The February 11th Democratic Debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was moderated by Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill.  They began with opening statements.  Some people may remember Judy Woodruff from CNN, but she was such a horrible failure, she had to go to work for the unconstitutionally publicly funded PBS.  When the market says they don’t want them, libs go to work for government and the public has no choice.

Bernie Sanders: Well, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event and PBS, thank you.  Nine months ago, our campaign began.  And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont.  But you were running against only one viable candidate, one who is a known criminal.  Not a tough race.  A lot has happened in nine months.  And what has happened is, I think the American people have responded to a serious of basic truths.  Hillary’s crime spree.  And that is that we have today, a campaign finance system, which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice.  And aligned with the corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy.  And that’s an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages.  They’re worried to death about the future of their kids.  And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top one percent.  And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system.  They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on Earth, 2.2 million.  We’re spending 80 billion dollar a year locking up fellow Americans.  They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting a prison… getting a criminal record while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all.  No criminal records for them.  I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics.  They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors.  Thank you.  The average Bernie voter doesn’t know what “economy” means, let alone anything about campaign finance.  They just hear, free, free, free!

Hillary Clinton: I’m running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back.  That’s why she isn’t getting any votes.  There are no barriers left.  She’s running a 1920s campaign in 2016.  The little greedy girls who are supporting Bernie don’t know anything about a glass ceiling.  They think everyone is gender neutral.  When Bruce Jenner can just identify as a woman and tada, he’s accepted as a woman, there is no glass ceiling for women anymore.  And to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give ever American a chance to advance.  Especially those who have been left out and left behind.  I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy and for good cause.  Americans haven’t had a raise in 15 years.  Yes they have.  She say 15 in order to try to blame Bush.  The economy was great until Democrats took over Congress and Obama was elected.  We had great raises every hear.  Since then, not so much.  There aren’t enough good paying jobs, especially for young people.  It didn’t help when millions lost entry level jobs as waitresses, cooks, bartenders, etc. when bars across America were closed down after liberal pushed smoking bans went into affect. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top.  We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks Main Street again.  But I want to go further.  I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now.  African Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system.  Hard working (illegal) immigrant families living in fear who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future.  They have so much to offer, yet failed to offer it in their own countries.  Guaranteeing that women’s work finally gets the pay, the equal pay, that we deserve.  A myth, unless the woman is on Hillary’s payroll.  I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential.  That will be my mission as president.  If it is their potential, why do they need you?  And I think together, we will make progress.  

Judy Woodruff said that the federal government spends 21% of the total U.S. economy and asked Bernie how much bigger he would make government.  He wouldn’t answer and ran on about the top 1% and how government could hire 13 million people to build bridges and said, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure that all of our people have a decent standard of living.  Hillary said that her estimate is that Bernie would increase the size of government by 40%.

Bernie said that he would charge middle class Americans $500 more in tax for health care to make sure everyone had health care, because he considers health care a right.  It’s your right to have more money taken from you and to be forced to accept government controlled health care.

They argued over public education.  Bernie said college should be free for everyone.  Hillary said there should be a compact between colleges, students and parents to make it more affordable.  Bernie said, Here’s where we are with public education.  100-150 years ago, incredibly brave Americans said, you know what?  Working class kids, low income kids, should not have to work in factories, or on the farms.  Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education.  And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment, was from first grade through 12th grade.  The world has changed.  This is 2016.  In many ways, a college degree today, is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago.  I agree, public school is useless.  Kids don’t learn jack in high school today, since the federal government got involved with the unconstitutional Department of Education.  If government got out of our public schools and left it to the local communities, our kids could get a much better education without needing to go to college to learn how to get a job.  Really?  You have to be a quarter of a century old before you qualify to go out and start earning your own way through life?   He went on.  Free tuition at public colleges and universities should be a right of all Americans, regardless of the income of their families.

Woodruff called Hillary out on 55% of New Hampshire voters voting for Bernie after she has been chasing women voters for so long and wants to be the first woman President.  She asked Hillary what women are missing?  Hillary said, I have spent my entire adult life making sure women are empowered to make their own choices.  Even if that choice is not to vote for me.

