Democratic debate: the best and most substantial responses of the night

Beto O 'Rourke may not be one of the most prominent candidates for the 2020 presidential primary, but at the third democratic debate on Thursday he got one. some of the best and most moving answers on what has become one of the central issues of his White House offer: gun control.

The former Texas Congressman and US Senate candidate has focused on gun violence in recent weeks as a result of a massive shootout on a Walmart in his hometown. El Paso, Texas, in August. In Thursday's debate, many candidates praised his attention to the issue – and O'Rourke also made one of the most energetic responses of the evening to the question of whether it would establish a national program for the purchase of arms by the Americans.

"Yes, we will take your AR-15, your AK-47," he said. "We will not let him be used against our American compatriots anymore."

O & # 39; Rourke is not the only candidate to have had a good time on Thursday. From Elizabeth Warren on the real costs of health care to Andrew Yang on her family's immigration, here are some of the most important and significant responses of the evening.

Bernie Sanders turns a question about Venezuela into a defense of democratic socialism

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Well, first of all, let me be very clear. Whoever does what Maduro does is a vicious tyrant. What we need now is international and regional cooperation to hold free elections in Venezuela so that the people of this country can create their own future.

In terms of democratic socialism – to equate what is happening in Venezuela with what I think is extremely unfair. I will tell you what I believe in terms of democratic socialism. I agree with what is happening in Canada and Scandinavia to ensure health care for all as a human right. I believe that the United States should not be the only major country on the planet not to grant paid family leave and sick leave. I think every worker in this country deserves a living wage and we develop the labor movement.

I also believe that what democratic socialism means to me is that we are dealing with a problem … we do not discuss it enough, Jorge, not in the media, nor in Congress. Three people in America have more wealth than the lower half of this country. You have a handful of billionaires who control what is happening on Wall Street, in insurance companies and in the media. Perhaps, just maybe, what we should do is create an economy that works for all of us, not 1%. This is my understanding of democratic socialism.

Sanders managed on Thursday to take one of the main topics of his criticism of his policy – which he will seek to transform the United States into Venezuela – and overthrow him. When moderator Jorge Ramos asked him to explain the difference between his socialism and what Nicolás Maduro imposed on Venezuela, he clearly made the distinction of assimilating the two is deeply unfair. And then presented an overwhelming endorsement of the vision for his campaign.

Pete Buttigieg tells his story – a presidential candidate at first

David J. Phillip / AP

You know, as an army officer serving under the "Do not Ask, Do not Say" program and as an elected official in the state of Indiana, when Mike Pence was governor, at one point Given, I had to wonder if just recognizing who I was was becoming the ultimate professional setback at the end of my career. I was coming back from the deployment and realized that you only lived one life and that I did not want to know what it was like to be in love, so I went out.

I did not know at all what a professional setback would be, especially because it was not practical, it was an election year in my socially conservative community. What happened was that when I trusted the voters to judge me based on the work I had done for them, they decided to trust me and they reelected me with 80% of the votes. And what I've learned is that trust can be reciprocal and that one of the ways to earn and earn is to know what's more for you than winning. And I think that's what we need in the chair right now.

We must know what we are. And this election does not concern any of us here. It's not about this president, even though it's hard to talk about something else on certain days. These are the people who trust us. One child wonders if we will really secure their schools after learning active shooter exercises before they have learned to read. A generation is wondering if we are really going to do the work on climate change. And if we stick to that, then it does not matter what happens to each of us professionally. Together we will win a better era for our country.

Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, in Indiana, answered a final question posed to all candidates about their biggest professional challenges with a deeply personal answer about his sexuality and his decision to go out. He provided a unique insight into the form his life took, politically and otherwise.

After all, until 2015, many states had adopted constitutional amendments that defined marriage between a man and a woman. Asking a presidential candidate to participate in a debate and tell his story was a memorable moment for history books.

Julian Castro denounces the record of the Obama administration in matters of immigration

David J. Phillip / AP

I agree that Barack Obama was very different from Donald Trump. Donald Trump has a dark heart when it comes to immigrants. He has built his entire political career so far on scapegoating, scare-mongering and other migrants, which is very different from Barack Obama.

