[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! barack obama new exactly i was, he had 10 lawyers do a background check on everything about me on civil rights and civil liberties and chose me, said it was the best decision he made. amy: in the second democratic debate, former vice president joe biden faced increasing criticism over his record on criminal justice, the iraq war,

women's rights, and more. the debate opened with biden sparring with california senator kamala harris on their healthcare plans. >> anytime somebody tells you you are going to get something good in 10 years, you should wonder why it takes 10 years. >> under our plan, we will ensure everyone has access to health care. plan by contrast leaves out almost 10 million americans. amy: we will air highlights from the debate and speak to professor cornel west who has endorsed bernie sanders and the legendary labor leader dolores huerta. she is co-chair of kamala harris's campaign. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in detroit, 10 presidential hopefuls took the stage wednesday evening for the second democratic primary debate with nine contenders taking aim at former vice president joe biden's record on criminal justice, the iraq war, immigration, and women's rights.

with bidenopened sparring with kamala harris on their health care plans with candidate debating the medicare for all plan for nearly 30 minutes. after headlines, we will play highlights of the debate and be joined by cornell west and dolores huerta. immigration rights activists abruptly interrupted former vice president joe biden during last night's debate chanting g 3 millllion portatio, , refeing to t o obamadmininisation's deportation n oft least reee million unundomented pple.e. the disrtionon ce afafter cnn's don lemon questiononedhe f forr vice preresint o on his immigration record. , in thepresident biden first two years of the obama administration, nearly 800,000 immigrants were deported, for more than president trump's first two years. will the higher deportation rates resume if you are president? >> absolutely not.

the secretary, we sat together in many meetings. i never heard him talk about any of this when he was the secretary. >> 3 million deportations. >> please be respectful. amy: protesters with the immigration justice group movimiento cosecha carried a banner that read "stop all deportations on day 1." earlier wednesday, 22 activists were arrested for blocking the nearby detroit-windsor tunnel at the u.s.-canada border prototesting the fedalal governnt's immigrioion crackdown. there we other ptests at wednesd's dete, as seral activistshouted"fire pantale" whi new yorcity mayor bi de blas wrappedp s opening atement. it was a reference to daniniel pantaleo, , the new york policie officer who fiveve years ago choked eriric garner to deataths garner gaspeped"i can't breath"" 11 times.. pantaleo has r remained on the police force ever since. th is bill d de blasio, defefending his record on the killing later in the debate. >> there is finally going to bee

jujustice. i have confidence in that. in the next 30 days in new york. for the first time we are not waiting on the federal justice department, which h told the ciy of new york that we could not proceed because the justice department was pursuing their prosecution. anand years went by, and d a lof pain accrued. amy: in fact, the justice department only y requested that new yorkrk hold off on taking action on the pantaleo''s case, but it was not a legal requirement. new york city's medidical examir has ruled that layleen polanco, a transgender afro-latina woman who was found dead in a jail cell at rikers island in june, died of complications from epilepsy. polalanco was arrested in apriln misdemeanor charges and jailed for two months after she was unable to post $500 bail. she was found dead in a solitary confinement cell in early june. in a statement, the epilepsy foundation wrote "layleen polanco's death is an absolute tragedy, and her passing further underscores the dangers of solitary confinement, which

isolates already medically fragile people from observation and care." to see our coverage of layleen polanco's case, visit our website democracynow.org. the united natns is warning that s syria's s government h hs dramatatically stepped up p bomg and shellingng attacks on n civn areas of idldlib and hama.a. this is u.n. humanitiaian chie mark lowcock, speaki t to reportrters tuesday y after pleg with the un security council to help stop the violence. >> there has been a bloody onslaught or more than three months on the people of idlib. it does not stop, it has the potential to createhe worst manitarianisaster inhe world s ever seen n so far this century. amy:y: a aivists say recent attatas in idlib appear to be deliberately aimed at health facilities. a medical worker in the region told doctors without dorders, "patients, their caretakers and hospital staff are all struggling psychologically. when planes fly over the hospital, they are extremely

