Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Donald Trump Criticized for Not Correcting Rally Audience Member's Assertion President Obama is Muslim; Some House Republicans Proposing Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood; Interview with Representative Diane Black; Croatia Blocks Passage from Serbia; Clinton: "I'm Very Confident About Our Strength". Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired September 18, 2015 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl resuming this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of our main concerns has been transparency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than 11,000 migrants and refugees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hungarian police started to fire tear gas.
(SCREAMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, they're giving me heat about all of my papers in front of this. Am I prepared to tell you what I tell you.
CAMEROTA: The viewers want to see it.
CUOMO: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: We digress. It is Friday, can you tell.
CUOMO: It is my new suit. All right, it is Friday, September 18th, 8:00 in the east. So what should a presidential candidate do when someone claims in a question to them that the president is a Muslim and that we need to get rid of all of them? Nothing seemed to be Donald Trump's answer according to his critics.
CAMEROTA: So how is the Trump campaign responding today? And what does Hillary Clinton think about that moment as well as the GOP debate? Let's begin our coverage with senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns. A lot to talk about, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, you know, since the day he got into this campaign he's been accused of going too far with his rhetoric. But now Donald Trump is actually taking heat for what he did not say after failing to challenge a comment from a member of the audience in New Hampshire about President Obama's religion and nationality. And Democrats are really going after him this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out --
JOHNS: A new controversy for Donald Trump this morning just a day after CNN's GOP debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- problem in this country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American, birth certificate man.
JOHNS: The Republican front runner back in the headlines after his vague and evasive response to this anti-Muslim supporter at a town hall in New Hampshire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That is my question, when can we get rid of them?
TRUMP: We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. And you know a lot of people are saying that --
JOHNS: Trump taking heat for not correcting the man the way Senator John McCain did while running for president in 2008.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not -- he's not -- he's a -- he's an Arab. He is not. No?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: No, ma'am. No, ma'am.
JOHNS: Trump's camp claiming the billionaire did not hear the question about Obama being a Muslim, saying, quote, "The media want to make this an issue about Obama. But it is about him waging a war on Christianity."
Still Democrats quick to pounce. Hillary Clinton at a substance abuse forum in New Hampshire earlier in day tweeted "Not denouncing false statements about the president and hateful rhetoric about Muslims is disturbing and wrong. Cut it out."
This as Jeb Bush ratchets up his strategy to keep debate momentum going on the campaign trail, joking at a rally in Las Vegas.
JEB BUSH, (R) FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I hope I will be so brilliant and so eloquent and so high energy --
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: And calling out Trump's gaps in foreign policy knowledge.
BUSH: I'm not going to get my foreign policy based on watching the shows, or say don't worry about it, I'll figure it out later. You need a president with a steady hand because this is a dangerous world.
(END VIDEOTAPE) JOHNS: And the chair of the Democratic National Committee called Trump's comments at the rally "horrendous but unsurprising." What makes this latest Trump story more controversial, the history. In 2011 Donald Trump publicly challenged President Obama's citizenship, asked him to release his birth certificate, which he later did.
CAMEROTA: All right, Joe, thanks so much for that, we appreciate it.
House Republicans are planning to force several votes today aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood. Some conservatives on the Hill are threatening to shut down the government at the end of the month. What does Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton have to say? She sat down exclusively with our Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": So listen to what Carly Fiorina also said, Madam Secretary, about some controversial videos opposing Planned Parenthood, an organization you support. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Planned Parenthood says the video doesn't depict an aborted fetus. They say that was from a miscarriage. It had nothing to do with Planned Parenthood. This is an organization, though, you support. First of all, have you seen those very, very controversial videos?
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Wolf, let's break down what's happening here because I think it is important. I know that there is a move on by some of the Republicans in the Congress to actually shut down the United States government over their demand that we no longer giver federal funding to Planned Parenthood to perform the really necessary health services that they do for millions of women.
[08:05:15] So let's put aside for a moment here that there is no debate and there should be absolutely no argument that Planned Parenthood does cancer screenings, it helps provide family planning and contraceptive advice. It works to provide, you know, some of the most difficult kinds of counseling when it comes to giving an HIV test, for example.
What this is about is the fact that some of the Planned Parenthood facilities perform abortions, which is legal under the laws of the United States. I understand that the Republican Party and a particularly the candidates we heard from last night wish that were not the case, wish that abortion were illegal and they could turn the clock back.
