CBS "Face the Nation" interviews during 2018: on Principles & Values

Bernie Sanders: Learn from Gingrich in 1994: propose bold Democratic agenda

SANDERS: You pick up on what I wrote in a Washington Post op-ed: back in 1994 Newt Gingrich--who I disagree with on everything--had a bold right wing agenda, and I think we should learn from that. This is what the American people want. And we should do it. Poll after poll shows that the American people understand that our current dysfunctional health care system needs fundamental change; that we have to deal with a broken criminal justice system; with immigration reform. The question is whether Congress has the guts to stand up to the big money interests who want more tax breaks for the rich, who want to cut Social Security. Or we stand up for the shrinking middle class and we demand legislation which represents the working families of this country.

John Kerry: Let's get back to fact-based democracy

KERRY: You work to implement our democracy by reaching out across the aisle, by building relationships. But right now we have a culture divide. Our political so-called leaders are operating in a fact-less world. My book is a display of the ways in which you challenge those who would try to tear it apart and not deal with facts and how you in fact can hold the system accountable and get back to the fact-based democracy we rely on.

Q: Are you going to be hitting the campaign trail?

KERRY: You bet I am. I think that's the most important work we can do right now--trying to elect people on a national basis and restore the leadership that the country needs.

Q: Are you going to run in 2020?

KERRY: I'm really not thinking about it. Talking about 2020 right now is a total distraction and waste of time. What we need to do is focus on 2018.

Jennifer Wexton: Women run in 2018 because Trump makes democracy look fragile

JENNIFER WEXTON: I think Donald Trump has a lot to do with it. I think a lot of women woke up after the November election in 2016 and realized that democracy is a lot more fragile than any of us wanted to admit. And that the only way we were going to change things would be to get off the sidelines and run ourselves.

Mike Bloomberg: Trump was not a business manager; I ran large organizations

BLOOMBERG: I would give him an incomplete grade. The style of changing your mind every day, and the turnover in the administration is really dangerous.

Q: His compelling case was that he came from the world of business, as you did.

BLOOMBERG: No, he didn't. He was a real estate developer. He didn't manage large numbers of people, he didn't run big organizations. He was not really a business person.

Q: Do you see some management issues, then?

BLOOMBERG: Management is like skiing. You don't read a book on skiing and then go out and ski double black diamonds. Management is something you learn over a period of time and you have to manage larger and larger groups of people and make more and more difficult decisions and live with those decisions as you go. This president does not have experience in running large organizations.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Republican Party needs to attract women & minorities

ROS-LEHTINEN: When you look at the future of the Republican Party, I think that we will be foolish to not see that we're heading into trouble. Very few women are running on the Republican Party ticket for office. Far greater numbers of women are identifying themselves as being in the Democratic Party. Minorities that have always been traditionally a group that we should really be going after, I don't see that we really have a recruiting program that's active to get minorities involved in our party. So the growth of our party, it seems to be very limited in the specific group, whereas the demographics of our great country is changing greatly. And when you look ahead, what's our future going to be? Are we going to end up a marginalized party? I think that we need to look toward the future and we need to have the policies that attract millennials, women, and minorities. I don't see that.

Jeff Flake: Republican Party needs to attract millennials & minorities

Rep. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R-FL): Very few women are running on the Republican Party ticket for office. Far greater numbers of women are identifying themselves as being in the Democratic Party. I don't see that we really have a recruiting program that's active to get minorities involved in our party.

FLAKE: I agree with Ileana in terms of where the Republican Party is going and the danger. Every presidential election cycle, we are, as a country, 2% less white. You know, voters of color, it's changing that way. And I don't think that we've made enough of an effort, as Republicans, to appeal across the broader electorate. And then with young people as well. Given some of the position and the behavior that the president has exhibited, I think it makes it very difficult for young people to identify with the Republican Party. They've been walking away from the party in general.