scared. some leave the building out of fefear it wiwill be hit." over the past three months, the assault has forceded more than 450,000 people to flee north towards turkey. the treasury department has imposed sanctions on iran's foreign minister mohammad javad zarif, in the latest move by the u.s. to ratchet up tensions after the trump administration backed out of the 2015 iran nuclear deal. the highly unusual move to sanction another nation's top diplomat comes ahead of the annual u.n. general assembly in new york city in september. the state department said it would decide whether to grant zarif a travel v visa on a casey case basasis. susudan's military rulers hahave closed schools across the country indefinitely, after soldiers on monday fired on a peaceful protest of high school students, killing four students and an adult. the closures werere announced a day after hundreds of children many of them in school uniforms flooded the streets of khartoum and other cities to protest the latest killings, which follow a

deadly raid on a pro-democracy protest camp in the capital last month that killed an estimated 130 people. in climate news, a massive heat dome that shattered all-time temperature records across much of europe last week has settled in over greenland, driving temperatures across the vast arctic island to as much as 30 degrees fahrenheit above normal. writing in rolling stone in an article headlined "greenland is melting away before our eyes," meteorologist eric holthaus warns greenland's ice is expected to melt at its fastest-ever rate ever recorded today, when "more than 12 billion tons of water will permanently melt away from the ice sheet and find its way down to the ocean, irreversibly raising sea levels globally." at wednesday evening's dedemocraticic presidential deb, washington governor jay inslee promoted his climate justice proposal, which would create a 10-year, $9 trillion investment plan to combat the climate

crisis, with $1.2 trillion earmarked to help frontline communities build a green energy economy. the plan would also phase out u.s. fossil fuel production and end coal power by 2030. mrs. washington governor inslee. >> if we make to feed the climate crisis the top priority of the united states we will have a fighting chance to save ourselves and our children's future. it has to be our top priority. my plan is one of national mobilization, quickly bringing 100% clean energy to americans. creating 8 million good union dropped. amy: in texas, at least 66 people sought memedical attentin wednesday after part o of a sprawling g exxonmobil refinery exploded and caught fire. the disaster in the city of baytowown, some 25 miles east of houston, senent huge plumes of black k oke into t the sky and prompted a shelter-in-placee order for r 5,000 peoplele. this is longngtime baytown resident agustin loredo.

>> you have to close down your windows, close your doors, turn , if you can, seal off the doors and windows with the update. -- duct tape. do not leaveve until you been notified of f a shelter in place has been l lifted. it is so hard in texas right now because it is so hot. amy: it's the second disaster at an exxonmobil plant in baytown this year, after a refinery fire in march spewed toxic pollutants for more than eight days. another fire that same month at a petrochehemical plant in neary deer park kicked up dangerous levels of toxic benzene. the federal reserve is cutting interest rates for the first time since the great recession hit 11 years ago, amid fears of a slowing u.s. economy. after the fed announced the quarter-point cut in its benchmark interest rate wednesday, president trump attacked his hand-picked fed chairman, jerome powell, as not aggressive enough in cutting rates, tweeting, as usual, "powell let us down." trump's latest attack came after powell suggested that president

trump's trade wars are hurting the u.s. economy. president trump has ordered the u.s. navy to rescind achievement medals given to military lawyers who prosecuted navy seal team leader eddie gallagher, who was accused of multiple war crimes including shooting two iraqi civilians and fatally stabbing a captive teenager in the neck. in july, gallagher was acquitted on all but the least-serious charge he faced taking a photo over the dead body of a captive teenage combatant in iraq despite several of gallagher's fellow seals testifying as witnesses to the alleged murders. on twitter, trump blasted the prosecutors, adding, "i am very happy for eddie gallagher and his family." puerto rico's disgraced governor, ricardo rossello, nominated his likely successor wednesday, two days before his resignation takes effect. if he's confirmed in a spepecial legislative session today, pedro pierluisi i will become puerto rico's secretary of state and will serve out the remainder of rossello's term as governor.