So I think we ought to be very clear that Planned Parenthood has served to provide healthcare, necessary healthcare for millions of women. And I think it deserves not only our support but the continuing funding from the federal government so that these women and girls who are seeking the kinds of services that are provided will be able to achieve that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: All right. So there was Hillary Clinton's response to the situation.
Let's bring in the other side, Republican Tennessee Congresswoman Diane Black. She's sponsoring a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. Congresswoman, it's good to have you here. Please, make the case of why this bill is necessary.
REP. DIANE BLACK, (R) TENNESSEE: Well, given the films that we have seen, the undercover videos, we see things in those undercover videos that raise the question about whether there is legality.
Look, we're not talking about whether it is legal to have an abortion. We're talk about whether they have broken laws in the way in which they are doing these abortions. So my bill simple puts a moratorium on the funding until Congress has an opportunity to be able to do the investigations to either determine there are laws that are being broken or there are not. And it is a moratorium. It is not a total defunding but it is a moratorium on all of their funding for a year.
CUOMO: All right, let's go through this step by step. First, have you seen all the videos yourself?
BLACK: I've seen every one of the videos plus I've seen more. I've seen other videos that have still not been released.
CUOMO: If they haven't been released how did you see them?
BLACK: Because I saw them at an opportunity where the Center for Medical Progress got together a few individuals to let us know that these videos would be coming out.
CUOMO: OK, I haven't seen those videos. But in what is available and according to Planned Parenthood the very disturbing image that Carly Fiorina points to that has become a rallying point for people who frankly don't want to see babies abused that way doesn't exist. There is no live beating baby, this horrible picture that Carly Fiorina painted at the debate that would certainly galvanize any community of support. It doesn't exist. Planned Parenthood says what's suggested about the videos is patently untrue. Now, are you saying that what Carly Fiorina is saying is right? You have seen video of a baby with heart beating sitting on a table as they wait for it? You've seen that?
BLACK: I'm not going to defend what Carly said --
CUOMO: Have you seen that?
BLACK: That video I have not seen. But what I think she was referring to is there was one of the workers that was testifying in one of the videos is that this is what she was asked to do is to retrieve fetal tissue from a life fetus.
CUOMO: We both know that's --
BLACK: I have not seen that. I'm not defending that.
Let me talk about what I have seen and what I do know exists. And what I do know exists is I have seen doctors that are talking about doing abortions where they say we'll crunch below and crunch above the organ that you want and then we'll make sure that we get what you need.
CUOMO: Right.
BLACK: And that is against the law. You cannot perform an abortion differently on one woman than you do the other for the sole purpose of harvesting fetal tissue. That is against the law.
CUOMO: Representative Black, if what the people say on the video is true, is practiced, is verifiable, then it could be against the law. The reason I qualify it the way I do is that this situation demands investigation. Nobody is saying it should not be investigated. It's what should be investigated, how should be educated are the issues. By putting this bill in early, it reeks of playing politics because why would you stop the funding before you know the facts?
BLACK: Well, because what we're seeing is suspicious enough, and there are three different laws that would be broken in there. They do also have a doctor that is talking about haggling over the price of the fetal tissue to be sold. She even says she needs money to buy a Lamborghini.
[08:10:00] If they were just harvesting the tissue for the sole purpose of doing research, then they would have a schedule to say here is how much it costs to retrieve it, to prepare it, to store it, and to transfer it, not the haggling over a glass of wine and crunching on salad.
CUOMO: That is a bad -- that is a bad example of behavior. That is someone who's being unprofessional, who is arguably being immoral in their discussion of what they do with their work in science and in medicine. But to stop the funding you are assuming has no price attached to it. We're going to have a moratorium and we'll figure it out. There is a price. You are going to stop having services at Planned Parenthood. They have a lot of women of lower income who go there for help.
BLACK: Can I stop you a moment? I'd love for you to read the bill. It says if Planned Parenthood wants to be able to provide women's services as they talk about, and by their own reports they will talk about decreasing these services that we keep mentioning, that, oh, everybody needs these services. By the way, there are community health centers that provide these services too. But it says in the bill if they want to continue to keep their funding they just need to stop doing abortions during this time.
