sanders just took a remarkably liberal stance on marijuana legalization, but the polls still show they're neck and neck. And so, in a speech on Thursday, Sanders made it clear that he "disagrees with Hillary Clinton in virtually every way."
To distinguish himself from Clinton, Sanders cited her stance on issues like the environment, trade, and gay rights, the Boston Globe reports. Sanders noted that, although Clinton recently took a stand against the trans-pacific trade deal, she did nothing to support liberals in preventing the deal earlier this year. He also said that her opposition of the Keystone XL pipeline is fairly recent and that she did nothing to oppose its construction while in charge of the State Department. "How many years do you have to think about whether or not we excavate and transport the dirtiest fuel in the world?" he said. "It didn’t take me too long to think about that."
Sanders also said he's "taken tough votes throughout [his] entire life," citing his votes against both Iraq wars and against the Defense of Marriage Act as examples. Does Clinton have a history of taking "tough votes" to defend the middle class? According to Sanders, Not so much. "What is important is to look at is the record, the track record that Hillary Clinton has had for her long and distinguished career as a public figure," he said. The way Sanders sees it, if you compare his track record to Clinton's, hers falters while his stands firm.
