During a speech in September 2015, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton—then still campaigning for her party’s nomination—told an audience in Ohio she embraced the “moderate” label that was handed out by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) supporters.
“You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center,” she told a Women for Hillary crowd in Columbus, Ohio. “I plead guilty. I think sometimes it’s important when you are in the elected arena—you try to figure out, how do you bring people together to get something done instead of just standing on the opposite sides yelling at each other.”
Just a few weeks earlier, in New Hampshire, she said something entirely different:
“I take a backseat to no one. When you look at my record in standing up and fighting for progressive values.”
But the comments in Columbus caught the attention of Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, the political action committee started by Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. She let her boss know what she thought in an email that was released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
“Why did she call herself a moderate?” Tanden asked.
“I pushed her on this on Sunday night,” Podesta replied. “She claims she didn’t remember saying it. Not sure I believe her. We were speculating, that it may be a Don Baer intervention.”
Don Baer is the head of Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm, and a former communications director and speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.
“I mean it makes my life more difficult after telling every reporter I know she’s actually progressive but that is really the smallest of issues,” Tanden replied. “It worries me more that she doesn’t seem to know what planet we are all living in at the moment.”
