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Hillary Clinton's Big Night On Debate Stage; Clinton, Sanders Dominate Democratic Debate; Reaction To The Democratic Debate. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 14, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people are sick and tired about hearing about these damn e- mails.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Tonight I want to talk not about my e-mails.
SANDERS: Enough of the e-mails.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN MODERATOR: Is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns?
CLINTON: No, not at all.
SANDERS: Wall Street greed and recklessness wrecked this economy.
CLINTON: I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008.
COOPER: Are you saying you didn't know what you're voting for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just arrived in the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leading us into Iraq under false pretenses was one of the worst blunders.
CLINTON: Being the first woman president would be quite a change.
SANDERS: I don't think I am gambling, but you have not been in the United States Congress. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, well, well, good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October 14th, 5:30 in the east, Alisyn and I here in Las Vegas. Michaela is in New York.
What a night we said the Democratic race would change after this debate. You got to see, Hillary Clinton at her best. You got to see Bernie Sanders making his case. You got to see the introduction, really, of Martin O'Malley. They were going head-to-head in front of the audience, in front of the world, really, to see, where are they the same and who is the best choice for Democrats? Now it's all about the analysis, Alisyn. That was the big point of last night. How are they going to do and what is everybody going to say about it?
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Look, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee also had some really compelling moments. We will talk about all of that. Did any of those three candidates aside from Hillary and Bernie have a breakout moment? Did last night signal the end for anyone's campaign?
Let's bring in CNN's comprehensive coverage. You are CNN's comprehensive coverage, John Berman. You have all of the debate highlights. Tell us what you saw.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I have that in my contract. Before last night, the five Democratic candidates have a combined total 25 presidential debates between them, Hillary Clinton accounted for all 25. To an extent, that really showed last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (voice-over): It may have been the first Democratic debate, but it was clear it was not Hillary Clinton's first rodeo, running down a debate checklist with surgical precision.
CLINTON: I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name.
BERMAN: Her name, check, her appeal to the grassroots and pragmatic wings of the party, check, check.
CLINTON: I'm a progressive, but I'm progressive who likes to get things done.
BERMAN: Her gender, check, check, check.
CLINTON: I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents who had up until this point.
BERMAN: Even apparently joking about an extended trip to the bathroom during commercials.
CLINTON: Well, it does take me a little longer, that's all I can say.
BERMAN: But what might have been the biggest must do on her list addressing the questions surrounding the use of her private e-mail for national business. She had a surprising assist from her leading opponent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
SANDERS: The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your dam e-mails.
CLINTON: Thank you. Me too, me too!
BERMAN: Or even herding a smile and a handshake. Clinton didn't exactly return the favor in one of the sharpest exchanges of the night when asked about Sander's record of voting against gun control measures.
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns?
CLINTON: No, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence.
SANDERS: I can tell Secretary Clinton that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns.
BERMAN: Sanders, the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist touted his battle against income inequality.
COOPER: You don't consider yourself a capitalist, though?
SANDERS: Do I consider myself a part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness, wrecked this economy? No, I don't.
BERMAN: Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley looking for a breakout moment hit hard on foreign policy.
MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Leading us into Iraq under false pretenses and telling us as a people that there were weapons of mass destruction there was one of the worst blunders in modern American history.
BERMAN: As for former Virginia Senator Jim Webb polling in the single digits and barely campaigning, he fought to be noticed.
[05:35:01] JIM WEBB (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have been trying to get into this conversation for 10 minutes. I have been waiting 10 minutes.
COOPER: You are over your time.
WEBB: Well, you've let a lot of people go over their time.
BERMAN: While former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee seemed to struggle to answer questions about his record.
LINCOLN CHAFEE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just arrived. My dad had died in office. I was appointed. It was my very first vote.
COOPER: Are you saying you don't know what you were voting for?
BERMAN: Perhaps the most telling moment maybe aspirational was when Hillary Clinton was asked to list her enemies.
