Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball: Biden campaign has ‘big’ Hillary Clinton energy

Hill.TV host Krystal Ball on Monday lashed out against former Vice President Joe Biden, comparing his campaign to that of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential primary.

“It may be 2020 but Joe Biden’s campaign is coming into the final week before voting begins with big 2008 Hillary Clinton energy,” said Ball, a vocal Sanders supporter.

Ball specifically pointed to Biden’s vote authorizing the war in Iraq more than two decades ago.

“As Hillary got pummeled on her Iraq War vote, Biden has not only struggled to explain his support for that war, but he has really crashed into the rocks on his past support for Social Security cuts,” she said.

Sanders has ramped up attacks against Biden in recent weeks ahead of the Iowa causes, casting fresh criticism on the former vice president’s support for the Iraq War.

Earlier this month, the Sanders’s campaign said it found it “appalling” that Biden “still refused to admit he was dead wrong on the Iraq War.”

“Unlike 23 of his Senate colleagues who got it right, Biden made explicitly clear that he was voting for war, and even after the war started, he boasted that he didn’t regret it,” Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign, said in a statement earlier this month.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry came to Biden’s defense, accusing the Sanders campaign of “distorting” his rival’s record on Iraq.

The two leading Democratic contenders have also clashed over Social Security, which has long been considered an especially important issue for Democratic voters.

The Biden campaign has accused Sanders of running misleading ads on the former vice president’s past stances on the issue. Sanders officials, meanwhile, has stood by the ad.

“Biden not only pushed to cut Social Security—he is on tape proudly bragging about it on multiple occasions,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir in response to accusations by the former vice president.