Jill Stein on Civil Rights : Oct 15, 2024
Rejects endorsement from white supremacist leader

"Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed Green Party nominee Jill Stein over Donald Trump, citing their stances on Israel this week--but Stein's campaign says it wants nothing to do with the former American Nazi Party member," NBC News reports.

"Duke, a proudly anti-Semitic white supremacist, endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020 but on his radio show Monday, he slammed the former president's 'subservience to Israel and to the Jewish lobby' and said only Stein will stand up to Israel and its 'genocide' against Palestinians."

Nikki Haley on Abortion : Feb 21, 2024
IVF frozen embryos should be protected like babies

"Embryos, to me, are babies," Haley told NBC News in an interview, adding that she used artificial insemination to have her son, a different process than IVF that doesn't present the same complexities around creating embryos in a lab. "When you talk about an embryo, you are talking about, to me, that's a life. And so I do see where that's coming from when they talk about that."

Asked if legislation and rulings like the one in Alabama could have a chilling effect on families using IVF to become parents, Haley said, "This is one where we need to be incredibly respectful and sensitive about it." Haley added: "Every woman needs to know, with her partner, what she's looking at. And then when you look at that, then you make the decision that's best for your family."

Francis Suarez on Civil Rights : Jan 22, 2024
Country should be pro-equal rights for LGBTQ community

Nikki Haley on Civil Rights : Jan 4, 2024
Everybody associates the Civil War with slavery

HALEY: If you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery. You grow up and you have -- you know, I had Black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina when it comes to, you know, slavery, when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War, all that. I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward. I shouldn't have done that. I should have said 'slavery.' But in my mind, that's a given, that everybody associates the Civil War with slavery.

Francis Suarez on Education : Jun 16, 2023
Expanding "Don't Say Gay" to all grades is excessive

Joe Biden on Health Care : Jan 20, 2021
Mandate COVID masks in all federal buildings

PROMISE KEPT: (Executive Order on Mask-Wearing, 1/20/21): The heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall immediately take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to require compliance with CDC guidelines with respect to wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, & other public health measures by: on-duty or on-site Federal employees; on-site Federal contractors; and all persons in Federal buildings or on Federal lands.

OnTheIssues ANALYSIS: "Mask mandates" are a core political issue at the state level: whether to mandate masks for state employees (as Biden has done for federal employees), versus for the public at-large (which Biden has not done).

Joe Biden on Health Care : Sep 29, 2020
A hundred million people have pre-existing conditions

TRUMP: There aren't a hundred million people with pre-existing conditions. Joe, the hundred million people is totally wrong. I don't know where you got that number.

FactCheck by NBC News, Sept. 20: A 2017 study from the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that about 133 million people had a pre-existing condition that would make them unable to buy insurance.

Joe Biden on Homeland Security : Sep 29, 2020
FactCheck: Yes, Hunter Biden was kicked out of military

TRUMP: Hunter got thrown out of the military. He was thrown out, dishonorably discharged.

BIDEN: That's not true; he was not dishonorably discharged.

TRUMP: For cocaine use.

BIDEN: None of that is true.

Fact-Check from NBC News, Oct. 16, 2014, headline "Joe Biden's Son Hunter Kicked Out of Navy for Cocaine"

A U.S. official told NBC News that Hunter Biden was kicked out of the Reserve earlier this year after he failed a drug test. The official said Biden failed the test in 2013, but he was not kicked out until Feb. 14 of this year. Senior US officials told NBC News that Biden, 44, tested positive for cocaine. Hunter Biden issued a statement saying: "It was the honor of my life to serve in the US Navy, and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge. I respect the Navy's decision. With the love and support of my family, I'm moving forward."

Mike Pence on Principles & Values : Sep 22, 2020
I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem

Howie Hawkins on Homeland Security : Jul 12, 2020
Abolish nuclear weapons, WMDs, and land mines

Our government should establish a policy to abolish nuclear weapons:
• Declare a no-first-strike policy.
• Declare a no-pre-emptive strike policy.
• Declare that the U.S. will never threaten or use a nuclear weapon on a non-nuclear nation.
• Sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
• Reverse our withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• End the research, testing and stockpiling of all nuclear weapons of any size.
• Dismantle all nuclear warheads from their missiles.
• We urge our government to sign the Toronto treaty banning the production, stockpiling, use and sale of land mines, and assist other nations in unearthing and disabling land mines buried in their lands.
• We urge our government to end all stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons and all research, use, and sale of such weapons.
• The U.S. must allow foreign teams to visit the U.S. for verification purposes at least annually.

Donald Trump on Free Trade : Dec 31, 2019
Fact check: Trump claims China is paying new tariffs

Economists and experts told NBC News this is false. Consumers purchasing foreign goods are the ones who picked up the tab. J.P. Morgan estimated the cost of these tariffs on average U.S. families was more than $1,000.

Tulsi Gabbard on Principles & Values : Oct 20, 2019
Hillary Clinton & military-industrial complex smearing me

Marianne Williamson on Homeland Security : Jul 24, 2018
Remove pathological romanticization of the military

We need a miracle of God to remove from us what has become an almost pathological romanticization of the military. I have a great respect for the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, but their idealization as ultimate and exclusive saviors in times of national distress is a disservice to them and to us all. If America spent more time and resources waging peace, we would find ourselves waging far less war.

Donald Trump on Principles & Values : Aug 2, 2016
Talked about running for president since 1985

Trump again declared his candidacy in 2012. Trump's campaign then had a purpose other than moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His real goal, we surmised, was a more lucrative contract with the NBC television network for his aging "Celebrity Apprentice" show. As such, journalists gave little regard to his announcement for the 2016 election.

