Former US vice president Joe Biden on Thursday went on the offensive in the third Democratic debate of the US presidential race, clashing with his main rivals on the fraught issue of healthcare and brushing off attacks from lesser challengers.
Under pressure to appear in command — and dispel doubts over his stamina — the 76-year-old pushed back hard against liberals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in an almost three-hour showdown in Houston, Texas.
While the 10 Democrats seeking the party nomination found common ground in their determination to oust US President Donald Trump, and on the urgency of tackling climate change, their differences were on stark display when it came to healthcare reform — a stated priority for them all.
Photo: AFP
It was the top-polling trio that shared the limelight, with Biden snatching the most speaking time of all, as lesser candidates fought for oxygen on stage.
Throughout the campaign Democrats have been split between advocates of revolutionary upheaval and incremental change, and Thursday’s debate was no different. In a high-octane clash, centrist Biden accused his fellow septuagenarians, US senators Sanders and Warren, of pushing pipe dreams without a plan to fund them.
“I lay out how I can pay for it, how I can get it done, and why it’s better,” Biden said of his health plan, which builds on the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Warren, a rising star in the race, and Sanders, a liberal fixture from the 2016 campaign, each put up a spirited defense.
“I know what’s broken, I know how to fix it and I’m going to lead the fight to get it done,” said Warren, who has electrified town halls and impressed voters with her exhaustive policy platforms.
On healthcare reform she vowed that “those at the very top” would bear the cost, while Sanders pledged to make sure “every American has healthcare as a human right.”
Their three-way battle kicked off a verbal marathon, as the rivals highlighted differences on immigration, trade tariffs, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they stood united on one key point: ousting Trump — who several candidates attacked as racist — from the White House.
“There’s enormous, enormous opportunities — once we get rid of Donald Trump,” Biden said.
Addressing a dinner with Republican lawmakers, Trump’s gloves came off, too, as he reeled off his favorite insults against Sanders, Warren and Biden — “Crazy Bernie,” “Pocahontas” and “Sleepy Joe.”
“Our country will go to hell if any of these people get in,” Trump said.
Seeking a breakout moment, low-polling candidate former US secretary of housing and urban development Julian Castro challenged Biden on the sensitive issue, accusing him of “forgetting what you said just two minutes ago” — drawing boos for the below-the-belt attack.
However, Biden avoided embarrassing blunders and parried attacks from the likes of Sanders, who accused him of the “big mistake” of voting for the war in Iraq.
Biden maintains a grip on pole position with 26.8 percent support, despite a recent dip, according to a poll average compiled by RealClearPolitics.
Sanders, 78, is on 17.3 percent, narrowly ahead of the 70-year-old Warren at 16.8 percent.
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