Clinton aide defends her debate remarks on Wall Street money

The three Democratic candidates for president squared off Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, in the second primary debate dominated by foreign policy issues.

Call it a tale of two debates. “It can not be contained; it must be defeated”, said Hillary Clinton, distancing herself from President Obama who stated about ISIS “I don’t think they’re gaining strength … and we have contained them”. Which seemed rather unrelated to what they were discussing.

At the debate, Sanders said Clinton was tied to Wall Street because a few of her biggest lifetime contributors come from employees of the nation’s biggest financial institutions.

The Democratic presidential hopefuls have clashed over how to deal with militant group Islamic State, in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Paris. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley didn’t provide details on how they would take on ISIS – saying instead that the US should work with its allies on diplomatic and intelligence fronts.

The shift in emphasis will likely benefit Clinton, who, because of her time as America’s top diplomat, has the most extensive foreign policy experience of any candidate in either party, according to Ward.

She rejected the idea that she and the rest of the Obama administration underestimated the growing threat of the Islamic State.

Clinton has said she supports 12 weeks of paid family leave, but supports a different way to pay for it, her campaign said.

A Republican Party spokesman says the GOP is trying to change that in 2016, “I mean we planted a flag in there early”.

It was with that fallout in mind that Clinton took the stage in a cattle barn here on the campus of Iowa State University to speak to the Central Iowa Democrats’ annual fall barbecue.

“Secretary Clinton, when you put out your proposal on Wall Street it was greeted by many as ‘weak tea, ‘” O’Malley added. The public and media in general quickly reacted negatively to Clinton’s dodging the point that Sanders appropriately made about her campaign contributions coming from the wealthy.

“I have never heard a candidate, never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military-industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me”, Sanders said, according to The NY Times.

Wall Street: Clinton’s biggest liability? Sanders criticized Clinton for takingWall Street donations and noted her opposition to reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, the 1933 law that established a firewall between investment and commercial banking.

He also failed to focus on what political observers consider one of his best lines of attacks – accusing Clinton of flipping on policy positions.

“I’m sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression, because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild”, she replied. Bush, who couldn’t answer a question about what differed between Ms. Clinton’s response and George W. Bush saying “Islam is peace”, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

O’Malley piled on, questioning Sanders’ support for the liability legislation.