Hillary Supporter Marcia Fudge Denies Hillary’s ‘Morphed into Bernie’
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
TAPPER: "Congresswoman fudge, obviously just a joke but does “Saturday night live” have a point? Hillary Clinton has modified her stances on some things since joining this race and modified and run to the left a little bit, no?"
FUDGE: "I don’t think so. Certainly she always has been a progressive. I don’t think that the messages are very different and I don’t see that she is in any way morphed into Bernie. No, I would disagree with that."
TAPPER: "It seems to be a real dogfight in Ohio with senator Sanders rising in the polls in that state. Obviously I’m not asking you to predict what’s going to happen tomorrow but what are some of the factors that make the state so competitive?"
FUDGE: "We’re probably one of the very few true purple states and that’s why we are involved in every single presidential election. You’ve got to win Ohio to basically go to the White House. It’s a very important state. The other thing is we are a very true primary voting state. Unlike Michigan which allows non-democrats to vote in a Democratic primary, not in Ohio. In Ohio, only Democrats vote in the primary. When Democrats vote in the primary, they will elect the only Democrat in the race. So I think it’s very different."
TAPPER: "So secretary Clinton spending the day in Illinois. She might lose that state and her supporters say that’s because of her close ties to the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, who’s quite unpopular in Chicago right now. Sanders is even running ads in Illinois attacking Rahm Emanuel and featuring the candidate who ran against him in the primary. Clinton can’t credibly distance herself from Rahm Emanuel and can’t embrace Rahm Emanuel, so do you think this is smart politics by Sanders or is it unfair?"
FUDGE: "Well, I think it’s unfair. But this is the same Sanders who said he would not go negative. Here’s a guy who’s supposed to be this wonderful, honest, hard-working guy. I’m not going to go negative, I’m not going to do this and he’s done all the things he said he wouldn’t do. Now, is Rahm Emanuel fair game? He may be. But I don’t know what his actions have to do with the presidential election."
TAPPER: "I’m assuming that Hillary Clinton you think will win Ohio tomorrow. Why do you support her?"
FUDGE: "I support her because I believe very, very strongly that she is the best candidate on either side of the aisle to be the president of the United States. When you look at their histories, people’s history is a very good barometer about what they will do in the future. If you look at her, she doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk. So I am very, very proud to say that I’m a supporter and a surrogate and I believe that she will be ready on day one. I don’t think there’s another candidate in this race that can say that same thing."
TAPPER: "Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, thank you so much for joining us."