CLINTON: Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians, probably the Republicans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Who are the big enemies? BERMAN: Of course, every time she could in the debate, she turned her focus towards the Republicans, again, perhaps looking ahead than any other candidates. No one mentioned one name, though, that's Joe Biden. You do have to wonder what he thought while he was watching that debate.
CUOMO: He was thinking, what a game. I hope the mets close it out. That was a very good piece. Stick around. You've earned it.
Let's bring in the rest of our political team here to figure out who really made strides last night and why, CNN political reporter, Maeve rhymes with brave Reston, CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.
Maeve Reston, we said Bernie Sanders explaining himself, the x-factor, would Martin O'Malley be able to have a Fiorina moment? How do you think people did in terms of meeting the bar of success?
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I think that Hillary put in a very, very strong performance. We did see a relatively smooth performance from O'Malley. But I did not see that big breakout moment that we were all looking for.
You know, obviously, these other guys are asterisks in the polls with the exception of Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders was actually a little more muted in his attacks on Hillary Clinton than some of us were expecting.
Got his points in there, but Hillary just drove her points home every single time, she was ready, prepared, totally brought her A-game and I think everyone else just kind of faded a little bit.
CAMEROTA: Jeff, Donald Trump's prediction was wrong. This was not boring.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Impossible.
CAMEROTA: This was a compelling debate, what moment jumped out at you?
ZELENY: It was compelling. Maybe it's right. There is no question that Hillary Clinton commanded the stage from beginning to end. She did that in almost all the debates in 2007 and 2008 as well. I think we have to let this settle in a bit to see how voters respond to this.
I think Bernie Sanders did better among his supporters than we may think in the early analysis of this. There is no question she came prepared. She is a good debater. I thought the moment where she got the best of Bernie Sanders was on guns. She said he did not do enough on gun control.
CUOMO: Was that a fair criticism? Bernie Sanders gave Hillary Clinton the best attack line and the gift where he basically closed the door on the e-mails -- and Benghazi.
She said, you didn't do enough, the bill was, what was passed in the '90s by Bush that basically changed how gun manufacturers could be sued. Let me ask you something. Do you think that was fair criticism saying you were too good to the gun lobby because of that bill?
ZELENY: I think it was not entirely fair criticism. From a Democratic primary, she was trying to portray him as soft on guns, in this climb, this moment, we see one episode after another, I think she got the best of him.
RESTON: The rural state defense that I don't think plays well after the kind of year we've had with, you know, so many incidents of gun violence, that's not what those people --
CUOMO: You got to be reasonable to win. Basically, she was saying, you got to be able to sue gun manufacturers.
BERMAN: The Brady bill, which came up in the Clinton administration is synonymous with the Clinton administration, their anti-crime policies, he voted against the Brady bill several times and against those five-day waiting periods. I think she was putting focus on that as much as the lawsuit.
CAMEROTA: Yet, there was that moment where they had common cause. Bernie Sanders went out of his way to say he did not think the e-mail scandal was something that the voters cared about. He basically said we should put it to bed now, let's watch this moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.
CLINTON: Thank you. Me too, me too!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Said like a true Vermonter.
[05:40:01] CAMEROTA: Maeve, that was true Bernie. It wasn't politically savvy. Say you know what, I'm on your side, my opponent, but it got a huge applause.
RESTON: You know, you saw Lincoln Chafee come in after Hillary Clinton on the e-mail and after Bernie closed that door. It was done. It was tabled for the night.
ZELENY: I would say temporarily closed the door, though, because in the room with Democratic primary voters, of course, most agree on that, but it is not closed forever.
CUOMO: Anderson Cooper, obviously, I couldn't be more biased. He's been our colleague and a friend forever. He set the standard last night of how to do this job. That was a home crowd, preaching to the converted. Everybody goes crazy when Bernie says that, he says, yes, maybe in this room, but that's a legitimate issue. You know what, that's the truth. BERMAN: Can I disagree? He said it might not be politically savvy, listen to the words, they were chosen, he didn't say the e-mails. He said your e-mails, right. So he did place ownership on the e-mail issue. I think he reminded people that the scandal is out there and people are talking about it. I don't think he absolved her completely.
CAMEROTA: OK, very quickly, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, what's next?
