Former United States President Bill Clinton told an audience in Palm Beach, Fla., that the leftward pull within the Democratic party is similar to the Tea Party's rightward push within the Republican party. Photo by Matthew Healey/UPI | License Photo

PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton said the rising popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders is a symbol of the Democratic party's leftward lean in recent years.

Speaking at a rally for his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the Port of Palm Beach Cruise Terminal in Florida, the 42nd president compared the emergence of populism among liberals to the Republican's relationship with the Tea Party.


"It's not altogether mysterious that there are a lot of people that say, 'well, the Republican Party rewarded the Tea Party.' They just tell people what they want to hear: 'Move them to the right and we'll be rewarded,"' he said.

"Except they didn't get anything done. Then, that's going on now in our party," he added. "If you don't deal with the fact that we are too politically polarized and we keep rewarding people who tell us things we know we can't do because it pushes their hot buttons, we can't go forward together."

While Clinton never mentioned Sanders by name, he did acknowledge "both primaries have been dominated by very emotional campaigns that I think are the product of people's doubt about whether they can claim that future."

Hillary Clinton skipped the Palm Beach rally to campaign in Nevada ahead of the Democratic caucus there on Feb. 20.