pierluisi previously served as puerto rico's resident commissioner or non-voting representative in congress from 2009 to 2017. he was one of the key advocates behind the creation of the puerto rico oversight, management, and economic stability act known as promesa which created an unelected, federally appointed control board with sweeping powers to run puerto rico's economy. this is puerto rico independence party politician maria de lourdes santiago. >> they think it is a great display of sarcasm, a leading slogan, ricky resign and take them with you. the outgoing governor haslam does with the financial oversight board lawyer under the totally false premise that it is better to have a figure that is less offensive than other possible candidates before the public eye. if anything is clear, it is that the high leadership of the party that promotes stability in puerto rico is a criminal organizationon in which there ae

only puppets and puppeteers. amy: governor rossello announced his resignation a week ago, as hundreds of thousandnds of protesters flooded the streets to demand he step down. that followed the publication of hundreds of pages of text messages s showing rossesello ad his stafaffers mockingng hurrice maria survivors and using violent, homophobic, and misogynistic language. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: welcome to our viewers and countries around the world. 10 presidential hopefuls took the stage wednesday evening for a second round of democratic debates. during the night, joe biden defended his record after facing numerous attacks on his record on criminal justice, the iraq war, immigration, and women's rights. everybody is talking about how terrible i am on these issues. who i obama knew exactly

was, he had 10 lawyers do a background check on me, civil rights and civil liberties, and he chose me and he said it was the best decision ever. amy: new york senator kierersten gillibrand receives some of the loudest applause or the night when she outlined what she would do first as president. >> the first thing i will do when i am president is clorox the oval office. [laughter] >> the second thing i will do is reengage on global i'm change. i will not only find that paris climate records but i will lead a worldwide conversation about the urgency of this crisis. amy: much of the debate focused on domestic policy but hawaii congress member tulsi gabbard made a link between u.s. wars overseas and deteriorating infrastructure at home. the truth toing people across the country about the fact that people in flint, michigan are still being poisoned by the water in their system..

because every single month we are spending $4 billion on a continuing war in afghanistan. $4 billion every single month. rather than ending that more, bringing our troops home, and using those psses resources into serving the needs of the people here in this country. nermeen: there were no questions about iran during the debate, but bill deblasio attempted to raise the issue. >> we are on a march to war in iran right now. >> please follow the rules. >> we have t to stop this marcho war in iran. amy: the first portion of the debate focused heavily on health care. with one of the top priorities for democratic voters and that his health care. week, yourris, this released a new health care plan which would preserve private insurance and take 10 years to phase in. vice president biden's campaign calls your plan "a have it every

which way approach" and says it is part of the confusing pattern about equivocating about your health care stance. what do you say to that? >> they are probably confused because they have not read it. i have been spending time in this campaign listening to american families, listening to experts, listening to health care providers. with was a very clear understanding that i needed to create a plan that was responsive to the needs of the american people. >> the senator has had several plans so far and any time somebody tells you you are going to get something good in 10 years, you should wonder why it takes 10 years. there is no mention of the fact that the plan will cost $3 trillion, you will lose your employer-based insurance. this is the single most important issue facing the public. to be very blunt and straightforward, you cannot beat president trump with doubletalk on this plan. >> your response?

>> unfortunately, you are simply inaccurate in what you are describing. the reality is our plan will bring health care to all americans under a medicare for all system. our plan will allow people to start signing up on the first day. babies will be born intoto our plan. right now, 4 million babies are every year in america. under our plan, we will ensure everyone has access to health her. contrast, leaves out almost 10 million americans. >> no matter how you cut it, it cost $3 trillion when it is employed. 10 years from now, after two terms of the senator being president. secondly, it would require middle-class taxes to go up, not down. thirdly, it would eliminate employer-based insurance. fourthly, what happens in the meantime? >> i would like to respond.

