AP Photo Sen. Kaine: Sanders is 'an incredibly risky bet' for commander in chief

Hillary Clinton's campaign is stepping up its attacks against Bernie Sanders' foreign policy record, sending one of the Vermont senator's colleagues against him.

While remarking that he respects and likes Sanders, with whom he serves on the Budget Committee, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine on Friday hit him for appearing to have higher priorities than national security in the Senate.


“People come to the Senate and they work on the issues that interest them. That’s as it should be. And Bernie works on the issues that interest him. but foreign policy and diplomacy and national security are not issues that interest him," said Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Committee on Foreign Relations, speaking to reporters Friday on a call organized by the Clinton campaign. "They’ve just not been areas where he has been significantly engaged because he’s chosen to focus his attention elsewhere."

Noting that it is Sanders' prerogative to focus elsewhere, Kaine pointed to the role that the commander-in-chief plays, "because of the importance of American diplomacy to global stability, I just think somebody who’s never shown much of an interest in these topics is an incredible risky bet."

Kaine, who endorsed the former secretary of state in May 2014, referred to Sanders' statements during the debate which he characterized as showing a lack of fluency on the issues compared to Clinton.

“The difference between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on these national security issues is very, very high stakes in a world that's very challenging and that needs American leadership and Hillary Clinton right person to demonstrate that leadership immediately upon taking the oath office in January 2017, as I hope she'll do," he said.

Kaine also attacked Donald Trump for his speaking "with contempt and disrespect in his voice" during the Jan. 14 Republican debate when he said that the U.S. military is a "disaster."

Clinton and Sanders have frequently clashed over foreign policy credentials, including during Thursday night's debate. In one exchange, Sanders hammered his opponent for her embrace of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

"I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Kissinger," the Vermont senator said, pointing to Kissinger's involvement in the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

In response, Clinton referred to lingering questions about where Sanders gets his foreign policy advice, remarking, "Well I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is."

While acknowledging Clinton's "enormous experience," Sanders questioned her judgment, from her Senate vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq to her advocacy as secretary of state to remove Muammar Qadhafi in Libya, an event to which he attributed the rise of the Islamic State in that country.

When Sanders broached the issue of Clinton's judgment for voting to authorize the war in Iraq, his former Senate colleague stressed her subsequent experience. “I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat ISIS in 2016," Clinton said, referring to her vote in favor and Sanders' mention that he voted against it.

During the Feb. 4 debate, Clinton elicited comparisons to her 2008 criticism of Barack Obama's preparedness to be commander-in-chief. POLITICO had reported the previous week on a military adviser named by Sanders who said he had only briefed him once. On Thursday, that adviser, Lawrence Korb penned an op-ed for POLITICO Magazine in which he wrote in part that, "what matters is not who advises you, but what positions you take."

"If he is elected, I believe Sanders will also be able to attract a competent foreign policy cohort, just as Obama did—including many of the current Clinton team," Korb wrote. "With the right partners in place—and, above all, the right principals and instincts—a President Sanders could be just the foreign policy president we need."

