19 Great Moments From the Sixth Democratic Debate

By Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone

12 February 16

Thursday's debate brought references to "doing" marijuana, and a fight over who is least friendly with Henry Kissinger

f it were an old-timey boxing match, promoters might have called it the Melee in Milwaukee, or maybe the Wis-Confrontation. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders walked into Thursday evening's debate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a primary win a piece to their names, and a lot to lose. Clinton was clinging to the edge she's managed to hold over Sanders in national polls, while Sanders was anxious to maintain the momentum he gained from a landslide victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

The folks watching at home could tell it was going to be a good one when, as Clinton was laying out the plans for her first term, Sanders offered a sharp rebuke. "You're not in the White House yet," he said. But the gloves really didn't come off until the very end, when Clinton compared Sanders to a Republican. "Madame secretary, that is a low blow," Sanders bristled.

The next proving ground for the Democrats will be the Nevada caucuses, on February 20th, followed by the South Carolina primary a week later.

1. "Before it was called Obamacare it was called Hillarycare." -Clinton


2. "We are not England. We are not France." -Clinton on the United States' employer-based health care system


3. "Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet." -Sanders


4. "This is the first time there have been a majority of women on stage." -Clinton, referencing the fact that both of the debate moderators were women


5. "I think a Sanders victory would be of some historic value as well." -Sanders


6. "I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced and ready person to be the president and the commander in chief." -Clinton


7. "When it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice ... in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government, and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what is." -Sanders


8. "Both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at roughly the same rate." -Sanders


9. Moderator Gwen Ifill: "I want to talk to you about white people."
   
   Sanders: "White people?!"


10. "Hopefully after the 2016 election, some of our Republicans will come to their senses and realize we are not going to deport 11 or 12 million people in this country." -Clinton


11. "Let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign donations? I guess just for the fun of it! They want to throw money around." -Sanders


12. "I don't believe that a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat ISIS in 2016." -Clinton


13. "I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend.... I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state." -Sanders, distancing himself from Clinton, who called Kissinger a "friend" in the last Democratic debate


14. "If you're going to quote me from 2008, Sen. Sanders, quote what I said." -Clinton, taking issue with Sanders' characterization of her disagreement with President Obama on Iran


15. "It's easy to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies." -Sanders


16. "The kind of criticism we have heard from Sen. Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans, I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama." -Clinton


17. "Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have." -Sanders


18. "One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate." -Sanders


19. "I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not think we live in a single-issue country." -Clinton