Without a doubt the biggest winner of the night in the first Democratic Presidential Debate, was the Democratic Party. Democratic presidential candidates, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee did a fine job--and would make a better president than any of the republican presidential candidates.
However, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders are the clear front runners and were exceptional in the first Democratic Presidential Debate. Hillary and Bernie clearly represented and advocated the values, morals and ideals of the Democratic Party, beyond the expectations of many in the media, doubters and even some loyal supporters.
All political and social issues were not addressed in the first Democratic Presidential Debate, but there is still five more debates to follow. Besides the great quotes from Bernie and Hillary in this diary--Hillary, Bernie, Martin, Jim and Lincoln during the debate, championed the Democratic Party desire to end income inequality, fight for equality for women and equal pay for women. The democratic presidential candidates called for raising the minimum wage and tax breaks for the poor and middle-class.
The democratic presidential candidates called for relief from student debt and the need to provide free college tuition for students. During the debate they called for criminal justice reform. They reaffirmed democratic support for Planned Parenthood and the right of women to control their reproductive choices. They expressed support for our military, support for the Veterans Administration and commitment to the security, defense and protection of America etc...
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s two responses on immigration reform and paid leave can be used to define the political, social and civic ideology of the Republican Party in general~
“I want to follow up, because I think underneath Juan Carlos’s important questions, there is such a difference between everything you are hearing here on this stage and what we here from the republicans, who demonized hard working immigrants, who have insulted them. I came to Las Vegas in early May and met with a group of ‘Dreamers’—I wish everybody in America could meet with these young people… I would go further than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I’m president”—Hillary Rodham Clinton
“When people say that, it’s always the republicans or their sympathizers who say you can’t have paid leave, you can’t provide healthcare. They don’t mind having big government to interfere with a woman’s right to choose, and to try and take down Planned Parenthood, They’re fine with big government when it comes to that. I’m sick of it…we can afford it because we are going to make the wealthy pay for it”—Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Republican Party and its presidential candidates are out of touch and farcical when it comes to the political and social needs of America. The Republican Party and it’s presidential candidates are afflicted with a Neanderthal political and social ideology that is so far over the rainbow, that they 'ain’t never gonna see' Auntie Em again.
Great quotes from Bernie Sanders during the first Democratic Presidential Debate~
"I believe — and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia."--Bernie Sanders
"Well, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, “guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It’s gonna take the economy with them.” And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, “Hank, your guys — you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?” So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax."--Bernie Sanders
"Here is the point, every other major country on earth, everyone! Including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country, that is an international embarrassment!, that we do not provide family and medical leave, second of all. The Secretary is right, the republicans tell us we can’t do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires, and cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—that’s not what the American people want”—Bernie Sanders
"Black Lives Matter"--Bernie Sanders
“We need comprehensive immigration reform. We need a path towards citizenship. We need to take people out of the shadows”—Bernie Sanders
“Let’s look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout…Democrats at the White House on down will win when there is excitement and a large voter turnout and that is what this campaign is doing”—Bernie Sanders
“Let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways…When I was a young man, I’m not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam, not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist…I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the ‘last resort’--that we have got to exercise diplomacy, but yes I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary”—Bernie SandersBernie Sanders has not had many positive things to say about President Obama on the campaign trail or in his campaign rally speeches, regarding the opposition and challenges President Obama has faced from republicans since he has been in office. However, here are four quotes from the first Democratic Presidential Debate that may help Bernie Sanders with democratic voters who support President Obama~
“The Republican Party since I have been in the Senate and since President Obama has been in office has played a terrible-terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no!…Who by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and The House, when one of us is elected president”—Bernie Sanders
“I have a lot of respect for President Obama; I have worked with him time and time again, on many, many issues.”—Bernie Sanders
“Well first of all let’s remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. I know my republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world’s financial market-system was on the verge of collapse. That’s where we were, are we better off today then we were then? absolutely!”—Bernie Sanders
“I support air strikes in Syria in what the President is trying to do”—Bernie SandersThere is nothing new about Americans running for political office as socialists or belonging to a socialist political party or organization. The list or Americans who have and currently belong to a socialist political party or organization is long and includes many more than the following.---Socialist Party of America--Socialist Democrats USA--Jewish Women and Socialism in America--Freedom Socialist Party--Democratic Socialist of America--Socialist Labor Party--Socialist Workers Party--Fabian Socialism in America--Intercollegiate Socialist Society--http://www.solidarity-us.org/...
