Interviews during 2018-2020: on Principles & Values

Joe Biden: People not looking for a revolution: looking for results

Joe Biden: AdWatch: World laughs at Trump for dangerous incompetence

Narrator 1: "World leaders caught on camera laughing about Pres. Trump"

Narrator 2: "Several world leaders mocking Pres. Trump"

Narrator 3: "They're laughing at him"

Pres. Trump [speaking at the United Nations in Sept. 2018]: "My administration has accomplished more than almost any other administration in the history of our country"

[Audience laughs]

President Trump: "Didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK."

Narrator 4: "World leaders mocking and ridiculing him for being completely off-balance."

Joe Biden: "The world sees Trump for what he is--insincere, ill-informed, corrupt, dangerously incompetent, and incapable, in my view, of world leadership. And if we give Donald Trump four more years, we'll have a great deal of difficulty of ever being able to recover America's standing in the world, and our capacity to bring nations together."

Video text: "We need a leader the world respects. Biden for President."

Joe Biden: FactCheck:Yes, entered & left Congress as one of the poorest

We looked for outside data on [entering Congress poor] and did not find much, but indications are Biden didn't have much wealth. Roll Call magazine has done wealth rankings, but only for members of Congress and dating back only to 1990. The summary Biden reported outside income in 1973 of $6,050, all from speeches.

On Biden's second claim about leaving as one of the poorest officials in government, Biden's estimated net worth was -$52,493 in 2007. In other words, it appeared that his debts outpaced his assets. Biden again ranked near the bottom: 577 of 581 officials in 2014: his estimated net worth was -$947,987. Since leaving the White House, Biden has reaped millions.

Marianne Williamson: Requested that her donors support Mike Gravel

"You may not have heard of him because he hasn't yet qualified for any debates," the email reads, referring to Gravel. "But his voice is important."

The email, signed by Williamson, touts Gravel's body of work in Congress and "diverse and provocative" voice as reasons he should be on the debate stage next to her. "Thanks to you, I'm on the debate stage. I'm using this platform, granted to me by you, to ask for your help," and asks donors to consider giving Gravel a dollar to increase his individual donor count.

[Gravel made the donor count but did not make the cut for the 20 slots in the July debate].

Mike Gravel: Made debate donor count with help from opponent Williamson

"You may not have heard of him because he hasn't yet qualified for any debates," the email reads, referring to Gravel. "But his voice is important."

The email, signed by Williamson, touts Gravel's body of work in Congress and "diverse and provocative" voice as reasons he should be on the debate stage next to her. "Thanks to you, I'm on the debate stage. I'm using this platform, granted to me by you, to ask for your help," and asks donors to consider giving Gravel a dollar to increase his individual donor count.

[Gravel made the donor count but did not make the cut for the 20 slots in the July debate].

Joe Biden: We are in a battle for the soul of this nation

"With those words, the president of the United assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it," Biden charged. "And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had seen in my lifetime. We are in the battle for the soul of this nation."

Kirsten Gillibrand: Pushed to oust Al Franken from Senate for sexual harassment

Key criticisms of Kirsten Gillibrand:
• Al Franken: Some Democrats are upset that Gillibrand moved to oust Franken from the Senate without a public hearing.
• Staff sexual harassment: One of Gillibrand's staffers resigned over the handling of a sexual harassment complaint against one of the senator's closest aides, showing her office to be at odds with her public persona as a champion of sexual harassment victims.

Michael Bennet: Family includes Mayflower descendants & Holocaust survivors

Pete Buttigieg: God does not have a political party

Eric Swalwell: If you work hard it adds up to dreaming bigger

Ye gods. If you work hard it adds up to dreaming bigger? Eric Swalwell, what does that mean? Making it even worse is that this is apparently not just something that slipped out of his mouth: It's an Eric Swalwell catchphrase. Here he is last November:

@RepSwalwell: "The economy is NOT the stock market, the unemployment rate, or GDP. It's YOU. Are you doing better, saving more, and looking at your kids and dreaming bigger? This @MarketWatch story shows for 3 out of 4 of us, the economy is not working. Let's make it work for ALL. #TrumpSlump"

And last April at a speech in Iowa: "The economy is you. It's how you're doing. Whether you're saving more, doing better, and dreaming bigger."

Pete Buttigieg: Supports religious values and separation of church and state

Mike Gravel: 2008: YouTube political "video art" went viral

So it stood out when Gravel released The Rock, a satori-inducing clip in which the former senator stares silently at the camera for more than a minute, then turns, heaves a rock into a body of water, watches it splash, and walks away.

Or Fire, which begins with some brief footage of the candidate hiking through the woods before settling in for a Warholian seven-minute shot of the blaze.

But the best Gravel video, the one that truly captures the late-hippie ethos of the campaign, is a mash-up of John Lennon, and Duck and Cover [entitled "power to the people vs give peace a chance"]. It made me feel like voting for the guy, and I say that as someone who never feels like voting for anyone:

Pete Buttigieg: Progressive, but not concerned with labels

John Hickenlooper: Work with Republicans to advance progressive priorities

His biggest idea: During his hour-long interview Mr Hickenlooper said that the 2020 presidential race would be a "campaign of ideas". So, after his talk, I asked him which ideas set him out from the crowd. "I think I'm the one person that demonstrates the idea of action, of actually accomplishing things," he said.

"Action" isn't really an idea, I said. He went on to talk about healthcare, environmental regulation and workforce training. It wasn't exactly stand-apart-from-the-crowd material.

