Sanders, in a brief interview following a town hall meeting at Simpson College in Indianola, said he could pay for his agenda without raising taxes on middle-class families. Whatever the reasons for the scheduling, and it will be interesting to see what impact that has on the ratings nationally and in Iowa specifically, the debate was originally meant to focus on domestic issues and the economy, much like the most recent Republican debate. This approach continued even as the debate turned to other subjects.
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Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley said that the USA needed “new thinking” and “new leadership” to respond to threats like those posed by the “Islamic State” militant group. Would Hillary Clinton become a card-carrying Communist if the CPUSA headquarters had been hit by a plane? But, as her answers showed, this is her area of expertise. Clinton in particular had a tough time dancing around that one. The audience loved Sanders’ blaring that health care is a right, not a privilege.
“We have to look at ISIS as the leading threat of an worldwide terror network”, said the campaign front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The President had used that description for ISIS the day earlier before the Paris attacks occurred. So caught up in projecting strength as Madame Commander-in-Chief that she failed to project much warmth or Reaganesque optimism about defeating America’s enemies overseas. The tone suggested that the campaign has moved into a new phase, with what had been gentle criticisms of Clinton replaced by more pointed and direct contrasts. Instead, all eyes were on her. The most heated fight of the night came over reforming Wall Street.
The most freaky part of the entire evening, however, had to be when Sanders challenged Clinton about all the Wall Street money she’s taken.
Then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton visits the site of the World Trade Center wreckage in 2001 with Rudy Giuliani.
“What the president has consistently said, which I agree with, is that we will support those who take the fight to ISIS”, Clinton said, as if the American military is a cheerleading squad. “They expect to get something”. Let’s be frank here: …
“I don’t think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now”.
“Where were we attacked?” Sanders said, later calling the business model of Wall Street “fraud”. She talked of using airpower, training and equipping forces in the region and pushes our allies – especially Turkey and the Gulf States – to make up their minds about how much they’re going to help in this effort. That was good for NY.
“I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake”, she admitted.
The Nation is struck by its “breathtaking cynicism.” . We’ve been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman.
– The kerfuffle is breaking through to voters: Twitter and Facebook both say that the 9/11 moment generated more conversation than any other exchange during the face-off.
“We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organisations like ISIS”. Dickerson asked. Clinton didn’t have an answer. She said she didn’t, because it paints Islam with too broad a brush. She could bomb the rest of the debates and tell Democrats that Barack Obama is a mediocre president and still handily win the Democratic presidential nomination. So did the Wall Street Journal, describing the comment as an “unusual defense”. Reporter: Front-runner Hillary Clinton under attack from the two men trailing her in the polls.
Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, ripped Clinton, saying she had reached a “new low”. When pressed further by CBS moderator John Dickerson, she again dodged.
I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. Until now.” Clinton replied, “I’m sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression … So, yes, I did know people. But I like what you do. I like how you stand up.
“Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely”, Sanders said.
ISIS. All of the candidates condemned the attacks in Paris, with Sanders pledging that “this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called ISIS”.
And one of the most powerful lines of the debate, Iowa Democrats said, was when O’Malley said a mother of a service member he met in Burlington, Iowa, asked him not to use the term “boots on the ground” when referring to soldiers overseas.
“I represented NY, and I represented NY on 9/11 when we were attacked”, Clinton said. But they are also likely to be forgotten in the general maw of Saturday night distractions in a huge nation and our justifiably greater interest in bad events in France and what those may mean for all of us.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said following the debate that the senator’s proposals would be paid for with higher taxes on the wealthy and large corporations.
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The Democrats returned to that theme later in the debate, and Sanders criticized Clinton for her opposition to reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, the 1933 law that established a firewall between investment and commercial banking. “How high would you go?”