the cost of doing nothing is far too expensive. $3ond, we are now paying trillion a year for r health cae in america. over the next 10 years, it will probably be $6 trillion. we must act. amy: we aree joined right now by cornell west, professor of public philosophy at harvard university. he was at the debate the last two nights in district, also standing outside in large rallies. he has endorsed bernie sanander. in sacramento, california, we are joined by renowned civil rights activist dolores horta. she is the cofounder of the united card from -- farm workers of america. she is cochair for kamala harris is presidential campaign along with barbara lee. we welcome you both to democracy

now! we have an interesting hour, playing a highlight from the debate in getting your response. dolores huerta, your thoughts on the debate over the last two nights, the second of the series, as 20 democratic presidential hopefuls spar to become the president of the united states? dolores: well, i just had to say, as a woman of color, to me, it is gratifying to see some of these subjects such as racism, the police issues, are finally being debated. these are issues that we have had in our country for 100 years but nobody ever spoke to them or about them. to see that they are now a priority in terms of the debates, conversations taking place right now, i think that is important because we are not going to be able to solve these issues, especially racism, unless we talk about them,

making sure that people can debate about them. not only the reasons but what we have to do to eliminate these divisive issues we have in our country. i believe all of the conversations that are being held right now with the debates are much more progressive, the issues, than they were in the last elections. nermeen: dr. cornel west, your response to the debate? you suggested there was too much of an obsession with former vice president joe biden, and also that there weree four to many people on stage. i think what we are actually witnessing in the last two days is ways in which the democratic establishment, the last gasp of the o'neill project within the corporate wing of the democratic party, is moving toward a state of panic. the real vitality and vibrancy was actually seen the first night with my dear brother

bernie sanders and sister elizabeth warren. as much as i salute sister dolores in my beloved hometown of sacramento, that senator harris is trying to play it both ways. she was neoliberal certain parts, wants to be progressive in other ways, but it will be the consistency, the vibrancy, and those that have the vision. the old democratic establishment is beginning now to recognize the crisis it's been in for a long time. it was both side as well as fascinating. sad because, when you look at the condition of the country, the empire in deep decline and declaring, levels of poverty, militarism running amok, neofascism escalating with trump, working-class, middle-class devastated. the last thing you need is incremental small talk and you are getting more and more out of the establishment. i hope the democratic party can meet the challenge.

in the past, it's had a tremendous difficulty meeting the challenge when it comes to poor and working people. amy: we are in a break and then will come back to the discussion. we are joined by longtime civil rights activist dolores huerta, cofounder of the united farm workers. and we are joined by professor cornell west. interestingly, dolores is in the hometown of professor west in sacramento and dr. west is in detroit at the major site of these debates. back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "neutron dance" by the pointe sisters. nermeen: as we continue to cover last night's debate, let's go to hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard confronting kamala harris as her record as california attorney general. >> i want to bring the conversation back to the broken criminal justice system that has

disproportionately negatively impacted black and brown people across the country today. senator harris says she is proud of her record as a prosecutor and says she will be a prosecutor president but i'm concerned about this record. there are too many examples to cite but she put over 1500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana. she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. she kept people in prison beyond their sentences, to use them as cheap labor for the state of california, and she fought to , thatail systems in place impacts poor people in the worst way. >> senator harris, your response? >> as the elected attorney general of california, i did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of

the state of 40 million people which became a national model for the work that needs to be done. i am proud of that work. i am proud of making the decision not just to give fancy speeches or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor but actually doing the work of being in the position to use the power i had to reform a system badly in need of reform. >> the bottom line is, when you were in a position to make a difference and impact these people's lives, you did not. worse yet, in the case of those on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have read them, until you were forced to do so. the people who suffered under your rain at prosecutor, you owe them an apology. >> senator harris? >> my entire career i have been opposed personally to the death penalty and that has never changed. nermeen: that was tulsi gabbard questioning kamala harris on her record.

dr. cornel west, can you respond to what she said, how kamala harris defended herself, and also the fact t that subsequenty kamalala harris entirelyly dismd what tulsi gabbard said, by is essentially an apologist for assad and cannot be taken seriously. dr. west: when you look closely at the record of sister harris, she emerges at a moment when all elected officials who were successful were "tough on crime." engages in the criminalizing of children who are truant, that is part of a deeply conservative orientation that moves through the democratic party. the 1994 with biden in crime bill, goes back to 1984. you see it with democratic politicians across the board. keep in mind, you have steven

