Fourth Democratic Debate Highlights: What We Learned From The Most Heated Debate Yet

In the fourth and the final Democratic debate before the nomination process begins, Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton traded blows on issues of gun control, healthcare, the Flint water crisis, Wall Street reform and foreign policy with a ferocity that had so far been absent from their previous three outings, while former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley also showed that he was not present on the stage just to make up the numbers.

Being the last chance to woo their voters two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the onus was on the two front-runners to get their message across to their supporters, and although Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will both be satisfied with how the debate unraveled, Martin O’Malley emerged as an experienced, empathetic leader for probably the first time.

As the three Democratic candidates took center-stage in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine parishioners were shot dead in June 2015, it was hardly surprising that the first topic that cropped up during the debate was that of gun control.

Hillary Clinton attacked Bernie Sanders for supporting the gun lobby in the past, highlighting legislation she said showed his support towards weapon manufacturers. She pointed out instances of Sanders voting against the Brady Bill multiple times, while also highlighting his vote to allow guns onto Amtrak trains and into national parks.

Sanders was quick to refute the comments, adding that he had a “D minus record” from the National Rifle Association, and fully supported moves by President Obama for tougher background checks on gun buyers.

Martin O’Malley pointed towards the restrictions he passed against combat assault weapons during his time as the governor of Maryland, before adding, “I have never met a self-respecting deer hunter who needed an AR-15 [semi-automatic rifle] to down a deer.”

Things got even more tense and heated in a Democratic debate that saw the candidates shouting at the top of their lungs, cutting off their rivals, and ultimately trying to do their best to stamp their authority as the real agent of change.

Below is a video of some of the key moments from the fourth Democratic debate, courtesy of The Washington Post.

In the hours leading up to the debate, Bernie Sanders had released his plans for “Medicare for all,” a healthcare plan he said would be a way to “stop forcing working Americans to choose between bargaining for higher wages or better health insurance”. Under the scheme, citizens would have to pay what Sanders called “a 2.2 percent income-based premium” towards healthcare, while their employers would need to pay an extra 6.2 percent of an employee’s income towards the plan.

Hillary Clinton criticized Sanders’ plans to begin from scratch, lauding Barack Obama’s work on healthcare. Arguing that she would rather try making Obamacare better than beginning all over again with a “contentious debate.” Clinton praised Obama for having given the nation the gift of a “universal heath care”.

“We finally have a path to universal health care. We’ve accomplished so much already… I don’t want to see us start over again with a contentious debate,” Clinton said.

Although it was the most heated Democratic debate yet, it was still civil gauging by what we have seen during the Republican debates. The candidates refrained from attacking each other personally, but there was a moment when the topic of Bill Clinton’s past was raised by the moderator. Bernie Sanders called former president Bill Clinton’s acts “deplorable,” but emphasized that the debate should pertain to issues of national importance.

But the attacks got almost vitriolic when the questions of Wall Street reforms came up. For Bernie Sanders, who has based a significant part of his campaign complaining about America’s rigged economy and has refrained from banking on big financial institutions for his campaign funding, this was probably the moment he was waiting for.

When Hillary Clinton attacked Sanders for his criticism of President Obama’s donations from financial institutions, he said he found it “very strange” a bank could escape prosecution for criminal activity, “while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence”. He accused Clinton of taking $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, implying that the former Secretary of State had a well-polished political and financial machine to help her win what was once considered an “inevitable” nomination.

“It’s because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt. We have super PACs. We have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying and the private insurance companies as well,” Sanders said.

But as much hostility as the fourth Democratic debate showcased between Sanders and Clinton, they also agreed on some issues. Clinton said that every American should be outraged at the Flint water crisis, while Sanders called for the resignation of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder for his alleged “indifference” to the whole issue.

With the latest polls showing both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton going neck-to-neck in the primary states, the Democratic debate was the perfect opportunity for the two of them to express in the most clear terms their agreements and disagreements on various issues. Although, as BBC reports, the American media considered Hillary Clinton to be the winner of the Democratic debate, there was not much between her and Sanders — very much like what the polls tell us.

As for Martin O’Malley, at least he won applause for his anecdotal nature of talking and his articulate way of expression. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton wouldn’t mind that at all.

[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]