32 Important Moments From the Flint Democratic Debate
During the Republican debate in Detroit last week, Ted Cruz earned booming applause from the hometown audience for his quip that the city had been “utterly decimated by 60 years of failed left-wing policy.”
The Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, Sunday was in many ways a defiant reproof of that idea. Two days before the Michigan primary, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took questions from the state’s residents and CNN moderators about the policies they would institute as president to address everything from the Flint water crisis to controlling gun access, in light of the Kalamazoo shooting.
Here were some of the debate’s top moments, highlighting the candidates’ disagreements as well as their shared positions.
On Flint
1. “The governor of this state should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible. He should resign.” -Bernie Sanders
2. “The governor should resign or be recalled, and we should support the efforts of citizens attempting to achieve that.” -Hillary Clinton
3. “I know the state of Michigan has a rainy-day fund for emergencies…. It is raining lead in Flint and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money that is required.” -Hillary Clinton
4. “If local government does not have the resources, if state government for whatever reason refuses to act, children in America should not be poisoned — federal government comes in, federal government acts.” -Bernie Sanders
5. “How did we have so much money available to go to war in Iraq and spent trillions of dollars but somehow not have enough money just for Flint.” – Bernie Sanders
6. “You are paying three times more for poisoned water in Flint than I am in Burlington, Vermont, for clean water.” – Bernie Sanders
7. “Maybe we should let Wall Street come in and run the city of Flint because we know their honesty and integrity has done so much for the American people.” -Bernie Sanders, responding to a question about whether the expansion of government was to blame for the Flint crisis
8. “President Sanders would fire anybody who knew about what was happening and did not act appropriately.” -Bernie Sanders
9. Hillary Clinton: “I voted to save the auto industry; he voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry.”
Bernie Sanders: “If you are talking about the Wall Street bail-out, where some of your friends destroyed this economy…. Excuse me, I’m talking.”
Hillary Clinton: “If you’re going to talk, tell the whole story, Sen. Sanders.”
Bernie Sanders: “Let me tell my story, you tell yours.”
10. “Secretary Clinton says I’m a one-issue candidate. I guess so. My one issue is trying to rebuild a disappearing middle class. That’s my one issue.” -Bernie Sanders
11. “Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America.” -Bernie Sanders
12. “You didn’t need a PhD in economics to understand that American workers should not be forced to compete with people in Mexico making 25 cents an hour.” -Bernie Sanders
13. “I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton discovered religion on this issue, but it’s a little bit too late. Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of the disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America” -Bernie Sanders on the Trans-Pacific Partnership