Hi all, Scan here...Lysis needed a day off from HNV but should be back pronto. I’m going to keep it concise today and focus on the final (?) Democratic debate, which is mostly what everyone’s talking about anyway.
Politico reports on what everyone noticed...how tough the moderators were on the candidates.
Many Republicans view Univision as a hostile news organization, with its unapologetic pro-immigration reform stance and ties to Hillary Clinton.
But on Wednesday night the network's two top anchors, Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, along with Washington Post correspondent Karen Tumulty, tried to shed that image, while also previewing what a potential general election debate might look like between Clinton and Donald Trump.
"Secretary Clinton, I want to disclose once again that my daughter Paula works for your campaign," Ramos said in his first question of the night before launching into a question about Clinton's use of a private email server.
"When you were secretary of state, you wrote 104 e-mails in your private server that the government now says contained classified information, according to The Washington Post analysis. That goes against a memo that you personally sent to your employees in 2011 directing all of them to use official e-mail, precisely because of the concerns. So it seems you issued one set of rules for yourself and a different set of rules for the rest of the State Department. So who specifically gave you permission to operate your e-mail system as you did? Was it President Barack Obama? And would you drop out of the race if you get indicted?"
Clinton gave the same answer she's been giving on her email use, which wasn't satisfactory for Ramos. He pressed Clinton to actually answer his questions, leading to one of the more memorable lines of the night in response to whether Clinton would drop out if she was indicted over her email use.
"Oh, that's not going to happen. I'm not even answering that question," she said.
That was a doozy. But the rightly boo-inducing Benghazi question may have been worse. Luckily, Hillary handled all of it like a pro. But Bernie didn’t escape the treatment:
Later on, the moderators played a clip of Sanders from 1985 where Sanders praised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, comments Sanders said he made in the larger context of denouncing President Ronald Reagan's interventionist foreign policy.
"Everyone was totally convinced Castro was the worst guy in the world. They forgot that he educated their kids, gave them health care and totally transformed their society," Sanders says in the clip.
"Senator, in retrospect, have you ever regretted the characterizations of Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro you made in 1985?" Ramos asked.
Sanders said while he recognizes Cuba is an authoritarian regime, the United States shouldn't be involved in trying to overthrow governments.
But it was Clinton’s follow-up quote that really left a mark…
Whatever one thinks of this issue, I think we can all agree that it’s good that we’re talking about it now instead of, say...October.
As always, there are several post-debate “winners and losers” articles.
Washington Post:
WINNERS
Hillary Clinton: This debate was a minefield for her. She was coming off a disappointing loss in Michigan that gave Sanders some momentum. She got asked about possibly being indicted (!), about whether she lied about Benghazi and about about her being seen as untrustworthy. And the moderators demanded answers. Clinton avoided a disaster and came out as the better debater, yet again. And despite a couple missteps -- she STILL doesn't have a good answer on her Wall Street speeches?!? -- she had some very strong moments that will likely endure more than anything else.
When asked about her poor honesty ratings and her not-so-great public image, she had this to say: "I am not a natural politician, in case you haven’t noticed, like my husband or President Obama.” She added: "This is not easy for me." It was self-aware, and it turned a question about her not being honest into an answer in which she was uniquely candid. And then there was the moment she was speaking directly to a woman whose family had been broken up via deportation. Univision's Enrique Acevedo translated Clinton's heartfelt, slowly spoken answer in this indelible image, with Clinton featuring in a small splitscreen most of the time
PoliticusUSA:
Winners:
1). Hillary Clinton – Thanks to a series of questions that were based on Republican talking points, Hillary Clinton was able to knock several myths that Republicans are floating in a desperate attempt to harm her candidacy. Clinton took on the Republican conspiracy theory about her emails, and she vowed that she will not be indicted. She also was given a chance to slam and knock down the Benghazi conspiracy theory. There was never a time in this debate when Clinton was knocked back on her heels.
Because Clinton and Sanders agree on the big objectives, the contentious points between the candidates revolved around points like votes taken in the Senate. Hillary Clinton quickly rebounded from her surprising loss in Michigan and continues to roll towards capturing the Democratic nomination. Clinton said nothing during this debate that would cause her supporters to flip to Sanders.
ABC News describes a few “moments that mattered” from the debate:
4. Clinton Mocks Trump’s “Beautiful” Wall
Clinton acknowledged that she has voted for increased border security, including building a wall, but she was quick to argue that the wall she backs would be nothing like Donald Trump’s proposed barrier. She went on to mock the businessman.
“I understand him, he's talking about a very tall wall, right, a beautiful tall wall, the most beautiful tall wall, better than the Great Wall of China,” she said taking a teasing tone as she imitated the Republicans frontrunner. “He would somehow magically get the Mexican government to pay for, and, you know, it's just fantasy.”
By comparison, she insisted that she supported “a pedestrian fence in some place, a vehicle fence in other places.”
5. Clinton Gets Self-Reflective
In between the questions about her emails and exchanges with Sanders on immigration, Clinton opened up when asked about an issue that has dogged her for more than 30 years: Her honest and trustworthiness.
"Look, I have said before and it won’t surprise anybody to hear me say it, this is not easy for me,” Clinton explained in response to a question about a new Washington Post poll released yesterday that found that only 37 percent of Americans consider her honest.
"It's not easy to do what I think is right to help people, to even the odds, to hear a story like the woman's story we just heard and to know that I can make a difference and I want to in every way possible,” she added, referring to a Guatemalan-immigrant whose husband was deported three years ago. The woman questioned about Clinton about immigration during the debate.
Clinton then continued with this moment of self-reflection: "I am not a natural politician, in case you haven't noticed,” she said, “Like my husband or President Obama.”
Hillary’s response to the Guatemalan immigrant’s question was the most beautiful moment of the night, and here is in its entirety:
First of all, please know how brave I think you are, coming here with your children to tell your story. This is an incredible act of courage that I'm not sure many people really understand. And I want you to know that in the work that I've done and the many families that I've met, I have heard similar stories like yours, where your husband is deported. Your children's father is gone.
You are doing your very best to support your children. But it is time to bring families together. And I don't think there's any doubt that we must do more to let stories like yours be heard more widely so that more Americans know what the human cost of these policies are.
And I will do everything I can to prevent other families from facing what you are facing. And I will do everything I can to pass laws that would bring families back together. And I hope that your children are all either citizens born in this country or eligible for the programs that President Obama has put into place, DACA and DAPA, because I will defend those and I will absolutely protect your children, yourself, and try to bring your family back together.
It should be noted that following the debate, Clinton had a longer, private conversation with the woman and her family.
Finally, in case you missed it...or just want to watch it again...here is last night’s debate in its entirely.
Full transcript here.
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Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to the electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.