Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images.After Hillary Clinton expounded on her history advocating for women's rights, Sanders countered with a salient point:
"I'll tell you something that really galls me. It will not surprise anybody to suggest that in politics, there is occasionally a little hypocrisy. Just a little bit," he said. "All over this country, we have Republican candidates for President, saying, 'We hate the government! The government is the enemy!'"
"But when it comes to women having to make a very personal choice — ah. In that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is," Sanders finished to applause.
All the Republican candidates support severe restrictions on abortion rights. In August, Republican hopefuls Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and previous candidates Lindsay Graham and Rand Paul voted in Congress to defund women's health organization Planned Parenthood. In Saturday's Republican debate, Marco Rubio even said that he would rather lose the election than back down on his anti-abortion stance. The legislating of women's bodies is a far cry from the "small government" advocated by the Republican Party's official platform.
Sanders isn't pointing out anything new, and it's not a challenge to Clinton, who's on the same page. But when talking about what's at stake in the 2016 election, it's always important to remember who's putting their money where their mouth is on the issues.
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