Bernie said that he is proud of his 100% pro choice (abortion) voting record.  He said he is proud of supporting legislation in the Congress today that says we will end women making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men.  That is a myth.  Hourly wages have little to no difference.  Annual wages do, because men don’t take anywhere near as much maternity leave as women.  Women take 50% more sick time off.  Women take far more career breaks for the years it takes between child birth and children enrolling into schools.  These career breaks put a halt to all career development and raises in salaries.  Taking years off does affect hourly wages.  All of this unpaid time off adds up and is the source of the disparity between average annual salaries.   Bernie continued, saying, we will join the rest of the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave (There you have it!  To make the pay equal, women need to be paid for the time they DON’T work.) should be a right of all working families.  Free!  Free!  Free!

Bernie Sanders claimed it is hypocrisy for Republicans to want smaller government, but then to want government to make the choice for all women who want abortions.  The fact is, there is no federal law with regard to abortion, there is only a Supreme Court decision that took the decision from states, unconstitutionally.  The Supreme Court has no legislative power and it’s time to start educating the masses on this.

Judy Woodruff asked Hillary what she would do for race relations that Obama, the first African American President, has been unable to?  Hillary said, I’m just not sure that I agree completely with that assessment.  I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances.  We have a lot more social media and people with cell phones.  So we are seeingn the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society.  I think President Obama has set a great example.  I think he has addressed a lot of these issues.  Yes, by stoking the fires of racism every chance he gets.  Whether it’s the beer summit where he had to apologize to a cop for calling him a racist, or saying that if he had a son, he would be like the thug Trayvon Martin.  When a black thug gets killed, Obama is there to stoke the hate.  When a white woman is murdered by an illegal, or a black child is killed by a black gang banger in cold blood, you hear crickets coming from the White House.  Now what we have to do is build on an honest conversation about where we go next.  In other words, Hillary has no answer to what she would do.

Bernie said that Wall Street is to blame.  As a result of the disastrous and legal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt.  People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings.  Turns out that the African American community and the Latino community, were hit especially hard.  The African American community lost half of their wealth.

They went on and on about racism.  A topic that has nothing to do with the job of a President and nothing to do with the main concerns that face America today.  We have far bigger problems.

Judy Woodruff said that Obama has given executive orders to allow 5 million illegals to come out of the shadows and get work permits.  100% illegal on Obama’s part.  She asked Bernie, would you go further than that and if so, how specifically would you do it?  Should an undocumented family watching this debate say, in Nevada, rest easy?  Not fearful of further deportations under a Sanders Presidency?  Bernie said, the answer is yes.  He just locked in the illegal vote.  He said he talks to illegal kids with tears running down their cheeks, scared to death they or their parents may be deported.  They should be.  I think we need a path towards citizenship.  I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families.  Not American families.  Because the House, the Congress was unable or refused to act.  The Congress represents the American people are are the constitutional sole authority on immigration and legislation, Bernie.  The Constitution grants no power of executive order to any President in order to legislate or violate law.  And in fact, I would go further.  What would be the guiding light for me in the terms of immigration reform is to bring families together, not divide them up.  Good, deport them together.  Bottom line is a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.  If congress doesn’t do the right thing, we (commit treason and) use the executive orders of the president.

Hillary said, I strongly support the President’s use of executive actions.  I hope the Supreme Court upholds them.  They can’t.  They are as unconstitutional as it gets.  Treason.  I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the President to have done what he did.  No, there is not.

They got a Facebook question.

I’ll answer this one.  Hey Farheen.  You take care of your parents, I’ll take care of mine.  Oh, and I want my $16 back.

Bernie said, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable, fragile people in our nation.  We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on Earth.  No we don’t. Not even close.  Even the poorest kids are playing with X-Boxes.  There are millions of seniors who are trying to get by on 11, 12, 13 thousand dollars a year.  Social Security.  And you know what?  You do the arithmetic, you can’t get by on 11, 12, 13 thousand dollars a year.  We need to lift the caps on social security tax for people making more than $250,000 a year and expand Social Security by $1300 per year for people under 16 thousand and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years.  Yes, the wealthiest people, the top one and a half percent, will pay more in taxes.  Bernie can’t pay for everything he wants if he confiscated 100% of what the top 10% have and put them on Social Security.

Hillary said that they don’t have a disagreement on this issue.  Hillary said she has a slightly different way of dealing with it.  She wants to give more to lower income people and women.  They do not get any credit for their care taking responsibilities.  And the people who are most often the hardest hit are widows, because when their spouse dies they can lose up to one half of their social security.

They got into a long, drawn out argument over campaign financing.  It was no different than the same argument in every debate.  Bernie says Wall Street is influencing campaigns with campaign donations and Hillary says she isn’t influenced even though almost all of her campaign money has been funneled through George Soros and one other person.  Again, she said that no executive is too big to jail.  I hope the FBI is listening.  Hillary needs to be arrested.

