{"id":17553,"date":"2015-11-15T12:24:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T20:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=17553"},"modified":"2015-11-15T12:24:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-15T20:24:44","slug":"second-democratic-presidential-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/15\/second-democratic-presidential-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Democratic Presidential Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although I had a visitor last night, I did watch most of the Democratic Debate.  For me the high points  were Bernie claiming that he\u2019s not nearly as socialist as Eisenhower, and O’Malley’s definition of Hairball as an \u201cimmigrant bashing carnival barker\u201d.  I have the complete video and transcript.<\/font><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s part of the Times take on it.<\/font><\/p>\n

\"1115debate\" <\/p>\n

Hillary Rodham Clinton<\/a>, who had set out to use the second Democratic presidential debate to portray herself as the strongest potential commander in chief while France reeled from terror attacks, instead found herself pummeled by rivals on Saturday over her ties to Wall Street and her foreign policy record. <\/p>\n

The debate in Des Moines opened with Mrs. Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a> of Vermont and Martin O\u2019Malley bowing their heads to observe a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the attacks in Paris<\/a> on Friday. And, at least at first, the three remaining Democratic candidates seemed acutely aware that traditional political punches could seem petty in the aftermath of the bloodshed. <\/p>\n

But then Mr. Sanders and Mr. O\u2019Malley unleashed pointed, yet polite, critiques of Mrs. Clinton\u2019s foreign policy stances, including her 2002 vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq, which Mr. Sanders tied to the rise of the Islamic State<\/strong>, which officials in Paris have said was responsible for the attacks. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet me have one area of disagreement with the secretary,\u201d Mr. Sanders said gingerly, as if on eggshells to lob an attack at a somber moment. \u201cI would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq \u2014 something that I strongly opposed \u2014 has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. O\u2019Malley, meanwhile, painted a dark portrait of Middle East policy under the Obama administration, in which Mrs. Clinton spent four years as secretary of state. \u201cLibya is a mess. Syria is a mess. Iraq is a mess. Afghanistan is a mess,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Without directly calling her opponents na\u00efve, Mrs. Clinton responded by listing decades of granular foreign policy developments that she said contributed to the current crisis. \u201cIf we\u2019re ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

But she grew increasingly defensive as the evening progressed and the topics drifted to domestic issues. Mr. Sanders and Mr. O\u2019Malley both criticized her ties to the financial industry and argued that her policies would not go far enough to rein in the Wall Street excesses that led to the 2008 financial crisis<\/strong>\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>] <\/p>\n

Inserted from <NY Times<\/a>> <\/p>\n

Here is the complete debate video:<\/font> <\/p>\n