RESTON: Jim Webb completely faded from the stage except for some odd moments and Lincoln Chafee just talks about being a block of granite. Everybody was watching him on Twitter.
CUOMO: I think we will see a drop?
RESTON: These guys are in it. What do they have to lose at this point? It's the vanity project in many ways so we'll see what forces them out.
CAMEROTA: OK, everybody, thanks for all of that. Standby because after last night's debate, we have so much more to talk about in terms of the post-debate, could the current Democratic field of five shrink to a field of four or maybe three? We will look at how the other candidates did and if anyone is on their way out. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:58]
CAMEROTA: Welcome back to our special early edition of NEW DAY. Last night's Democratic debate was not just the Hillary and Bernie show, though they did get the lion's share of time. But there were three other candidates. How did they do? We are joined again.
CUOMO: As the anchor questions her own words as they come out of her mouth.
CAMEROTA: Your eyebrow speaks volumes to me. Let's bring in John Berman, CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston, and CNN senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.
Maeve, I want to start with you because you basically said Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, you weren't wildly impressed. However, didn't Jim Webb come out strong when he talked about his own military background, his family, his five daughters and what they all do in terms of public service were those --
RESTON: That was certainly his moment if there was a moment last night in the debate. What happens the rest of the time is you sort of found him arguing that he wasn't getting a lot of time, cleaning. When you spend time doing that, it's a lost moment for you. He heralded him for his service. It wasn't something that I would have considered a breakout moment for him.
CUOMO: Jeff, take us through the analysis of the difference between pedigree and cache within an election. On paper, everyone on that stage is impressed in one way or another, but the distinction between that and then making it as a candidate.
ZELENY: The reality is all candidates on the stage are not created equal. They don't have equal campaigns. Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee are not campaigning they are hardly out there in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada, the four early states. They're not waging campaigns.
So they are a part of this group of formers, former governors, former seniors, we see it every time. The former Alaska senator was there until nearly the end of 2008. I think Jim Webb was the more serious about this.
I thought he had an interesting moment against Bernie Sanders last night. He is like, Bernie, that movement is not going to happen -- the revolution is not going to happen. How are you going to pay for it?
I think Jim Webb was not in this Twitter moment. He seemed in slow motion. I said are you going to stay in? He said, yes, I'm going to stay in, I'm just getting started. Lincoln Chafee said as long as my budget allows so we shall see.
CUOMO: To the point we may be coming into this segment. It wound up being a look at Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Do you think Bernie Sanders did enough last night to make himself an alternative to the widest swap of the party?
BERMAN: I think Bernie Sanders did everything he could to appeal to Bernie Sander's voters. My question is did he appeal to one person who is not Bernie Sanders?
CUOMO: What about the Black Lives Matter?
BERMAN: You know what? I think it wasn't a big subject over the course of the night. They talked about it once and then moved on.
RESTON: At the beginning and not to those two demographic groups he is really struggling with at this point. He never found a moment to really connect with those voters in the way that Hillary Clinton has.
BERMAN: And in his introduction to the country because there was in some ways an introduction to the country. They also found out about his party which is not Democrat, it's an independent. He's a Democratic socialist. He needed to explain that to America in and it's a tough word. He talked about Denmark, Hillary Clinton said Bernie we are not Denmark so that is now a part of the Bernie Sanders American speech.
CAMEROTA: Was that effective when Bernie Sanders said here's what I mean?
ZELENY: No, I don't think you can explain that in that short of a moment there. I think he struggled to explain. That I think Martin O'Malley, I'm a lifelong Democrat. Translation is Bernie Sanders is not and I think that Martin O'Malley --
CUOMO: And Chafee is not.
[05:50:01] ZELENY: Some people thought he was going aggressively after Hillary Clinton. Not a chance. That was his real introduction to the country. If you looked inside Martin O'Malley's words, read the transcript.
He had a lot of slow zingers at Hillary Clinton, in the end, I respect what Hillary Clinton and her husband has done for our country. Our country needs new leadership. That was the beginning of his argument here that he wants to be that alternative.
CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton said to him. I appreciated your endorsement in 2008. She was right. She was ready for that.
CUOMO: He said something changed since 2008.
RESTON: Right. You know, right at that moment, her team and her allies were sending out the full endorsement to all of the reporters --
CUOMO: But how big a deal is it? Bernie Sanders said after the debate, they didn't talk enough about income and equality. They did talk a lot about Wall Street. I thought you saw a very important distinction.
Hillary Clinton kept saying last night. If states want to do that, let them do it, that wasn't the question. The question was what will you do about banks and Wall Street? O'Malley was strong on that, but does it matter to the voters at least right now?
RESTON: I think it might. It's almost a Republican argument that she kept making that this will all come down to the state. It's an elegant dodge, but it certain live wasn't the way that some Democrats would have wanted her to answer that question.
ZELENY: I think Bernie Sanders was strong on that, he says Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. So the Bernie Sanders supporters loved that, they were cheering at home.
RESTON: John was making a point that some of Hillary's Wall Street terms could ends up in an attack ad when she talked about having to rent Wall Street and tow that line or balance that line so it's interesting.
CAMEROTA: Maeve and Jeff, John, thank you very much. Great stuff.
CUOMO: To be sure, the race changed last night. You go to the see the contenders in a way you haven't before. You have five Democratic contenders, made a lot of big claims you know where this is going, right?
So who was telling the whole truth and not anything but the truth as opposed to a little stretch a little around the corner, a number that's not exactly right. We checked. We have the reel him. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:56:08]
CUOMO: Well, look, here's the big balance here, even in Vegas, it's all about gambling, they say, that sounded good. Is it true? We have to fact check. John Berman has that weighty task. John, who was giving us the real?
BERMAN: We were talking about gun control, a big part of the discussion, particularly when it pertains to Bernie Sander's record, a contentious moment last night at the Democratic debate, he was asked about that record and accused of protecting gun manufacturers' rights from lawsuits. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Manufacturers and where you have gun shops, knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course, we should take action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It's interesting, back in July Sanders told CNN that gun makers should not be held responsible. Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if someone beats somebody over the head with a hammer. That is not what a lawsuit should be about.
So it's interesting. So when he says in the debate he doesn't want lawsuits for certain reasons, it's clear he doesn't think gun manufacturers should be sued. Now, Hillary Clinton accused of flip- flopping on her support, her opposition I should say of the Keystone pipeline. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: You know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We have been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know we know if you are learning you will change your position. I never took a position on Keystone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So did she ever take a position on Keystone? In October of 2010, Hillary Clinton told the Commonwealth Club, quote, "We haven't finished all of the analysis, we have not yet signed off on it but we are inclined to do so and we are for several reasons.
Over the next five years, Clinton would repeatedly decline to say what her opinion is while the Obama administration studied it. This past September, she did finally say I oppose it. So her statements that she never took a position true but not the whole story.
The big moment was when Bernie Sanders decided no itself to go after Hillary Clinton for using her private e-mail server as secretary of state. Let's listen again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: The secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.
CLINTON: Thank you, me too, me too!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: But are they? Are Americans sick and tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton's e-mails? CNN/ORC poll from August found that 56 percent of Americans think that Clinton did something wrong by using a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state.
And last month CBS News/"New York Times" poll found that half of adults are dissatisfied with Clinton's explanation of why she used a private server. Most Americans say the controversy has not affected their opinion of the candidates.
So, while there is not a lot of recent data to deliver a verdict on whether Americans do for do not care whether they are or are not sick about hearing about the e-mail policy.
Some polls as recent as December show they are concerned about it. People are interested in this. Maybe not Democratic voters or people in the debate hall but there was a bigger audience.
CAMEROTA: All right, John, thank you so much. So it's interesting as to watch the post-game wrap-up. We have a lot more on CNN's Democratic debate coverage, so let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLINTON: I'm not taking a back seat to anybody.
SANDERS: Climate change is real.
CLINTON: I have been as transparent as I know to be.
SANDERS: Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we need someone that has the best and ethical standards as our next president.
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond?
CLINTON: No.
