Presidential hopeful John Delaney (D) addressed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) attacks during a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox & Friends, calling her rebuke “lazy” and “dishonest” and suggesting her extreme views will “turn off the independent voters and get the president reelected.”
Sparks flew Tuesday night at the Democrat primary debate after Delaney questioned the viability of both Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) ultra-left ideas. He made the appeal for “real solutions, not impossible promises” and stressed “things that are workable– not fairy tale economics.”
Warren was incensed and questioned Delaney’s presence in the race.
“I don’t understand why anybody goes through all the trouble for running for President of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” she said, triggering applause:
The former Maryland lawmaker told Fox & Friends Wednesday morning that Warren’s slam was “dishonest” and “kind of lazy.”
“When you point out obvious flaws in the things they’re talking about, they say, ‘Well, that’s a Republican talking point,’” Delaney said. “And I’m like, no, it’s actually a fact that you should be able to defend.”
That, Delaney said, is the “problem with the extreme left of the party.”
“I think the same thing with Elizabeth Warren. When I point out that the things she’s proposing are fairy tale economics, she says, ‘Oh, you’re not being ambitious enough,'” he said.
He continued:
That sounds like someone who doesn’t want to defend her policies. Imagine saying to John Kennedy when he said we should go to the moon by the end of the decade, “Well, I think we should go to the moon next month, so why are you even calling for that? It’s not aggressive enough.” We need big ideas, but it needs to be workable.
“It’s not just Elizabeth Warren; it’s Bernie Sanders,” he added. “If you take what they’re saying to an extreme, what’s next? Free vacations, free housing, free everything. I mean, at some point we do have to pay for these things.”
Delaney added that the pair’s far-left ideas will “turn off the independent voters and get the president reelected”:
Either vote for someone who wants to solve problems and has ideas that are workable … or do we nominate someone who’s got a bunch of fairy tale economics or impossible promises, none of which will ever happen? As I said, they’ll turn off the independent voters and get the president reelected, in my opinion.
Warren defended her progressive positions on hot topics like Medicare for All during Tuesday night’s debate and seemed to take a shot at critics who doubt her ability to make her ideas reality.
“I remember when people said Barack Obama couldn’t get elected. Shoot, I remember when people said Donald Trump couldn’t get elected, but here’s where we are,” Warren said.
“I get it. There’s a lot at stake, and people are scared. But we can’t choose a candidate we don’t believe in just because we’re too scared to do anything else, and we can’t ask other people to vote for a candidate we don’t believe in,” she continued.
“Democrats win when we figure out what is right and we get out there and fight for it. I am not afraid. And for Democrats to win, you can’t be afraid, either,” she said to applause.