mnuchin now in the cap thatat of the trump administration who should have also gone to jail under sister harris. him,nds up pulling back on he contributes to her campaign, meaning what, tough on crime in tough onlways means crime for poor and vulnerable tople, but when it comes wall street executives, corporate elite, not tough at all. tulsi gabbard was just beginning to unravel some of the records of not just sister harris but biden and so many of the other neoliberals and centrists. this is one of the reasons why brother bernie, why sister warren had the kind of vitality and vibrancy which is the democratic wing of the democratic party, the progressive wing, as opposed to the corporate wing, the wing tied to the oligarchs and plutocrats. amy: we should say we are having

a kind of rematch right now because back i in 2016 wewe hadr very cap on, -- guests on, cornel west endorsing bernie sanders, and dolores were to, who at the time was endorsing hillary clinton. cornel west is continuing to endorse senator sanders. dolores were tied is cochair of kamala harris' campaign. dolores, if you could start about why you chose to endorse kamala harris, and response to tulsi gabbard's attack when she was da and attorney general of california? i have to say, unfortunately, ms. gabbard does not know all of kamala harris' record. california, she did a lot to reform the district attorney's office when she was in the office. did, therethings she

were a couple hundred people who had been arrested for protesting, union workers. one of the first thing she did is say, bring me those files. we will make sure all of these charges are dismissed against these workers. in california, as attorney into theshe instituted work that she did, making sure that we had a civil rights division to address some of the issues of racism in the schools, and discrimination against young people of color. in the state of california, she is very well respected. i don't think ms. gabbard portrayed kamala harris as the person she is. she is very committed to criminal justice reform. when you talk about keeping people in prison, we know there are mandated sentences. she said clearly she has always been against the death penalty. know, wernia, as we

now have a moratorium on the death penalty. this is why i endorsed her when she ran for the senate and for attorney general. i think her record has been really misconstrued by the attacks. dr. west: sister dolores, you would admit that sister harris was wrong when it came to my newton -- came to steven mnuchin. dolores: i didn't really know about that, so i cannot comment on that. let's go to an exchange between former vice president joe biden and new jersey senator cory booker on criminal justice. >> the vice president has said, since the 1970's, every major crime bill, major and minor, has had his name on it. those are your words, not mine. instancese of those where the house was set on fire, and you claim responsibility for those laws.

you cannot just come out with a plan now to put out that fire. we have got to have far more bold action on criminal justice reform, like having true marijuana justice, which means we legalize it on a federal level and reinvest profits into communities that have been disproportionately targeted by marijuana enforcement. >> your response? futurefact is, the president that the senator is talking about, these are bills that were passed years ago, passed overwhelmingly. since 2007, for example, i tried to get crack and cocaine disparity completely eliminated. you became mayor and you had a police department. you went out and hired rudy engaged in stop and frisk, 75% of those illegal, you found yourself in a situation where three times as many african-american kids were

caught up. the justice department came after you saying you were engaging in behavior that was inappropriate. then nothing happened. the entire time you were mayor. >> we have a system right now that is broken. recordsant to compare -- and frankly, i'm shocked that you do -- i'm happy to do that. >> why did you announce on the first day is zero tolerance policy of stop and frisk and higher rudy giuliani's guy in 2007, when i was trying to get rid of the crack cocaine? a saying in my community, you are dipping into the kool-aid and you don't even though the flavor. you need to come to the city of newark and see the reforms we put in place. the aclu says i embraced reform not just an action but in deeds. west,k, pressler cornell what is the flavor of the kool-aid? you were at princeton, at

harvard now, were at princeton in the state of new jersey. you have watched as cory booker rose as mayor. clearly taking in many cases, mark lippert -- more progressive line, increasingly progressive as he has rose to power. your thoughts on his challenge to joe biden? as well as his record? dr. west: i thought brother cory booker was strong last night, trying to get people to see that brother biden not only lacks the kind of vision as well as the vitality to be trump -- beat trump. it is clear a milquetoast neoliberalism can never beat a high-energy neofascism of donald trump. but when you look at the concrete details of the record, and both have spotty records in

a certain sense, but with in the pointing out way that biden's history has circumscribed where he is now in terms of his vision and now all of the flip-flopping, biden acting more progressive, certainly brother booker is more progressive in his rhetoric and actions in the senate, but both are still so tied to the permanent power, oligarchs and plutocrats. the oligarchs and plutocrats are looking to see which candidate will be amenable to them, and at the same time, electable for the larger citizenry. this is what sister dolores can help me out with -- i do thinknk more and more that sister harris is emerging as a possible darling of the powers that be in the democratic establishment because she is so vital in vibrant. i want to makake sure thahat her