So they are the ones making the decision. Do they want to continue what they say are these essential services that they really are committed to providing to women, or do they want to continue to do their big abortion industry, 327,000 abortions a year, which, by the way, our money is going to Planned Parenthood and if you read the GAO report you will see money is fungible. There is a discussion about whether you can say on one side the organization uses the money for this service and on the other side it uses the money for another service. How do we know where that money is going?
So I say let's blow the whistle. Let's stop. This is taxpayer money. And if an organization is committing these crimes -- and they will be crimes if they are found to be true, then let Planned Parenthood do what they best do and that is take care of women's services and not do abortions for a year.
CUOMO: I would love to hear of other situations where you have acted before you know the certainty for the basis for action. And that's why it seems like politics, and that is why you are targeting just the abortions with what you want them to stop. Why not ask them to verify what you want them to verify when you know they have come out and said these videos are bogus. They are doctored. We don't what these people are suggesting we do in the videos.
BLACK: Have you watched them.
CUOMO: Yes I have, and that's why I'm concerned that I didn't see what Carly Fiorina describes. And that's why I'm worried that I haven't seen what you say you saw.
BLACK: I'm not talking about Carly. I'm talking about what I saw on those videos, what you see on those videos, and when you saw a full 10 minutes of conversation without a single break in there, and the kinds of things they are saying in there, that if they are true, then they are against the law. Why should we be giving taxpayer dollars to an organization that is breaking the law?
CUOMO: You shouldn't. But why stop the funding that helps all these low income women before you know the facts?
BLACK: That's Planned Parenthood's decision. They can stop doing the abortions, which is the piece we're concerned about, and provide those services that keep talking about that are so essential to women, which, by the way --
CUOMO: But you are still stopping women from getting abortions that they have a legal right to get.
BLACK: No, we're not.
CUOMO: You are saying they have to stop giving them until they satisfy here.
BLACK: There are other abortion providers around. Let them go to another abortion provider.
CUOMO: What if they don't? There aren't that many providers as you are suggesting. You will have more unwanted pregnancies.
BLACK: Do you know that, Chris?
CUOMO: I absolutely do know.
BLACK: Unwanted pregnancies come from birth control pills, not from abortion on demand. That is what they should be doing. The more they do providing the services.
CUOMO: That's your opinion.
BLACK: No, it is not an opinion. It is a fact. If someone is taking birth control pills, then they are not going to get pregnant.
CUOMO: No, you are saying we should be doing more of that.
BLACK: And -- 27,000 abortions a year, on demand abortions.
CUOMO: I'm not saying you are wrong to not like abortions, Congresswoman. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that you're using your role as the public official to stop them when they are legal, when women may not be able to get them and that's their legal right. It is not as easy to get them other places. A lot of women may have to go very far way to get them. You may have more unwanted pregnancies. You have 10.6 million points of service in addition to those abortions --
BLACK: How do you have an unwanted pregnancy, Chris?
CUOMO: Excuse me.
BLACK: Let's talk about an unwanted pregnancy. How do you have an unwanted pregnancy? You have an unwanted pregnancy by not getting the birth control. So let's do more of making sure women understand that an unwanted pregnancy comes as a result of not using birth control. Let's have more of that and less of the abortions.
CUOMO: Wait, I thought this was about Planned Parenthood doing things that may be illegal. Now you're saying it's about what you want women talk taught about whether or not they are having pregnancies a certain way. What do you want?
[08:15:00] BLACK: You are making the point that there would be more unwanted pregnancies if Planned Parenthood were not able to perform their services.
I'm simply saying an unwanted pregnancy is prevented beforehand, not after someone gets pregnant. Unwanted pregnancies --
CUOMO: I'm saying for women who make the legal right the -- if they make their choice within their legal rights to have an abortion and you are not allowing Planned Parenthood to have abortions available for them. Then you will have more unwanted pregnancies. I'm not making a moral judgment on that. I'm just saying that that is a factual proposition if you stop Planned Parenthood from being able to do what they do.
BLACK: There are other abortion providers out there that women can go to.
CUOMO: They are not as close. It might have a chilling effect and that is the concern. Why not just wait, find out the facts and deal with Planned Parenthood then?
BLACK: Listen, this is not the only place that we take money away from people when they are performing illegal activities.
CUOMO: You don't know that it's illegal yet.
BLACK: Well, those films certainly give us enough indication that we should stop funding them with day taxpayer dollars until we find out. Now, if they want to stop doing the abortions, they can get the must be money for all the other services that you keep talking about, Chris.
