Bernie shushes Hillary as Democratic debate boils over on Wall Street, auto industry bailouts and guns

'Excuse me! I'm talking!' – Bernie shushes Hillary as Democratic debate turns into a shoot out at the 'Lead City Corral' Michigan

     The normally calm, cool and collected Sen. Bernie Sanders exploded at Hillary Clinton during Sunday's CNN debate in Michigan
    The former secretary of state postured as a savior of Detroit's auto industry and cast the Vermont senator as a naysayer
    He fired back that the auto industry rescue was part of a larger Wall Street bailout plan
    When Hillary jumped in to push back, Bernie pointed and blew up at her
    See more of the latest news on the Democratic presidential primaries 

Photo: CNN

'EXCUSE ME! I'M TALKING!' – Bernie Sanders exploded at Hillary Clinton during Sunday's debate in Michigan

Bernie Sanders stuck up for himself in two moments of anger during Sunday night's debate with Hillary Clinton, shushing the former secretary of state with an outburst – 'Excuse me! I'm talking!' – when she tried to interrupt him.

The two sparred in a CNN showdown in Flint, Michigan. Sanders, a Vermont senator, trails Clinton in the race for his party's presidential nomination.

The normally taciturn and grandfatherly Vermonter linked the 2009 auto industry rescue, a political hobby horse in the Great Lakes State, with the much-maligned Wall Street bailout, since they were accomplished with the same piece of legislation.

Clinton, then a U.S. senator from New York, voted in favor of it. Sanders voted no.

 

 Credit: TheScramento Bee

'In January of 2009 President-Elect Obama asked everybody in the Congress to vote for the bailout,' Clinton recalled. 'The money was there. It had to be released to save the American auto industry and 4 million jobs, and to begin the restructuring.'

'We just had the best year that the auto industry has had in a long time. I voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference.'

'Ohh!' Sanders exclaimed as the debate audience smelled blood and cheered. 'Well, if you are talkin' about the Wall Street bailout where some of your friends destroyed the economy,' he slapped back.

'You know –' Clinton jumped in.

'Excuse me! I'm talking!' Bernie erupted, drawing cheers from his partisans.

'If you're gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders,' Clinton lectured, interrupting a second time.

'Well, let me tell my story. You tell yours,' he responded.

'I will!' Clinton chirped.

When the Troubled Asset Relief Program was proposed as part of a 2008 plan to rescue investment banks with taxpayer money, Congress didn't foresee that domestic auto manufacturers would also benefit.

President George W. Bush added in that pot-sweetener two months later, in the twilight of his presidency. Congress had to approve his plan to redirect some of the money.

At the time, Sanders was an outspoken opponent of the entire program.

'Your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement, and voting for corporate America,' he blasted Clinton on Sunday.

'Did I vote against the Wall Stret bailout?' he asked. 'When billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy, they went to Congress and they said, "Oh please, we'll be good boys. Bail us out".'

'You know what I said? I said let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street. Shouldn't be the middle class of this country.'

Sanders' hot temper leapt out of his chest a second time during a hot-flash skirmish over legal liability for gun manufacturers.

Photo: CNN

'CAN I FINISH PLEASE?' As Hillary interrupted Bernie more and more, he stood his ground and pushed back

He said Clinton's position boiled down to believing 'that if somebody who is crazy, or a criminal, or a horrible person goes around shooting people, the manufacturer of that gun should be held liable.'

'And if that is your position ... if that is the case then essentially your position is there should not be any guns in America. Period.'

'That is like the NRA position! No!' Clinton blurted.

Bernie pushed her voice away.

'Can I finish, please? Alright?' he exploded as a hush fell over the auditorium.

And you can – there are people who hold that view. And that's fine if you hold it,' Sanders added.

'I think what you do is you hold those people who've used the gun accountable.'

Credit: Mail