Another Facebook question came from a guy named Bill Corfield.  He asked, are there any areas of government that you’d like to reduce?  Bernie said, many!  I’m in the U.S. Senate and anyone who doesn’t think that there isn’t an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency in bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken.  I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government.  This must have been the comedy relief, since Bernie’s plans would cost a minimum of another $18 trillion dollars on top of our current $19 trillion dollar debt.

Hillary said that there are a number of programs that are duplicative and redundant, not producing the results that people deserve.  There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format.  My God. These two have no idea what the concept of cutting government even means.

Gwen Ifill said that more than 2/3 of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can’t win.  They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready.  She asked Hillary, are we?  Hillary said, look I think we are readier than we used to be, but it’s a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be.  We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11.  Never mind the fact that our domestic security is unconstitutional, affects only law abiding Americans by stripping us of our 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 10th amendment rights if we do something as simple as travel by plane, and has caught zero terrorists.  And we have been able to prevent and foil attacks, yet we see the terrible attack at San Bernardino and know that we haven’t done enough.  Democrat policies and drum beats to never acknowledge who the enemy is, actually convinced the neighbors not to call the police on these terrorists, for fear that it would be politically incorrect and they would be labeled as profilers.  She went on to explain that we need an American lead air campaign to go after ISIS that we are now engaged in.  She said, we have to support the fighters on the grounds, principally the Arabs and the Kurds who are willing to stand up and take territory back.  She went on and on describing Obama’s failure in the Middle East as her plan to continue tackling the problem.

Hillary said, if you see something or hear something suspicious, report it. American muslims are on the front line of our defense.  They are more likely to know what’s happening in their families and their communities, and they need to feel, not just invited, but welcomed within the American society, so when somebody like Donald Trump and others stirs up the demagoguery against American muslims, that hurts us at home.  It’s not only offensive, it’s dangerous.  So in other words, she just admitted that muslims are the problem by saying that they know their families and communities.  She didn’t say that Eskimos know their families and communities.  But she also made it clear, don’t you dare ever say it, you darn well had better welcome these rabble with open arms!  And if you see something say something, but don’t you dare really say something.  Be like the neighbors of the San Bernardino terrorists and keep your traps shut!

Bernie was less about giving any solutions and more about saying “I told you so,” with regard to going to war in Iraq.  Hillary called him on it the same way she did in last weeks debate saying, I do not believe that a vote in 2002 is a plan for defeating ISIS in 2016.  News flash Hillary, even if elected, you wouldn’t be President until 2017.  Again, like last week, Bernie said that Hillary has more experience in foreign affairs than him having been Secretary of State, but judgement matters as well.

Gwen Ifill said that more than a million refugees have entered Europe in 2015.  Another 76,000 just last month.  Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea, so far this year,  crossing the Mediterranean.  And there are reports that more than 10,000 children are missing.  If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this?  What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton?  We shouldn’t be importing them in to the U.S. for starters.  I am not worried about any terrorist muslims lost at sea and these muslims obviously don’t care at all about their children.  Almost every so called “refugee” is a fighting aged male muslim.

Hillary said, well I was pleased that NATO announced that they are going to start doing patrols in the Mediterranean and try to interdict the smugglers and try to prevent the kind of tragedies we have seen all too often.  Tragedies like 130 dead in France or 150 raped in Germany?  Oh wait, I think she means tragedies like the drowned terrorists.  Also to try to prevent more refugees from coming to the European Union.  Yup!  She was talking about the tragedies of drowned terrorists, now she’s on to the ones who make it to Europe.  With respect to the US, our role in NATO, our support for the EU, as well as our willingness to take refugees, so long as they are thoroughly vetted, we should be doing our part.  OUR part?  Why is it ours?  She went on to talk about doing our part to pay for the enormous cost refugees are imposing on Turkey and to members of the EU.  This is not mine to pay for, Hillary.  Let them reap what they sow in Turkey and the EU.  

Bernie said, I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what?  We’ve gotta turn our backs on women and children.  Again, they are almost all fighting age men.

The final question from Facebook was from Robert Andrews.  He said, the world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history.  Can you name two leaders, one American, one foreign, who would influence your foreign policy decisions?  And why do you see them as influential?  The question was for Bernie.