CUOMO: But you're not supposed to --
BLACK: The money would be available.
CUOMO: But why is it OK to do that. This is a longer conversation. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming on as you always do. It's important. And I have to test your position because there are two sides of it. But this is the question I'll leave for the audience.
Why is it necessary to pull the money and have them stop doing abortions in order to figure out whether what's on these tapes is true? I don't understand why those processes go together. You are saying they can rectify it themselves by stopping abortion until they satisfy your curiosity.
BLACK: That's right, exactly.
CUOMO: The question is, is that the right way to do it? That is for if people to decide.
Congressman Diane Black, thank you for being on the show as always. I appreciate you being tested on this.
BLACK: Thank you very much, Chris, for having me.
CUOMO: All right. Good weekend to you, ma'am.
Michaela?
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris. Thank you.
A military hearing for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl resumes this morning in Texas. Bergdahl faces a possible court marshal and life sentence for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. His defense team argues that Bergdahl had a severe mental defect when he left base in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban. His lawyers appear poised to make the case that the military indirectly shares the blame for Bergdahl's behavior because they knew that he was unfit to serve.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: now tightening its borders after thousands of migrants poured into the country. Officials saying there is no more room.
CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is live at the Serbia Croatia border.
Ben, tell us what you're seeing around you?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, what we're seeing is hundreds of desperate people hoping to get out of this town on the Croatian/Serbian border. I'm just going to step aside for a minute just to give you an idea.
There are hundreds of people, including women and children, lined up waiting for buses provided by the Croatian government that will take them to welcoming centers in the Croatia capital Zagreb and elsewhere.
But as they wait it is beastly hot out here. It's well over 90 degrees in the shade. Some of these people have been sitting out here waiting for buses since before the sun went up. And, of course, there is confusion.
I spoke to one woman who had collapsed as a result of the heat she was taking away to a first aid center. While she was away, a bus came and her six-year-old son boarded that bus. Now, she's desperate to find where they are. But when they get on the buses their names aren't written down. So, it's not at all clear where her son went.
Other people are telling me they have simply run out of resources, run out of money during this long and arduous journey which they had no idea would take this long and they ever no idea at this point when they will get to their final destinations, wherever they maybe. Nobody wants to stay in Croatia, which by European standards is relatively poor. They want to move on.
But at this point, it appears all borders north to Germany, to Austria, are shut. There's no way forward. So, it looks like the Croatian authorities are just shunting them from one place to another with no idea where they can eventually end up -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Ben, what a crisis. Thank you for showing that to us.
For more on how you can help the refugees, you can go to CNN.com/Impact.
CUOMO: So, Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton, that's a mouthful, she has been a frequent target during CNN's Republican debate and she fired back herself. She did an interview with our captain, Wolf Blitzer. You are going to want to see it, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:24:00] GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is what Hillary Clinton's going to want to do.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton.
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton.
BUSH: Hillary Clinton.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton.
BUSH: Hillary Clinton.
WALKER: Hillary Clinton.
BUSH: Hillary Clinton.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton.
CHRISTIE: Hillary Clinton.
BUSH: Hillary Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton.
BUSH: Hillary Clinton.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton.
CHRISTIE: Hillary Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton, you just heard, was the target of several attacks during the CNN Republican debate. But she is firing back. Telling our own Wolf Blitzer that the Republicans don't have much to say of significance.
So, let's bring in CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson, host of "The Ben Ferguson Show", and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist.
Great to see both of you this morning.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: Maria, it is not just the Republicans at the debate who are going after Hillary Clinton. She -- there are also issues it seems within her own party. There is a new "USA Today" research that shows the conventional wisdom is saying that Bernie Sanders is siphoning off the liberal wing is inaccurate.
[08:25:00] And, in fact, she's actually having the most trouble with moderates, which are bedrock supporters, moderate Democrats as well as women. What do you think is going on among Hillary's supporters?
CARDONA: Well I think what's going on is this is the time where everybody is delving into every single poll that comes out every single day to figure out what it means. But it's also the time where campaigns, especially the Hillary Clinton campaign, needs to take the long view and focus on what is important.
Look, clearly there have been issues with the whole e-mail thing. She's had a rough summer. There is no question about that.
But the Clinton campaign really believes that they have turned a corner and Hillary Clinton told Wolf Blitzer this yesterday. They feel very comfortable where they are and moving forward because they believe that a couple of things have changed.
