Hillary Clinton avoided saying that the United States is at war with radical Islam during Saturday night’s Democratic debate, arguing people shouldn’t paint “with too broad a brush”.
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Who do you think won the Democratic presidential debate on Saturday night?
Three Democratic presidential candidates gathered in Des Moines, Iowa, for a debate that has been jolted by the terrorist attacks across Paris, which the French President has declared an “act of war”. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Sen.
Clinton’s close relationship with Wall Street, both in the Senate and two presidential campaigns, has been a flash point of criticism for her rivals and many voters.
“He has basically used his answer to impugn my integrity”, Clinton said, after Sanders said financial institutions “know what they’re going to get” in exchange for their campaign contributions.
“I was sick and exhausted of Hillary Clinton’s emails, and I’m still sick and exhausted of Hillary Clinton’s emails”, Sanders said, receiving loud applause.
“We are at war with violent extremism, we are at war with people who use their religion for purposes of power and oppression”, said Clinton, arguing the U.S.is not at war with Islam or all Muslims. She attempted to sidestep the question, first blaming the Bush administration and then insisting this is not America’s fight alone.
“The fact of the matter is, let’s say it in our debate because you’ll never hear this from that immigrant-bashing carnival-barker Donald Trump. It can not be contained, it must be defeated”, she said.
The two-hour event, which began on a somber note with a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Paris attacks, also offered a crucial opportunity for Clinton to demonstrate the foreign policy qualifications she honed during her time as the Obama administration’s top diplomat.
But the pace of the debate quickly picked up over domestic policy with Sanders and O’Malley challenging Clinton’s willingness to police Wall Street. Her support for the 2003 Iraq invasion played a major role in her primary loss to Obama in the 2008 White House race.
After Clinton rattled off her plan to regulate the financial industry, Sanders replied bluntly, “Not good enough”.
“I don’t think we’re at war with Islam”, she added.
With the political clock ticking to the first nominating contest in Iowa on February 1, Clinton has opened a commanding lead over Sanders, her prime challenger, in national and Iowa polls. This distinction will no doubt only become more stark in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
O’Malley proposed allowing 65,000 Syrian refugees into the country, more than the 10,000 proposed by Obama, though he said they need “proper screening”.
O’Malley pointed to his executive experience as Maryland’s governor, saying the US needed “new thinking” and “new leadership” to respond to threats like those posed by the Islamic State group.
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“I recommended to the President that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice”, Clinton said.