His biggest challenge: Mr Hickenlooper's focus on co-operation may have won him political success in Colorado, but it also made him some fierce critics.

Julian Castro: Make America smartest, healthiest, fairest & most prosperous

Pete Buttigieg: Would be youngest president ever, and first mayor

His biggest obstacle: The possible "firsts" are also obstacles. He's young. And the mayor's office of a small Indiana town, with its small constituency, is an unlikely seat from which to launch a presidential campaign. Mr Buttigieg will be hard-pressed to break through against better-funded, more experienced candidates. Chances are, however, he'll still be around in politics long after many of them are gone and he thinks his age is a plus. "It allows me to communicate to the country a vision about what our country is going to look like in 2054," he said. "That's the year I get to the current age of the current president."

Tulsi Gabbard: To understand socialism, look at Venezuela

The audience applauded. Perhaps they sympathised. Just a day earlier, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told a South by Southwest audience that capitalism was "irredeemable", while elsewhere possible independent candidate Howard Schultz praised capitalism and said to understand socialism you should "look at Venezuela".

When the terms of the debate can't even be agreed upon, what's the chance of a useful answer? Democrats might want to follow the Hawaiian's lead and avoid trying to answer.

Tulsi Gabbard: Labels like "capitalist" and "socialist" are misused

The audience applauded. Perhaps they sympathised. Just a day earlier, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told a South by Southwest audience that capitalism was "irredeemable", while elsewhere possible independent candidate Howard Schultz praised capitalism and said to understand socialism you should "look at Venezuela".

When the terms of the debate can't even be agreed upon, what's the chance of a useful answer? Democrats might want to follow the Hawaiian's lead and avoid trying to answer.

Michael Bennet: Most Democrats are not socialists and should say so

Joe Biden: Restore America's soul: bigotry is not an American value

Mike Bloomberg: American Cities Initiative philanthropies gave away $6.4B

[Via Bloomberg Philanthropies], Bloomberg's giving covers five major areas--environment, public health, government innovation, the arts and education--and last year totaled $787 million, making him the nation's second-most generous philanthropist behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Through one of his biggest programs, the American Cities Initiative, Bloomberg has helped municipalities and activists grapple with everything from climate change to guns to obesity. The initiative is an outgrowth of Bloomberg's time as New York City mayor and has helped sow goodwill with mayors and former mayors throughout the country, giving him possible entr‚e to a layer of local political support that conventional candidates lack.

Andrew Yang: Subsidize journalists to do local reporting

Amy Klobuchar: Minnesota Nice: reliable, calm, aw-shucks bipartisanship

As Democrats look ahead to 2020, do they need a calm, reasoned, reliable (but not flashy) Democrat from the American heartland to provide a stark contrast to the president--in short, Amy Klobuchar?

"I don't agree with, 'When they go low, we go low,' but I do agree that when they go low, we have to respond," Klobuchar said, referring to the intraparty debate over Michelle Obama's 2016 mantra: "When they go low, we go high."

"But," she went on, "responding doesn't mean just going down a rabbit hole everywhere Donald Trump goes. I don't think we want to tweet caustic comments every morning."

Amy Klobuchar: Nicknamed "The Senator of Small Things," but some are big

Early in her tenure, she carved out a niche in consumer protection, shepherding passage of bipartisan bills to ban lead in toys and improve swimming pool safety after several highly publicized child deaths, measures that Republican strategists in Minnesota said have earned Ms. Klobuchar a derisive nickname: "The Senator of Small Things."

Ms. Klobuchar has heard the "small things" criticism, and resents it. "Not for a minute do I view these as small things," she said sharply. "They're big things for the people whose kids' lives were saved."

Kamala Harris: Co-sponsored Do No Harm Act: keep church and state separate

Americans United supports the legislation. AU's President said that "the Do No Harm Act will ensure that we honor two core American values: religious freedom and the promise of equal protection under the law."

Congress enacted the federal RFRA in 1993 with the goal of protecting religious freedom, especially for religious minorities. At that time, a broad coalition of progressive & conservative groups supported the law. But since then, the federal RFRA has been misinterpreted by some courts and has become a vehicle for those who want to use religion to undermine protections for civil rights and access to health care.

Bill de Blasio: Religious identity: spiritual but not religious

Mayor Bill de Blasio is now perhaps the nation's most visible "none," an icon of one of the nation's fastest-growing religious groups--those without any formal religious identification.

His election could reflect a new kind of American politician--one who is shaped by religion and religious values but is not expected to talk about or bow to religion as in years past.

[His transition team's spiritual advisor says], "What drives him are his fundamental beliefs about liberation theology when it comes to social justice, our responsibility to care for all who are on this earth. I heard him on several occasions say 'Amen' when he felt very strongly about something."

Mike Bloomberg: Keep religion and politics separate

Bloomberg, who is Jewish, declined to feature clergy at 9/11 commemorations and strongly defended a proposal to build an Islamic community center near Ground Zero. He also supported New York Police Department surveillance of Muslim mosques and neighborhoods.

[Mayor-elect Bill] De Blasio said Bloomberg governed with a "blind spot" to faith-based groups. "I don't think the mayor really understands how crucial it is to protecting the fabric of the city," de Blasio said.

[A religion pundit noted, "the city has debated requiring pregnancy centers to post signs that they do not perform abortions. And the 'stop-and-frisk' police tactic, which some argued resulted in racial profiling, remains controversial, especially in the city's influential black churches."