Sanders refuses to spend more time talking about terrorism

[riversedge]

Seems all is well







Sen. Bernie Sanders arrives at Drake University campus with his wife Jane Sanders before the Democratic presidential primary debate on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. | AP Photo







Sanders refuses to spend more time talking about terrorism

By Annie Karni

11/14/15 07:39 PM EST


DES MOINES -- Bernie Sanders’ campaign said Saturday it was more interested in preserving its full 90 seconds of opening remarks during the second Democratic debate than devoting more time to discussing the terrorist attacks that killed at least 120 people in Paris on Friday.

In a conference call with all three campaigns, debate host CBS suggested changing the format of the forum to create more time for a foreign-policy discussion. But Sanders' team forcefully opposed any changes.

“We had agreed on opening and closing statements, the timing of those," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said about the debate format that was settled before the attacks on Friday. "Others attempted to change those. We pushed back on those and ended up prevailing. We're very happy about that.”

When asked for more details, he smiled: "Let's just say we won."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/bernie-sanders-debate-no-terrorism-215868#ixzz3rWJVoy3e

[Dawson Leery]

1. Candidate Bernie will hand the Whitehouse to a Republican if

he does not want to discuss foreign policy(especially in this climate).

Dead on serious here, no hyperbole.

[MohRokTah]

9. Yep, major gaffe on the part of the candidate here. eom

[DCBob]

2. This is not going to play well with the Iowanians.

imo.

[restorefreedom]

3. the questioners have much latitude in questions

i don't see any reason to change opening statements. if they want to ask about paris, they are free to.

and not to sound insensitive, but this horrid crime is not the only thing people are going to be voting about next year.

thats what happens in neocon looneyland. but the dems need to discuss a variety of issues.

[Todays_Illusion]

4. I think CBS is making a mistake if they force the debate in this direction, we will see that

both Hillary and O'Malley are going for building the war machine. This attack happened in FRANCE. If the French want us to meddle they will say so. Our job is to offer sympathy and any specific support they request for a tragedy.

[dorkzilla]

11. Looks like they’re already doing that, and they’re only 1 minute in. nt

[jkbRN]

5. Best article with events & response:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/rival-campaign-bernie-sanders-aide-threw-fit-about-debate-shift-20151114

[winter is coming]

6. ...

Shortly before Saturday's debate, Sanders' spokesman told a New York Times reporter that someone at the unnamed rival campaign was trying to make "a mountain out of a molehill, but it's still a molehill."

So this is all based on a report by an unnamed person with a rival campaign? Damn, that's reliable.

[George II]

7. How could he? There are no oligarchs in al Qaeda or ISIS.

[sadoldgirl]

8. CBS wanted to make a hit,

that is all. None of the candidates should speak
about foreign policy at this critical time.

Leave it to the POTUS and Kerry, and wait what
the outcome of the Turkey visit will accomplish.

Obama is in a tough situation right now, his policy
should not be an issue at the moment.

[winter is coming]

10. Seriously? CBS wanted to cut 90 seconds per candidate?

They couldn't just run over by 5 minutes?

Nobody's in that much of a hurry to catch the local news. CBS runs way over on Thursday evenings for football.