record is actutually scrutinized in a way that each and every one of the candidates are. but in the end it will be brother bernie. it is this anybody but bernie phenomenon that is setting in more and more amongst the democratic establishment of the party, is something that we ought to keep track of. nermeen: dolores huerta, your response? dolores: i think the whole criminal justice system definitely in the be dismantled. the reverend says we need to get rid of the systems of oppression. policice, the growth of the police system in our country, not only in our streets but also in our schools, definitely has to be changed. there are so many innocent people, especially of color and the young men and women also that have been hurt and damaged by the system. i think joe biden should really apologize instead of attacking cory booker. this is what he does, using the

trump tactic, when people bring tothings that he contributed , this horrible system that we instead of acknowledging he made a mistake, he attacks cory booker and tries to put him into the same level as himself, and that is wrong. vice president biden will lose a lot of respect from a lot of people if he continues those kinds of tactics against the other candidates. nermeen: let's go back to last night's debate on the issue of immigration. this is vice president joe biden. matter is, if the you cross the border illegally, you should be able to be sent back, it is a crime. it is a crime and it is not 1 -- >> thank you, mr. vice president. all, mr. vice president, it looks like one of

us has learned the lessons of the past, and one of us hasn't. [applause] let me start out by answering that question. my immigration plan would also fix the broken legal immigration system, because we do have a problem with that. secondly, the only way we will guarantee these kinds of family separations don't happen in the future is that we need to repeal this law. there will still because it was as if somebody crosses the border. it is s a civil action. we have 654 miles of fencing, thousands of personnel at the border, we have planes, boats, helicopters, security cameras. what we need our politicians that have guts on these issues. mr. vice president, your mr. vice president, your response? >> i have guts enough to say the plan does not make sense. the factor of the matter is, when people cross the border illegally, it is illegal to do it unless they are seeking asylum. people should have to get in line.

that is the problem. the only reason this particular part of the law is being abused is because of donald trump. we should defeatat donald trump and end this practice. amy: that was former vice president joe biden and the former mayor of san antonio, the former obama hud secretary julian castro, sparring in last night's debate in dutoit. our guests are dr. cornel west of dolores huerta, cofounder the united farm workers of america. dolores huerta, the issue of immigration. on the one hand, you have what president trump is doing, and then you have the man who worked closely with the president of the united states, president obama, who became known even amongst his supporters and allies as the reporter in chief, deporting millions and millions of people. talk about this issue and what

will you and castro said, who we interviewed last week, when he was in davenport iowa, saying one of us learned the lessons of the past since they were both obama officials, one of us learn the lessons of the past and one of us didn't. it is a great disappointment to hear vice president biden use that kind of language because he is speaking just like the republicans. when people across the border, it is a civil offense, not a criminal offense. unfortunately, the congress made it a criminal offense when they say people who are deported twice are felons. when they talk about deporting all of these felons, these are people that have crossed the border twice. they made it a felony. they have criminalized. number of people that have been incarcerated for immigration offenses, it spiked, like putting young people in prison in the united states also

spiked. it is his whole attacking especially people of color. we have had an amnesty program in the united states from the time this country was formed by immigrants. people seem to forget that. to hear joe biden calling people trying to make a better life in this country, saying they have done things that are illegal and should stand in line, i would like to know if his family stood in line and where they came from. it is just unfortunate. we know thatat it is time we gea new president and make immigration one of the top issusues. it is so sad not only to see families separated at the border, see people in cages, but also many of the people that we work with, to know that their families have been separated, people that have been here many years and are hard-working, contributing people. with his recent ice raids, seeing these families being

separated, what they have to go through, it definitely needs to be fixed. again, it is unfortunate and sad to see biden take these positions. amy: let's go back to last night's debate with kamala harris. >> i went to a place in florida called homestead. there is a private detention facility being paid for by your taxpayer dollars, that currently houses 2700 children. by the way, there were members --us -- fully and was there members of congress, they would not let us enter. so i walked down the road, climbed a ladder and looked over the fence. i will tell you what i saw. singlehildren lined up fire based on gender being walked into barracks. the policies of this administration have been facilitated by laws on the books that allow them to be incarcerated as if they have committed crimes.

