Bernie Sanders backpedals on "establishment" charges
Progressive organizations like Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign are not part of the political establishment, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Thursday.
"That's not what I meant," Sanders said in an interview with NBC News, walking back comments he made earlier in the week that such groups that have endorsed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could be lumped with the "political establishment."
"We're a week out in the election, and the Clinton people will try to spin these things," Sanders said.
Asked in New Hampshire whether he saw the groups as "establishment," Sanders responded, "no, they aren't."
"They're standing up and fighting the important fights that have to be fought," he said.
Earlier this week in an interview with MSNBC, the Independent senator from Vermont suggested that the Human Rights Campaign and Planned Parenthood are "part of the establishment." The two progressive organizations had recently announced their endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
Clinton has since hit her rival over his views, telling CNN Thursday that, "I don't really understand what he means by that. These are two of the really great human rights, progressive organizations in our country."
The former secretary of state also tried to turn the "establishment" label on Sanders, saying "he's been in Congress, he's been elected to office a lot longer than I have." She pointed out that she had been "in the Senate for eight wonderful years representing New York."
Sanders has been a Vermont senator since 2007. Before that, he had served in the House of Representatives since 1991.