And so I say we achieve strength through peace.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D - Ohio) inviting a massacre.
I prefer the word "progressive," which has a real American meaning, going back to the progressive era at the beginning of the 20th century. I consider myself a modern progressive.
Senator Hillary Clinton (D - New York) explaining how 100 year old ideology is "progressive".
More women are affected by the minimum wage than men are affected by the minimum wage. I have been the most aggressive -- in fact, I would challenge every Democrat on this stage today to commit to raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by the year 2012.
Senator John Edwards (D - North Carolina) promising to nearly double the wages of high school students.
QUESTION: I’m Gabriel. And I’m Connie, from a refugee camp near Darfur.
Before you answer this question, imagine yourself the parent of one of these children. What action do you commit to that will get these children back home to a safe Darfur and not letting it be yet another empty promise?
COOPER: Governor Richardson, what are you going to do? Would you commit American troops?
RICHARDSON: I was at that refugee camp. And there was a refugee, a woman who came up to me. She’d been raped, her husband had been killed and she said, "When is America going to start helping?" This is what I would do: It’s diplomacy.
Governor Bill Richardson (D - New Mexico) vowing to do everything possible to not help those in Darfur.
If we get U.N. peacekeeping troops authorized for Darfur, there’s some already there, it’ll take six months for them to get there. Genocide is continuing there; 200,000 have died; close to 2 million refugees in that region. America needs to respond with diplomacy, with diplomatic leadership.
Governor Bill Richardson (D - New Mexico) explaining his answer on not helping by calculating how many more people will die while he's not helping.
You don’t understand -- they don’t understand. They think we can save them. And guess what? We can. Twenty-five hundred American troops
Senator Joe Biden (D - Delaware) showing more courage than the Governor by offering to send an insignificant number of troops.
The problem goes a little bit deeper than that. It’s because we haven’t owned up to our responsibilities to a sense of global governance.
Former Senator Mike Gravel (D - Alaska) explaining how Darfur is
our fault because we haven't instituted a proper global government.
I agree completely that what we need to do is start acting instead of talking. That means accelerating the United Nations peacekeeping forces along with the African Union. It means moving more quickly on divestment and sanctions on the Sudanese government, including trying to use the diplomacy to get China involved. And, finally, it does mean a no-fly zone. We can do it in a way that doesn’t endanger humanitarian relief.
COOPER: How about American troops on the ground?
CLINTON: I think NATO has to be there with the no-fly zone, and I think that only the United States can provide the logistical support and the air lift to make a no-fly zone and the actual delivery of humanitarian aid work.
COOPER: Just in the spirit of trying to get the answer, does that mean no American ground troops?
CLINTON: American ground troops I don’t think belong in Darfur at this time. I think we need to focus on the United Nations peacekeeping troops and the African Union troops. We’ve got to figure out what we’re doing in Iraq, where our troops are stretched thin, and Afghanistan, where we’re losing the fight to al Qaeda and bin Laden.
Senator Hillary Clinton (D - New York) explaining that U.S troops cannot help in Darfur because we are too busy figuring out to make them lose in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My question for all the candidates: How do we pull out now? And the follow-up, are we watching the same blankin’ war? I certainly wasn’t a big fan of the invasion/liberation. It sickens me to hear about soldiers wounded and getting killed daily, not to mention innocent Iraqis, but how do we pull out now?
OBAMA: At this point, I think we can be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. But we have to send a clear message to the Iraqi government as well as to the surrounding neighbors that there is no military solution to the problems that we face in Iraq. ... So we have to begin a phased withdrawal; have our combat troops out by March 31st of next year; and initiate the kind of diplomatic surge that is necessary in these surrounding regions to make sure that everybody is carrying their weight.
Senator Barack Obama (D - Illinois) explaining that we have to pull out because, well, we have to pull out.
I’m the only one that’s offered a political solution. And it literally means separate the parties; give them jurisdiction in their own areas; have a decentralized government, a federal system. No central government will work.
Senator Joe Biden (D - Delaware) explaining that we divide Iraq so that Syria, Iran, and Turkey will not have to do it themselves.
And here’s how we can do it. It doesn’t take legislation. That’s a phony excuse to say that you don’t have the votes. We appropriated $97 billion a month ago. We should tell President Bush, no more funds for the war, use that money to bring the troops home, use it to bring the troops home.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D - Ohio) explaining we must leave because it will save us some money.
It’s because we’re bogged down there at $10 billion a month, we’ve lost our moral leadership in the world. No one listens to us when it comes to foreign policy. That has to change in this country. That’s the difference here.
Senator Chris Dodd (D - Connecticut) joining Rep. Kucinich in trying to save us some money.
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