The Democratic National Committee’s resident problem child isn’t making life for Debbie Wasserman Schultz any easier.
Appearing on CNN, congresswoman and DNC vice chairwoman Tulsi Gabbard disputed Hillary Clinton’s assessment during the recent Democratic presidential debate that the U.S. is “where we need to be” in the fight against ISIS.
“We now finally are where we need to be. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS which is a danger to us as well as the region, and we finally have a U.N. Security Council resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria,” Clinton said Saturday, Fox News reports.
When asked for reaction by Jake Tapper Tuesday night, Gabbard said, “I would heartily disagree with that. We’ve got a strategy that’s being executed that frankly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
It’s the latest flare up in the simmering tension between Gabbard, who is a vice chair of the party, and chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
In October, Gabbard publicly criticized the amount of presidential primary debates being organized by the party. Shortly after that, she said she was “disinvited” from the first debate.
Wasserman Schultz appeared on CNN then and repeatedly criticized her colleague.
“Simply because she’s recommending more debates, you disinvited her from coming here?” Wolf Blitzer asked Wasserman Schultz, referring to Las Vegas, the site of the first Democratic debate.
“That’s simply not true,” Wasserman Schultz responded. “Herein lies the problem: you and I are now talking about Tulsi Gabbard rather than concentrating on our candidates. …
“We’re a big tent party, everybody is entitled to their own opinion, the congresswoman has made her opinion clear on the process. … Unfortunately Congresswoman Gabbard continues to focus on process. She was asked to focus on our candidates and if she could keep the focus on our candidates then that is what we thought was important.”
Wasserman Schultz tried to use Gabbard’s words against her to imply Gabbard agreed she would be a distraction from the debate and voluntarily declined to attend.
“She spent a lot of this morning continuing to focus on process and herself as opposed to talking about our great candidates.”
Blitzer couldn’t figure out why, if the DNC is a “big tent party” as Wasserman Schultz claims, shouldn’t Gabbard be invited to attend the debate.
“Certainly there has been a discussion over process but she was asked to be able to focus on the candidates and she apparently decided that it’s more important to focus on process.”
Blitzer also brought up Gabbard’s allegation that, as a vice chair of the party, she was never consulted on the number of debates that would be held for the candidates.
“Well, unfortunately, spending a lot of time on process. There were many people consulted, including officers, on process,” Wasserman Schultz said, before Blitzer cut her off.
The DNC chair then accused Gabbard of wanting “to distract from the focus that needs to be on our candidates.” Wasserman Schultz took another dig, saying they should focus on the candidates and “she couldn’t do that, apparently.”
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