Bernie said, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25% of the American people were unemployed… country was in incredible despair.  He stood before the American people and said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  A profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that yes, we could get out of that terrible depression.  Then he worsened the depression for years with big government taxes and spending until World War II actually drove the economy back into action.  And then what he did was redefined the role of government.  Right, taxed millions of people into oblivion, claiming success by spending that money putting a few thousand people to work building a dam.  Then he started unconstitutional welfare programs, creating the bribe system Democrats use to get voters to this day.  And kind of that’s what I see our campaign is about right now.  As for a foreign leader Bernie went on to praise Winston Churchill as a war time leader who rallied the British. 

Hillary said, I certainly agree with FDR for all of the reasons Senator Sanders said.  Then she said, I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation.  His filling of tires with gasoline and putting them around peoples’ necks and lighting them on fire.  Then she went on to bash Bernie for all of his negative comments about President Obama, such as saying that voters should have buyers’ remorse.  About Obama she said, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for getting us out of debt and sending us into the future.  What?  Bizarro Universe here.  Obama more than doubled the national debt.  He increased the debt more than every other President before him, combined.  The audience was cheering.

Bernie said, Madame Secretary, that is a low blow.  I have worked with President Obama for the last 7 years.  When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month.  We are 1.4 trillion dollar deficit.  And the world’s financial system was on the verge of collapse.  I thought Bernie wanted the financial system taken down.  He’s campaigning against the financial system.  As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented… I was there in the senate… unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress.  But you know what?  Last I heard, we live in a democratic society.  You heard wrong.  And you call yourself a U.S. Senator?  Last I heard, a United States Senator had the right to disagree with a President including a President who has done such an extraordinary job.  So I have voiced criticisms.  You’re right, maybe you haven’t.  I have.  But I think to suggest that I voice criticisms, this blurb that you talk about.  You know what the blurb said?  The blurb said that the next President of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process.  That is what I said.  That is what I believe.  Do senators have a right to disagree with a president.  Bernie got really angry here, and was pointing at Hillary.  With squinted eyes and an angry face, he asked, have YOU ever disagreed with a President?  I suspect you may have. 

Hillary went on to bash Bernie for saying that Obama should have a primary opponent for his reelection and that he was weak.  She rattled on until Gwen Ifill broke in and told Bernie he could respond, but it’s time for closing statements and he could use his closing statement for that.

Closing Statements:

Bernie Sanders:  One of us ran against Barack Obama.  I was not that candidate.  Hillary was staring Bernie down with the evil stare of all time.  Bernie continued.  This has been a great debate.  A lot of interesting issues have come together.  There is no President in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country all alone.  This campaign is not just about electing a President.  What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don’t think anybody hears their pains, or their concerns.  Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as… you know… it’s like going to the moon, it aint gonna happen.  Low income people who are not involved in the political process.  What this campaign is not only about… electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing 10’s of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1% who today have so much economic and political power.  Thank you all very much.  You wouldn’t represent me, commie, you’d only be stealing from me. 

Hillary Clinton: We agree that we’ve got to get unaccountable money out of politics.  We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again.  But here’s the point I want to make tonight.  I am not a single issue candidate and I do not believe we live in a single issue country.  I think that a lot of what we have to overcome, to break down the barriers that are holding people back.  Whether it’s poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it’s the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country.  Or whether it’s any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against against the LGBT Community against the kind of efforts that need to be made to root out all of these barriers.  That’s what I want to take on.  And here in Wisconsin I want to reiterate.  We’ve got to stand up for unions and working people who have been at the core of the American middle class and who are being attacked by ideologues.  By demagogues.  Yes, does Wall Street and big financial interests along with drug companies, insurance companies big oil, all of it, have too much influence?  You’re right.  But if we were to stop that tomorrow we would still have the indifference, the negligence that we saw in Flint.  Caused by decades of rule by Democrats.  Democrat voters never learn.  We would still have racism holding people back.  We would still have sexism preventing women from getting equal pay.  We would still have LGBT people who get married on Saturday and get fired on Monday.  And we would still have Governors like Scott Walker and others trying to rip out the heart of the middle class by making it impossible to organize and stand up for better wages and working conditions.  So I’m going to keep talking about tearing down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans fulfilling their potential, because I don’t think our country can live up to its potential unless we give a chance to every single American to live up to theirs.

Well, there we have it.  Everything is going to be free and Democrats will never stop trying to create a wedge between races, sexes, and classes by constantly bringing them up, so each new generation can learn how bigoted they are.  Nothing on Benghazi.  Nothing on the UN encroaching in our cities under the Strong Cities Network.

AMP (Anna Maria Perez)

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