But my problem with Vice President Biden – and Cory [Booker] This was emphasized last time – whenever something positive is talking about Barack Obama, he says, "I was there, I was there, it's me too, and every Once someone questioned a part of the administration that we were both part of, he said, well, it was the president.I mean, he wants to brag about the work of Obama, but does not have to answer any questions.

At the beginning of April, I was the first candidate to propose an immigration plan. You know why? Because I'm not afraid of Donald Trump on this issue. I will not go back. I will not pretend that I do not have my own vision of immigration.

We will not abandon DACA. We will not give up the protections for anyone. I believe that on January 20, 2021, we will have a Democratic president, we will put aside Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn and we will have a democratic senate and a democratic house, and we will spend immigration reform in the First 100 days.

Castro, who worked alongside Biden in the Obama administration as the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, not only praised Trump's immigration shortcomings, but also the administration's Obama.

He put forward his own plan, one of the most daring in the Democratic area, which also contrasts with Obama's. As Vox's Nicole Narea explained, Obama deported more than 3 million immigrants between 2009 and 2016 and was referred to as "chief reporter" by immigrant rights groups. Obama has set up temporary housing not so different from the shelter that the Trump administration has on the border between its own migration crisis in 2014 and has struggled to find a balance between humanitarian efforts and implementation laws.

While Castro was talking about Obama's record, he also used it as an opportunity to hit Joe Biden – one of several attacks on the former vice president on Thursday.

Andrew Yang lists his family's immigration history in the US immigration story.

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My father grew up on a peanut farm in Asia without a floor, and now his son is running for president. This is the story of immigration that we must be able to share with the American people.

If you look at our history, almost half of Fortune 500 companies were created by immigrants or children of immigrants, and start-up rates are much higher in immigration communities. We must tell the American people that immigrants are positive for our economic and social dynamism, and I would bring back the level of legal immigration to the same level as under the Obama-Biden administration.

I think we have to compete for talent and I am the opposite of Donald Trump in many ways. He says, "Build a wall". I will tell the immigrants, "Come to America, because if you come here, your son, your daughter can be a candidate for the presidency. The water is great. And that's where you want to start a business, a family and a life. " This country has been a magnet for human capital for generations. If we lose that, we lose something embedded in our continued success, and that's where I would lead as president.

Yang attempted to make a splash early in the evening by announcing that he would pay his "Freedom Dividend" of $ 1,000 to 10 lucky Americans for a year. But his most moving response to the evening came when he addressed a separate topic: immigration. The entrepreneur pointed out that he, the child of an immigrant, was able to grow up and run for president and set up a debate with personal, political and economic constraints.

Amy Klobuchar pleads against Medicare-for-all

David J. Phillip / AP

First, Senator Sanders and I have worked courageously to lower the cost of pharmaceuticals. It was a Klobuchar-Sanders amendment to allow the entry of drugs from cheaper countries like Canada.

We have been trying to reduce costs by trying to accommodate 43 million seniors, which is a bill I led, to negotiate better prices for Medicare. I think a lot of seniors should be allowed to get a better price.

But when it comes to our health care and our premiums, I rely on the doctor's belief, which is not to harm. And while Bernie was writing the bill, I read it. And on page eight – on page eight of the bill, it says that we will no longer have private insurance as we know it. And that means that 149 million Americans will no longer be able to have their current insurance.

It's four years from now. I do not think it's a bold idea, I think it's a bad idea. And what I favor is what Barack Obama wanted to do from the beginning. And it's a public option. A non-profit choice that would reduce the cost of insurance, would cover an additional 12 million people and drive down the price of an additional 13 million people. It's a bold idea.

The first part of Thursday's debate – like the first two democratic debates – was on health care. But this time, the candidates arrived on the scene with tighter elbows and clearer arguments on the best way forward.

Klobuchar, a moderate, clearly targeted Sanders and Warren in criticizing the Medicare-for-all bill. It's certainly not as popular as members of the party's left wing, but Democratic voters are not necessarily all-out on Medicare for all and Klobuchar has given voice to their hesitations.

