6th Democratic Primary Debate: on Principles & Values


Bernie Sanders: Trump has documentedly lied thousands of times as President

Q: Why do you think more people are not in support of impeachment & what else can you do?

Sanders: We have a president who is a pathological liar. We have a president who is running the most corrupt administration in the modern history of this country. And we have a president who is a fraud, because during his campaign he told working people one thing, and he ended up doing something else. I believe, and I will personally be doing this in the coming weeks and months, is making the case that we have a president who has sold out the working families of this country, who wants to cut social security, Medicare, and Medicaid, after he promised he would not do that, and who has documentedly lied thousands of times since he is president. And the case to be made is, yeah, certainly, I disagree with Trump on virtually all of his policies, but what conservatives, I think, understand, is that we cannot have a president with that temperament, who is dishonoring the presidency of the United States.

Source: December Democratic primary debate on impeaching Trump Dec 19, 2019

Cory Booker: This election is about all of us standing together

We're only gonna tape this ad once, because I'm not a billionaire. I won't be on tonight's debate stage, but that's okay, because I'm gonna win this election anyway. This election isn't about who can spend the most money or who can sling the most mud -- it's about the people. It's about all of us, standing together, fighting together. Not just to beat Donald Trump, but to bring about the transformative change we need. Go to CoryBooker.com and join us. I'm Cory Booker and I approve this message.
Source: AdWatch: 30-second TV ad during Dec. Democrat primary debate Dec 19, 2019

Elizabeth Warren: Prosecute Trump for corruption and violating constitution

I see this as a constitutional moment. We've now seen the impact of corruption, and what's clearly on the stage in 2020, is how we are going to run against the most corrupt president in living history. This president has made corruption, originally, his argument, that he would drain the swamp. And yet he came to Washington, broke that promise, and has done everything he can for the wealthy and the
Source: December Democratic primary debate on impeaching Trump Dec 19, 2019

Elizabeth Warren: I don't sell access to my time to big-dollar donors

I do not sell access to my time. I don't do call-time with millionaires and billionaires. I don't meet behind closed doors with big dollar donors. If you want to donate to me, that's fine, but don't come around expecting to be named ambassador. If you can't stand up to the wealthy when it's relatively easy when you're a candidate, how can the American people believe you're going to stand up to the wealthy and well-connected when you're president and it's really hard.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

Joe Biden: Constitutional necessity to impeach, do not re-elect Trump

It was a constitutional necessity for the House to act as it did, and Trump's response to suggest that only half of the American people want to see him thrown out of office. We need to restore the integrity of the presidency. My job is to just go out and make the case why he doesn't deserve to be president of United States for another four years.
Source: December Democratic primary debate on impeaching Trump Dec 19, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: Congress had no choice but to impeach Trump

This is beyond public opinion, beyond polls, beyond politics. The president left the House with no choice, and I think a lot of us are watching this process, watching Washington go through the motions and not expecting much, but a foregone conclusion when it gets to the Senate. We cannot give in to that sense of helplessness because that's what they want. They want us to be taken in by that cynicism where we give up on the process altogether.
Source: December Democratic primary debate on impeaching Trump Dec 19, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: I'm the only presidential candidate who's not a millionaire

Sen. Elizabeth Warren [to Buttigieg]: The mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine. Think about who comes to that. He had promised that every fundraiser he would do would be open door, but this one was closed door. We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States. Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.

Pete Buttigieg: I am the only person on this stage who's not a millionaire or a billionaire. This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. If I pledge never to be in the company of a progressive democratic donor, I couldn't be up here. Senator Warren, your net worth is 100 times mine. Now, supposing you went home and decided to go on to Pete for america.com and give the maximum allowable by law. Would that pollute my campaign because it came from a wealthy person? No.

Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: No purity tests: welcome Republicans and wealthy people

This is our chance to defeat Trump. The way we're going to win is to bring everybody to our side. If that means you're a grad student digging deep to chip in 10 bucks, that's great. If you can drop $1,000 without blinking, that's great too. I'm not going to turn away anyone who wants to help us defeat Trump. We need Democrats, but we also need independents. If you were Republican, disgusted with what's going on in your party, we're not going to agree on everything, but we need you.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

Tom Steyer: Trump officials should testify for court of public opinion

I'm the person who started The Need to Impeach movement. Over eight and a half million signed that petition. It's a question of right and wrong. If we want the people to understand what's going on, we need to have administration officials testify on TV so we can judge. The court that counts here is the court of public opinion. If we want Republican senators to do the right thing, we need their constituents to see the truth, and tell them, "Get rid of this guy or we'll get rid of you."
Source: December Democratic primary debate on impeaching Trump Dec 19, 2019

  • The above quotations are from Democratic Primary Debate, December 19 at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, co-hosted by PBS Newshour and Politico.com.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Principles & Values.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Deval Patrick on Principles & Values.
  • Click here for more quotes by Mike Bloomberg on Principles & Values.
2020 Presidential contenders on Principles & Values:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN)
Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Dec 27, 2019