But this time things were different. I'd spent decades as an investigative reporter, reporting on him, and I had kept my files. When Trump announced his bid for the Republican nomination for the 2016 election, I knew it was for real.

Mike Pence on War & Peace : Jul 15, 2016
Supported Iraq war and sending more US troops there in 2007

Marco Rubio on Homeland Security : Feb 13, 2016
George W. Bush kept us safe and dealt with Hussein

KASICH: We thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern times said there were weapons there. The fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. If there weren't weapons of mass destruction we should never have gone.

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Feb 13, 2016
The war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake

Marco Rubio on War & Peace : May 17, 2015
No mistake to invade Iraq in 2003; we thought Iraq had WMDs

RUBIO: Well, not only would I have not been in favor of it, President Bush would not have been in favor of it. And he said so.

Q: So, it made sense to invade Iraq in 2003, but now you say it was a mistake?

RUBIO: That was not the same question. The question was whether it was a mistake. And my answer was it's not a mistake. I still say it was not a mistake, because the president was presented with intelligence that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, it was governed by a man who had committed atrocities in the past with weapons of mass destruction.

Jill Stein on War & Peace : Sep 29, 2010
End our military misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are costing Massachusetts $3.4 billion per year. That money could go a long way toward creating jobs here in Massachusetts. Rather than serving as a Pentagon propagandist and obediently sending our National Guard off for yet another tour of duty, the Governor of Massachusetts should be telling President Obama that we need to end the wars, bring our National Guard home, and heal our economy.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 1, 2008
2002: Waiting to be sure of Saddam danger could be too late

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al-Qaeda members."
--Sen. Hillary Clinton, Oct. 10, 2002

"Saddam Hussein certainly has chemical and biological weapons. There's no question about that."
--Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Nov. 17, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
--Sen. Edward Kennedy, Sept. 27, 2003

"If we wait for the danger to become clear, it could be too late."
--Sen. Joseph Biden, Sept. 4, 2002

Mike Huckabee on War & Peace : Jan 27, 2008
Saddam might have had WMD and got them to Syria before 2003

Q: Oh, I don't have any evidence. But he was the one who announced openly that he did have weapons of mass destruction. My point was that, no, we didn't find them. Did they get into Syria? Did they get into some remote area of Jordan? Did they go to some other place? We don't know. They may not have existed. But simply saying, "We didn't find them, so therefore they didn't exist," is a bit of an overreach.

Mike Huckabee on War & Peace : Jan 24, 2008
Failing to find the WMDs doesn't mean they weren't there

A: I supported Bush when he led us into this. We owe him our thanks that he had the courage to recognize a potential of weapons of mass destruction, and whether than wait until we had another attack, he went and made sure that it wasn't going to happen from Saddam Hussein. Everybody can say we didn't find the weapons. It doesn't mean they weren't there. Just because you didn't find every Easter egg didn't mean that it wasn't planted.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Apr 29, 2007
Vote for war allowed war only after all else failed

A: Oh, I did. I called every intelligence agency before the Foreign Relations Committee, had them all sit there at once. I pointed out to all my colleagues who came that there was vast disagreement among the intelligence community.

Q: But despite the doubts you heard, you voted for the war.

A: I voted to give the president the authority to avoid a war. We had a more constrictive amendment, but he had 55 votes no matter what.

A: It allowed the president to go to war. It did not authorize him to go to it. You make it sound like it said, "Mr. President, go to war." It said, "Mr President, don't go to war." It said "go to the United Nations. Try to get a deal. Get the inspectors back in. Tell us that that's what you're about to do. And, Mr. President, if all else fails, you have authority to use force." That's what it said.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Apr 29, 2007
In 2002 Saddam posed a threat of purchasing a nuclear bomb

A: I was correct about that. I also said at the time that I did not think he had weaponized his material, but he did have these stockpiles everywhere.

A: It turned out they didn't, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. What he did with them, who knows?

Q: Gen. Zinni, when he heard the discussion about WMD that Saddam had, said, "I've never heard that" in any of the briefings he had as head of the Central Command. How could you as a US Senator be so wrong?

A: I wasn't wrong. When asked about aluminum tubes, I said they're for artillery. I don't believe they're for cascading.

Q: But you said Saddam was a threat.

A: He was a threat.

Q: In what way?

A: If Saddam was left unfettered, with sanctions lifted and billions in his coffers, then he had the ability to purchase a tactical nuclear weapon.

Mike Huckabee on War & Peace : Jan 4, 2007
Make sure we finish the job in Iraq and finish it right

It may well be that the intelligence on which the decision was made was incomplete or flawed, but had we failed to topple Saddam's empire and he had utilized WMDs against us, there would have been an even greater anger that we failed to act.

Now that we have gone to Iraq, one thing is certain--we need to make sure that we finish the job and finish it right. If we were to pull out prematurely and allow tyranny to be restored to that nation, the ripple effect throughout the Middle East and the world would be profound.

Howie Hawkins on War & Peace : Nov 1, 2006
Immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq

A: Yes.

Q: Should the US withdraw its troops from Iraq?

A: Yes.

Q: Discuss your proposals for an exit strategy in Iraq.

A: Immediate and unconditional withdrawal. The real US military mission was to establish military bases and control the oil, not WMDs, terrorism, and democracy as the politicians spun it. The mission was imperialistic. It was wrong and it should stop.