Bernie Sanders plays ‘Iraq card’ against Hillary Clinton

Sen. Bernard Sanders twice played the “Iraq card” against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Wednesday in a testy day-long exchange that began on the issue of guns.

Mrs. Clinton, as part of her reported new strategy of hitting Mr. Sanders hard before the New York primary, attacked Mr. Sanders’ vote on a gun-liability bill in unusually personal terms Wednesday.

She called Mr. Sanders’ voting against a gunmaker-liability bill “unimaginable” and pushed via campaign proxies and approving tweets, demands that Mr. Sanders apologize to the families of the children and teachers slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Mr. Sanders was having none of it, implying Mrs. Clinton’s vote in favor of the 2003 Iraq war required much more personal atonement.

“Maybe Secretary Clinton might want to apologize to the families who lost their loved ones in Iraq,” he told CBS News in a Wednesday interview.

Later, at a rally in Philadelphia, he said Mrs. Clinton was “unqualified” to be president — one of his harshest attacks on her yet — and included her Iraq vote in the litany of reasons he gave the cheering crowd.

“I don’t believe you are ’qualified’ if you voted for the disastrous war in Iraq,” the Vermont socialist said.

Mrs. Clinton started the day by saying in an MSNBC interview Wednesday morning that how “he would place gun manufacturers’ rights and immunity from liability against the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook is just unimaginable to me.”

Later in the day, her campaign organized a call on which Jillian Soto, whose sister was killed at Sandy Hook, called Mr. Sanders’ opposition to families’ lawsuits against gunmakers “offensive.”

“He doesn’t know the pain my family has been going through since December 14, 2012,” she claimed.

Erica Smegielski, whose mother was killed at Sandy Hook sent a tweet to Mr. Sanders saying he “owes families like mine and families involved in the lawsuit an apology.”

Mrs. Clinton’s personal Twitter account said Mr. Sanders “prioritized gun manufacturers’ rights over the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook” and told Ms. Smegielski she was “with you in the fight to stop gun violence.”