Elizabeth Warren Warren pleads for Medicare for all

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Look, what families need to do, it's the cost, the total cost. That's what they have to face. And understand, families are paying for their health care today. Families pay every time an insurance company says, sorry, that you can not see this specialist. Whenever an insurance company says, sorry, this doctor is out of the network, sorry, we do not cover this prescription.

Families pay every time they do not get a prescription because they can not pay for it. They do not have a verified package because they can not pay the quota. We are talking here about what will happen in the pockets of families, what will happen in their budgets.

And the answer is about Medicare for all, the costs will increase for the richest individuals and the costs for the big companies. But for hard-working families across the country, the costs will go down and that's how it should work under medicare for all in our health care system.

When she responded to a question from a moderator on middle-class tax hikes in order to fund Medicare-for-all, Warren introduced one of her strongest reactions that night. Warren speaks eloquently of the policy she, as well as Sanders (who has "written the damn bill"), supports it.

Warren brought the question to his strength: to talk about the lived experience of working class families and their wallets.

Beto O'Rourke calls for gun removal

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I am [proposing to take away guns] if it is a weapon designed to kill people on a battlefield. If the high velocity shock hits your body, it shreds everything inside your body because it was designed to do so, so you bleed to death on a battlefield and do not do not be able to kill him and kill him. of our soldiers.

When we see this used against children, and in Odessa, I met the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was touched by an AR-15 and saw her dying of blood in the space of an hour, because many other people were affected by the AR-15s in Odessa and Midland, there were not enough ambulances to reach them in time, Well, yes, we will take your AR-15, your AK-47. We will not allow it to be used against our American compatriots.

And I mean this. I am listening to the people of this country. The day after my proposal, I went to an arms show in Conway, Arkansas, to meet those who were selling AR-15s and AK-47s and those who were buying these weapons. And you might be surprised, there was some common ground out there, people who said, I would gladly give it up, cut it to pieces, I do not need that weapon to hunt, to defend myself. It is a weapon of war.

Let us do the right thing, but let everyone, Americans, Republicans, Democrats, gun owners and non-gun owners welcome everyone.

O'Rourke has become increasingly strident in his remarks about gun violence in America – especially since the shooting on an El Paso Walmart that claimed the lives of 22 people. It is clear how deeply he is disturbed by armed violence. On Thursday, he did not mince his words when he was asked if he would indeed demand that Americans possessing extremely lethal weapons resell them to the government.

But while he was discussing the possibility of taking firearms – which would not fail to light the NRA lobbyists – he also indicated that, even though this is presented as an insoluble problem in the media, "he there is a common ground there. " a more conservative congressman than most Democrats during his congressional term, so it is not surprising that he attempted to bring his fierce defense of gun control back to bipartisanship.

Kamala Harris goes to the heart of the problem of trade – it's about selling things

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We have a guy at the White House who has had an erratic policy, he leads the commercial policy by tweet, frankly born of his fragile ego. This has resulted in farmers in Iowa with soybeans rotting in bins going bankrupt.

When we look at this issue, my trade policy, under a Harris administration, will always be that we export US goods, not US jobs, and to do that we need to have an effective trade policy.

I am not a protectionist democrat. Look, we have to sell our stuff. And that means we have to sell it to people abroad. This means that we need trade policies that allow this. You talked earlier about China, it's a complicated relationship. We must hold China accountable. They steal our products, including our intellectual property. They dump non-compliant products into our economy. They must be responsible. We must also associate with China on the climate and the crisis that presents. We must establish a partnership with China on the issue of North Korea.

I am a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and I am the only person on this stage. We need a partner on the issue of North Korea. But the bottom line is this: Donald Trump, head of trade policy, reminds me of this guy The Wizard of Ozwhen you pull the curtain, it's a really small guy.

While Democrats as a whole have expressed more commercial skepticism than they did under the Obama administration, Harris has made it clear that it will not join them. It has distanced itself from other Democrats, such as Sanders and Warren, who have expressed more protectionist views, but also from Trump, who has overthrown the principle of conventional Republican free trade.

Harris has succinctly and easily explained her case: "We have to sell our products." She has also identified the nuances of the relationship between the United States and China. It is also important to work with her on North Korea and the climate.