Bernie Sanders gave a well prepared and excellent response during the first Democratic Presidential Debate about what Democratic Socialism is~
“We are going to explain what Democratic Socialism is—and what Democratic Socialism is about, is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1% in this country own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. That is it wrong today in a rigged economy, that 57% of all new income is going to the top 1%. That when you look around the world you see every other major country providing healthcare to all people as ‘a right’, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms, that when you have a baby, were not going to separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have medical and family paid leave’—Bernie SandersI am a Hillary supporter and I thought she was outstanding and well prepared. Hillary Rodham Clinton with experience in national debates, came to the Democratic Presidential Debate ready to present her policy plans. Hillary was ready to go and anticipated questions and challenges from the CNN debate moderators and her democratic rivals respectively--her debate prep team did an outstanding job.
Hillary's response on "Wall Street Reform" and other financial institutions~
"My plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail! Nobody went to jail! after 100 billion dollars in fines were paid—and would give regulators the authority to go after the Big Banks. But I am telling you, I will say it tonight, if only you look at the Big Banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. We’ve got to look at all the other financial institutions”—Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary's response to her vote on the Iraq War~
“I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think about 25 times with then Senator Obama debating this very issue. After the election he asked me to become Secretary of State. ‘He’ valued my judgment and I spent a lot of time with him in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues…So I think whether you are talking about the tough decision that President Obama had to make about Osama Bin Laden, where I was one of his few advisers, or putting together that coalition to impose sanctions on Iran, I think I have a lot of evidence about what I would do as president”—Hillary Rodham ClintonBesides her support for the decision to invade Pakistan which resulted in the killing of Osama Bin Laden, I wish Hillary would also point out that during her tenure as Secretary of State there was no major 911 type terrorist attack on America—she kept America safe, unlike George W. Bush--despite the disillusioned and revisionist historical claim of his little brother, Jeb Bush.
Hillary on whether or not she is a progressive~
"I’m a progressive, but I’m a progressive who likes to get things done...I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground...I have proved that in every position that I have had, even dealing with republicans”—Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary's response to her e-mail and Benghazi investigations~
"Let’s just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle as admitted by the House Republican Majority Leader Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers, big surprise—and that’s what they have attempted to do. I am still standing…I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people”—Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary's response to the question: What would you do for African-Americans in this country that President Obama couldn’t?
“President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues and has laid out an agenda, that has been obstructed by the republicans at every turn…We need to be following the recommendations of the commission that President Obama impaneled on policing, there is an agenda there that we need to be followed up on…We need a new ‘New Deal’ for communities of color”—Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary's response on "The Keystone Pipeline" and climate change~
“Everybody on this stage has changed a position or two; we’ve been around accumulative quite some period of time. We know that if you are learning you’re gonna change your position. I never took a position on ‘Keystone’ until I took a position on ‘Keystone’--but I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009 when President Obama and I crashed a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they’d ever joined. So I am not going to take a back seat to anybody on my vales, my principals and the results that I get”—Hillary Rodham ClintonThree excellent Hillary responses on the need for new political leadership, being a political insider, and being associated with outdated political royalty because her last name is Clinton~
“Being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we’ve had up until this point”—Hillary Rodham Clinton
“Well I can’t think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I’m not just running because I would be the first woman president. I am running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results in fighting for people, in fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds—and I know what it takes to get things done…I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground…I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people”—Hillary Rodham Clinton
“I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name, I’d ask them to listen to what I am proposing, look at what I accomplished in the Senate, as Secretary of State and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I’m campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs at this point—and I think I can take the fight to the republicans, because we cannot afford a republican to succeed Barack Obama as President of the United States”—Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary's response on "Wall Street Reform" and other financial institutions~
"My plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail! Nobody went to jail! after 100 billion dollars in fines were paid—and would give regulators the authority to go after the Big Banks. But I am telling you, I will say it tonight, if only you look at the Big Banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. We’ve got to look at all the other financial institutions”—Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary on gun control and the National Rifle Association (NRA)~
"We have to look at the fact that we lose ninety people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it’s time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do."Great first debate, I can't wait for the next Democratic Presidential Debate on November 14, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa.
in 2016 vote up and down the ticket for democrats in the state you live--and if possible help with voter registration, while encouraging and helping others to vote.