海角大神

Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee targeted Hillary Clinton in comments to reporters Tuesday, arguing that Democrats should not pick a candidate for president who, like Mrs. Clinton, voted in favor of the Iraq War in 2002.

At a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters, Mr. Chafee rejected the argument that Clinton鈥檚 overwhelming lead in the polls shows that voters don鈥檛 agree with him on the importance of the war vote. shows Clinton as the choice of 57.5 percent of those surveyed, while Chafee comes in fifth among the five declared candidates at 0.7 percent.

鈥淧olls are one thing,鈥� Chafee said but added, 鈥減olitically speaking, I think it is important for the Democratic Party to make this chaos in the Middle East and North Africa a Republican chaos. They are the ones who invaded Iraq and created all the problems that we live with now [with the Islamic State and Boko Haram]." 聽

鈥淭o get us back into another quagmire,鈥� Chafee said, was 鈥渁 colossal lapse in judgment鈥� by Clinton.

Chafee, who like Clinton was a senator at the time of the Iraq War debate, was the only Republican to vote against the war. He was elected governor of Rhode Island as an Independent in 2010 and switched to the Democratic Party in 2013.聽

"I did my homework, I looked carefully to see if there were weapons of mass destruction. I didn't see it," he said. Clinton has said since that her Iraq War vote was a mistake.聽

When asked about polls showing voter concerns about Clinton鈥檚 honesty and credibility, Chafee said she had suffered 鈥渁 lot of self-inflicted wounds, unfortunately.鈥� But, he added, after the primary season is over, he and the other Democratic candidates would 鈥渃ertainly unite as Democrats to win in 2016.鈥�

While speaking sharply about Clinton, Chafee had a warmer tone when discussing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont, who is running second to Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. Chafee said the issue of income inequality would be his top domestic policy issue, and he noted that Senator聽Sanders had shown 鈥渓ifelong devotion to these issues.... There is nothing phony about what he is saying.鈥�

Chafee also discussed his friendship with Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. They were both students at the elite Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., and lived together in a small dorm that housed 11 students. 鈥淲e know each other well, played ping-pong in the basement鈥� of the dorm, Chafee said.

Did they talk politics? They shared a dorm in 1968-69. 鈥淣ational politics were on many students鈥� minds at the time,鈥� he said.