From 'flappable' to not radical: Quotes that stood out in the 10th Democratic presidential debate

Seven Democratic presidential candidates debated Tuesday night in Charleston, four days before the South Carolina primary. Here are quotes that stood out.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS

• Sanders said the biggest misconception about him is that his ideas are radical. "In one form or another, they exist in countries all over the world. Health care is a human right. We have the necessity, the moral imperative, to address the existential threat of climate change. Other countries are doing that. We don't need more people in jail, disproportionately African American, than any other country on Earth. Not a radical idea."

• Sanders, pressed about his comments about authoritarian and socialist governments, responded, "I have opposed authoritarianism all over the world."

He said later in his answer, "Occasionally, it might be good idea to be honest about American foreign policy, and that includes the fact that America has overthrown governments all over the world, in Chile, in Guatemala, in Iran."

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN

• "Bernie and I agree on a lot of things, but I think I would make a better president than Bernie. And the reason for that is that getting a progressive agenda enacted is going to be really hard, and it's going to take someone who digs into the details to make it happen. Bernie and I both wanted to help rein in Wall Street. In 2008, we both got our chance. But I dug in. I fought the big banks, I built the coalitions and I won."

She added, "We need a president who is going to dig in, do the hard work and actually get it done. Progressives have got one shot, and we need to spend it with a leader who will get something done."

• "I don't care how much money Mayor Bloomberg has. The core of the Democratic Party will never trust him. He has not earned their trust. I will. And the fact that he cannot earn the trust of the core of the Democratic Party means he is the riskiest candidate standing on this stage."

FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MIKE BLOOMBERG

• He responded to Warren's quote about trust: "I have been training for this job since I stepped on the pile that was still smoldering on 9/11. I know what to do. I've shown I know how to run a country. I've run the city, which is almost the same size, is bigger than most countries in the world. I am the one choice that makes some sense. I have the experience, I have the resources and I have the record. And all of the sideshows that the senator wants to bring up have nothing to do with that. When people hired me to run New York City three times in an overwhelmingly Democratic, progressive city, they elected me again and again."

• "We let it get out of control, and when I realized that, I cut it back by 95%, and I've apologized and asked for forgiveness," Bloomberg said about stop-and-frisk policing. "I've met with black leaders to try to get an understanding of how I can better position myself, and what I should have done and what I should do next time."

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

• Biden, asked about his numbers slipping among black voters: "Folks, I intend to win South Carolina, and I will win the African American vote here in South Carolina."

• "I'm not out of time. You spoke overtime, and I'm going to talk!"

FORMER SOUTH BEND MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG

• "If you think the last four years has been chaotic, divisive, toxic, exhausting, imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders vs. Donald Trump. Think about what that will be like for this country."

• Buttigieg said the biggest misconception about him is that he's not passionate: "I get that I'm kind of level. Some say unflappable. I don't think you want a president who's flappable."

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR

• "If we spend the next four months tearing our party apart, we're going to watch Donald Trump spend the next four years tearing our country apart."

• "Donald Trump's worst nightmare is having someone that the people in the middle, who are tired of the insults and the extremes in our politics, have someone to vote for."

BILLIONAIRE ACTIVIST TOM STEYER

• He mentioned the prospect of either a democratic socialist or someone with a long history as a Republican leading the Democratic Party. "And I am scared. If we cannot pull this party together, if we go to one of those extremes, we take a terrible risk of reelecting Donald Trump," Steyer said.

• "We have to oppose a president who sides with a hostile foreign power that commits cyberwarfare against the United States of America. That's where we are. Where are all these patriotic Republicans who wave the flag, but when we're actually under attack, they side with our enemies? It's outrageous. That's why he should have been impeached! They covered it up," Steyer said. "And I was years before these people," he said about his position, gesturing to other Democrats onstage.