these kids should not be treated like criminals. amy: that is kamala harris talking about going to homestead outside of miami where a number of the candidates went. cornel west? i just want to affirm what my dear sister dolores said about the deportation out of control. it goes beyond political parties. it was under the obama administration as well. we have to be very candid about that. it is very difficult to have a robust and candid conversation about a number of these structural issues that have to ,o with misery and depression without somehow being open to the ways in which both parties to noten complicit staying in contact with the rich humanity of our precious mexican .rothers and sisters, chicanos it also relates to this larger issue of how does the democratic

party come to terms with obama and his legacy? because it is clear hardly anyone wants to critically examine it. you cannot say too much about the wall street bailout explicitly, cannot say too much about the drones, about the moors in libya and somalia, the bombs in yemen, cannot say too much about the very ugly israeli occupation, cannot say too much about the ugly egyptian authoritarianism. though they are tied to the obama administration. the democratic party is in a tough situation because you have democrats in love with their dear brothers barack obama, and we know he is a a zillion times better in many ways than trump in the white house right now, bubut on the other hand, it was not a golden age. we have to be very candid about this. this is part of the tightrope that needs to be walked by those

part of the progressive wing, the democratic party. you have to be able to tell the truth, be committed to the suffering of poor and working people, i don't care where they are. tel aviv, gaza, mexico city or el paso, they can be in guatemala or if you feel, or somalia. india. those of us on the outside, more social movement activists, as opposed to insiders, we have to be able to speak our truths and bring power and pressure to bear, even as we connect with various politicians and statement. part of the reasons that i spend time with bernie sanders is not because i think he is pure and pristine, but in many ways, he is the last hope in terms of dealing with the planet in catastrophic mode, dealing with their protest wealth inequality, dealing with the legacies of white and male supremacy,

transphobia, how do we keeeep track of jewish, palestinian humanity, arab humanity? what kinds of politicians will speak to those issues? very few. most of them are so adjusted to the unjust status quo food benefit from the oligarch and plutocratic money. bernie is one of the last hopes, not the last hope, but one of the last hopes, as our empire undergoes such decline, even as we lurch for real democratic awakening and a weakening -- regeneneration. nermeen: you mention this is an empire even if it is an empire in line. one of the most remarkable things about last night debate him as well as tuesday, is there was virtually no mention of foreign policy, according to a washington post count. last night, candidates spent a total of six minutes talking about foreign policy, which is

down five minutes from the 11 minutes on tuesday night. also, many commentators have pointed out, the rhetoric calling for war with iran is increasing within the trump administration. there was one in iran question which was bizarrely asked to andrew yang and jay inslee alone. when bill de blasio tried to brining it up, he was interruptd twice by moderators and said we have to move on to the mueller report. the problemrt of is, when you talk about an empire, you have the pillars of the military-industrial complex, wall street, but also corporate media. they got for democracy now!, the wonderful sisters that you are, say that corporate media is part of the empire that is in denial about america being an empire, and does not want to keep track of the nine

countries, five middle east, for in africa, where the u.s. is dropping bombs or assisting in the dropping of bonds. nobody wants to talk about the 128 countries of special operations, the military units all around the world, the 4800 we have a rough united states and the world. corporate media will not touch that with a 10-foot tall, so you end up with is very truncated conversation that denies the reality of the u.s. presence in the world. as a brother martin luther king used to say, those bonds that are dropped in yemen, somalia, ,ibya, afghanistan, pakistan they land on indigenous peoples reservations. we are not a nation of immigrants, we are a nation of immigrants with indigenous peoples, enslaved africans in our origins. those bombs drop in blackheads,

