Joe Biden accuses Elizabeth Warren of being an elitist with a 'my way or the highway' approach to politics
Former Vice President Joe Biden attacked his 2020 Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday for using a "condescending" approach to politics that smacks of "elitism." The 2020 frontrunner, however, did not mention Warren with her name.
Biden made the comments at a fundraiser in Pittsburgh and in a post on Medium published online. The attack marked an escalation of the burgeoning confrontation between the two leading candidates who represent varied wings of the Democratic Party.
The former vice president's comments came after Warren took a swipe at Biden last week saying he is "running in the wrong presidential primary" and "repeating Republican talking points," the Daily Mail reported. The Massachusetts senator made the remarks after Biden criticized her "Medicare for All" plan, which she released last week.
Biden, in his post, referenced to Warren's attack on him without naming her and denounced those in the party who run with the argument that "you agree with me or you have no courage." He also added that this kind of "my way or the highway" approach to policy is "condescending."
Biden wrote that the knock by "one of my opponents" was "condescending" and "representative of an elitism that working and middle class people do not share: 'We know best; you know nothing.'" The former vice president, in a veiled attack, also criticized Warren as having an "angry unyielding viewpoint" on policy.
Warren, a former Harvard Law professor, has often been called an elitist by her political opponents. Republican Senator Scott Brown, in his 2012 campaign against her in Massachusetts, had derisively called her "Professor Warren" in an effort to suggest that she was out of touch. Warren, however, won the race.
Biden, at the fundraiser, said: "One of the things that people want to make sure we can do is you gotta elect somebody who can ... actually get things done," while he took a swipe at Warren for becoming a Democrat "only fairly recently in the mid-'90s."