Six Democratic Party primary candidates battled onstage Tuesday night for the Democratic debate. The candidates discussed foreign policy, health care and multiple other topics ahead of the presidential election.
View Comments
The candidates had a relatively quiet night with few viral moments. We’ve collected a slew of quotes from throughout the night to help you catch up on what happened during the night.
Former Vice President Joe Biden
- “It was a mistake and I acknowledge that but ... the man who also argued against that war, Barack Obama, picked me to be his vice president, and once we were elected president and vice president, he turned to me and asked me to end that war.”
- On Kim Jong Un: “We gave him everything he’s looking for: Legitimacy.”
- “We better figure out how we begin to write the rules of the road, and not China.”
- “It doesn’t really matter whether or not he’s gone after me. I’ve got to be in a position that I think about the American people. I can’t hold a grudge. I have to be able to not only fight but also heal.”
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
- “The president is actually sending more. The very president who said he was going to end the endless wars. ... Whenever I see that happen, I think of the day we shipped out.”
- “Our security depends on ensuring that Iran does not become nuclear. ... We’ve got to move towards less, not more nuclear danger.”
- “I am ready to take on this president on the economy because I am from the exact kind of industrial, Midwestern community that he pretends to speak to and has proven to turn his back on.”
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
- “Time and time again, you see this president put his own interest, his private interest, ahead of our country.”
- “What I don’t agree with is his position on health care. This debate isn’t real. … Over two-thirds of the Democrats in the Senate are not on the bill you and Senator Warren are on.”
- “This president is treating people out there like poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos the way he is adding to our debt.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
- On Iraq War: “Joe and I listened to what Dick Cheney and George Bush and Rumsfeld had to say. I thought they were lying. I didn’t believe them for a moment. … Joe saw it differently.”
- “The two great foreign policy disasters in our lifetime were the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq. Both of those wars were based on lies. ... Right now what I fear very much is that we have a president who is lying again.”
- “Right now what I fear very much is we have a President who is lying again, and could drag us into a war that is even worse than the war in Iraq.”
Billionaire Tom Steyer
- “Obviously Mr. Trump has no strategy.”
- “There’s a gigantic climate issue in Australia which also requires the same kind of value-driven coalition building that we actually should be using in the Middle East.”
- “I’ve got four kids between the ages of 26 and 31. I cannot allow this country to go down the path of climate destruction. Everybody in their generation knows it.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
- “We should stop asking our military to solve problems that cannot be solved militarily. Keeping our combat troops there is not helping.”
- “We’ve turned the corner so many times we’re going in circles in these regions.”
- “We have farmers here in Iowa who are hurting. ... This new trade deal is a modest improvement. It will give some relief. ... I believe we accept that relief and get up the next day and fight for a better deal.”
- “Back in the 1960s, people asked if a Catholic could win. Back in 2008, people asked if an African American could win. In both times, the Democratic Party stepped up and said yes — got behind their candidate and we changed America. That’s who we are.”
- “The drug industry has figured out how to manipulate this industry to keep jerking the prices up. ... Let’s give them a little competition.”
