The terrorist attacks in Paris cast a heavy spell over Saturday night’s second Democratic debate, but that didn’t stop the three Democratic presidential candidates onstage from engaging in tense and at times heated exchanges over foreign policy, gun control and Wall Street.
Here are the biggest moments from the Democratic debate, hosted by CBS News--
Clinton distances herself from Obama
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state in the Obama administration, wasted no time contrasting with her former boss when asked about confronting Islamic State in the wake of Friday’s attacks in Paris. “ISIS (another acronym for IS) cannot be contained, it must be defeated,” she said. On Thursday, before the attacks in France, President Barack Obama said of ISIS, “from the start, our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them.”
Jihadists? Yes; Radical Islamists? No
Clinton was pressed on whether she would agree with the notion, held by many Republicans, that the US is at war with “radical Islam.” But she appeared uncomfortable using that term, a dynamic on which Republicans on social media were quick to pounce.“I don’t think we’re at war with Islam, I don’t think we’re at war with all Muslims, I think we’re at war with jihadists,” she said. “…You can talk about Islamists who clearly are also jihadists.”
Clinton takes heat over Wall Street support
Both Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley tore into Clinton over the support she enjoys from Wall Street donors. Her explanation—that she has a record of pushing reforms on financial institutions, and has a tough plan to further rein in Wall Street, so her donors know what they’re getting into—is “not good enough,” Sanders said. “Why, over her political career, has Wall Street been…the major campaign contributor” to Clinton, Sanders asked. “Maybe they’re dumb, they don’t know what they’re going to get, but I don’t think so.” Clinton suggested that part of her support from Wall Street goes back to the work she did as a US senator from New York in the wake of September 11, which directly affected Manhattan’s financial district.
Sanders under attack on guns
Sanders was next up to feel the pressure, as both Clinton and O’Malley criticised him over his relatively conservative record on gun control. In one of the better moments for Clinton, the front-runner went after the Vermont senator for his position on gun control, forcing him to review his record over and over again. “I know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gunmakers and sellers,” she said. Sanders, trying to defuse the moment, said at one point in the exchange, “I don’t know if there’s any disagreement here.” “Oh yes there is,” interjected O’Malley, who also sought to denigrate Clinton’s record on gun control, saying that when she last ran for president she portrayed herself as “Annie Oakley,” and accused her of being on “three sides of this” issue.