Longshot Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Gravel blasted fellow candidates Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden on Thursday, saying the South Bend mayor is the most “out of step” with the Democratic Party and the former vice president is too “mistake-prone” to be taken seriously.
“The most out of step one,” the former Alaska senator told The Hill, “[is] the mayor of Indiana who’s running, who really doesn’t say anything more than the fact that he’s gay and that energizes the gay community.”
Mr. Gravel then quickly pivoted to Mr. Biden, the front-runner in the Democratic primary race, by saying his ideology is “off the rails.”
“You have to look at what this person represents ideologically,” he said. “And Biden, ideologically, is off the rails. He [has] conventional wisdom, you might say, but conventional wisdom is off the rails in the United States.”
Mr. Gravel pointed to Mr. Biden’s chairmanship on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, of which he has been criticized for his treatment of sexual harassment accuser Anita Hill.
“Joe was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he wasn’t a kid,” Mr. Gravel argued. “He’d been in the Congress long enough to know the difference between right and wrong. When he was chairman he denied the ability to bring in two additional witnesses that would have corroborated Anita Hill. He did that.
“Then he sat there while he permitted Arlen Specter, a [then-Republican] senator from Pennsylvania, as he savaged her like a prosecuting attorney — savaged Anita Hill — and Joe Biden sat there and let that happen,” he said.
Mr. Gravel added that Mr. Biden is too “mistake-prone” to be a serious presidential candidate.
“He’s done a lot of goofs, and so I don’t think he’s got legs in this campaign,” he said. “I think he’s going to make a mistake, and it’s going to lead to ridicule.”
Mr. Gravel is not planning on winning the Democratic nomination but said he will use his platform to try to bring attention to his policies, according to The Hill.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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