First, she is doing a lot more interviews that I'm sure will make you all happy. We'll get her on NEW DAY soon.
CAMEROTA: Good.
CARDONA: She's doing a lot of interviews and interactions in places that will have people see her in a much more real light in terms of who she is. And I think what people need to realize is that this is not a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve. She never has. But she is a woman who wears her heart in her policy prescriptions. In the 30 years of public service that she has dedicated to helping women, to helping kids, to helping middle class families --
FERGUSON: Maria --
CARDONA: -- and you put her in comparison to any single Republican that was up on that stage on debate night, and I believe that she -- and frankly, every other Democrat will win.
CUOMO: Maria, first of all the reason we think she should be on NEW DAY as much as she can is because it helps them to be tested. As we just saw with Congresswoman Diane Black.
CARDONA: Absolutely.
CUOMO: When you get a position tested, it helps people measure you better and she's been slow on that, and, frankly, it works to her disadvantage.
Ben, in terms why you laugh when Maria is talking, what do you think the obvious angles of opportunity are for Republicans on Hillary Clinton?
FERGUSON: Well, a couple of things. She says the Clinton campaign says they believe they have turned the corner. If they have turned the corner and everything is OK, you wouldn't have been doing damage control and claiming, look how great I am because I'm actually talking to the press. The problem with her campaign is the arrogance factor here and her biggest enemy is not the Republican Party right now.
Hillary Clinton's campaign, their biggest enemy is Bernie Sanders, who has been a candidate out there talking to people not in a controlled, limited environment, where the arrogance of her campaign has been obvious. It is we are above this. We don't have to do any interview or talk to anybody we don't want to talk to. We're going to control this entire campaign.
And their campaign is in big trouble. Look at the early primary states and when she says, well, Hillary doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve. Her whole campaign started out remember with her trying to be this grandmother, and then when the e-mail scandal exploded, she tried to wear emotions on her sleeve by claiming that, well, I doubt America wants to hear about my questions about baby pictures or paint colors or a nursery or being a grandmother again.
So, you can't have it both ways here. This is deja vu Hillary Clinton. This is the same thing that got her in trouble against Barack Obama. She was leading then. She was incredibly arrogant. Her campaign actually I think is her biggest problem because they're even more arrogant than she is, and they don't think they have to play by anyone else's rules or talk to the people.
That is why she's suffering. It is not the Republicans are beating her. It's Bernie Sanders who is a socialist.
CARDONA: She gets attacked every single day, Ben, by 17 candidates and everybody on the Hill. So, don't tell me --
FERGUSON: The Republicans are not her problem. It's not Bernie Sanders.
CARDONA: Her opposition is not attacking her.
Bernie Sanders is not her problem because --
FERGUSON: Yes, he is, look at the polls.
CARDONA: Regardless of every -- and by the way, Ben is fantastic and he's doing great things for the party. That is great debate.
FERGUSON: He might be your nominee.
CARDONA: But -- and that would be fine. He would beat every Republicans as well.
But the issue is, is that, you know, everybody likes to talk about how terrible Hillary Clinton is doing. She is still 21 points above everybody in the Democratic field and beating every Republican on favorability.
FERGUSON: Not in early primaries states, though. Not in early primaries states. You know this and I know this. This is exactly why she's spending time in early primary states.
The national polls don't matter if you get your brains beat in in the first couple of states, because momentum is everything. Look at Republicans, where did they go after being in California?
CARDONA: And an important point, Ben --
FERGUSON: And you go to Iowa, you go to New Hampshire, you go to South Carolina, that's where she's doing right now.
CAMEROTA: OK, final point, Maria.
CARDONA: And here's an important point, Ben, the Clinton campaign and I think the media was a part of this and frankly Republicans, too. But the Clinton campaign never thought this was going to be a coronation. They have said from the get-go and I said this many times --
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Let me finish, Ben. Let me finish. I didn't interrupt you. Let me finish.
That this was going to be a fight. Hillary Clinton from the very beginning knew that this was going to be a fight. They have said that Bernie Sanders would do very well in New Hampshire, would do very well in Iowa. That is where things are.
But her infrastructure is heads and shoulders above the rest. So, we'll see what happens.
CAMEROTA: OK.
CARDONA: It is a great debate for the party. And regardless how you compare it with Republicans, Democrats will be the ones that represent mainstream America and help middle class families.