barrios, white and black poor communities. $.60 of every dollar of the u.s. budget goes to the military-industrial complex. $750 billion military budget. who voted for that? democrats as well as republicans. that is part of the imperial extension that makes it difficult for us to speak to jobs withhealth care, a living wage. it suffocates the domestic agenda. jr., our dearking sister dolores, cesar chavez and others, those great exemplars of the social movement, they undederstood that. that is the challenge we have to bring. amy: we are going to go to break. might i point out, we are not going to a drug manufacturer or oil or gas industry ad, we are turning to a little music and then coming back to hear what the candidates did have to say

about war. advertisements have to do with the range of the debate. dr. cornel west is with us, he supports bernie sanders. and we are joined by dolores were attacked, head of the foundation,ta cofounder of united farm workers of america. she supports kamala harris. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "de colores" by gina chavez, las cafeteras, and johanna chase. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikhkh. this is vermont senator bernie sanders. he is not talking about the candidates here. he is talking about who is bringing us the debate. >> the author of the medicare bill. let me clear up one thing. if people talk about having insurance -- there are millions of people that have insurance

but cannot go to the doctor and when they come out of the hospital, they go bankrupt. talking about and others up here are talking about is no deductibles and no copayments. your question is a republican talking point. way, the health care industry will be advertising tonight on this program. nermeen: that is bernie sanders speaking on tuesday night's debate. dolores huerta, i want to ask you about the comment he made about the advertisements that play both on tuesday as well as wednesday night. there were repeated ads in which the health care industry attacked the very proposals that were being put forward by the more progressive candidates, just as one example, a very powerful group, partner for america's health care future, thee slogan is --

politicians may call it medicare or the, medicare buy-in public option, but it all mean the same thing, higher taxes for worse care. amy: so you have these advertisements that are interspersing the debate. another voice in the debate, pharmaceutical industry, whether cnn or the other networks. how this is determining the frame of the debate. interestingly, bernie sanders has, for medicare for all that would include even undocumented people in this country. at first, it looked like kamala harris felt the same way, but i think she went back on that and went back on that promise that she would also called for medicare for all four undocumented people in this country. dolores: it sounds like her position is the public option,

people can have a choice, although she did some call it that. i agree with you. we need to get all of these pharmaceutical companies, all of these insurance companies. i just want to say, i h had an aneurysm in the year 2000. i was 65. medicare paid for all of my medical bills, which were almost $500,000. this is what we need. in the united farm workers when we started our medical plan, caesar said we don't need an insurance company. the money for the plan comes in and we papay out to the d doctos and hospitals or who ever is taking care of the patient. when they talk about raising all of twe don't need to dodo that. once we cut out the insurance companies, we will have the money we need. socialism,alk about

they say, look at these countries in europe that are socialist countries, people there do have medicare for all. it is something that we in the united states has to have. i want t to say to brother cornell, we have to educate the american public as to not only important that we have medicare for all, but that they know it will be paid for and that they will not be taxed to death as the opposition says. going back to the conversation about president obama. , when he passed obamacare, which was the first step to provide health insurance for more people in our country, it was only pass with four or five votes. when we think of the presidency, we also have to think of the congress, and we have to do more work to educate the people in the united states of america so they can elect progressive people to the congress and senate. the president cannot do it alone. in terms ofe did

being able to get obamacare in the first place, that was a herculean effort, and took a lot of his administration's energy to make it happen. wanten: dr. cornel west, i to ask about the structure of the debate itself. many on social media criticized the fact that it had this kind of pageantry complete with movie debates,which open the with some terming it like the opening of a sports event. andrew yang was the only one on the debate there to criticize the format, saying we are appear with makeup on our faces and were hearst attack lines, playing role in his reality tv show. we elected ason reality tv star as our president. again, one of the reasons why would you all do is you refuseis because

to simply be part of the dominant tendencies of the corporate media that is obsessed with not just revenues and profits, but with the kind of glitz and stimulation, as opposed to the engagement with substantive dialogue. as you know, i have been blessed to be on anderson cooper, various fox news shows as well, in order to be counter and contrary in a way, but it is very difficult to do that in corporate media. let's be clear, the fascist frankenstein trump is a product of corporate media because they followed every minute, tweet, speech. if they had done the same to my dear brother bernie when we were 15,eling together -- we had 20,000 people -- they would have a two-minute slice. trump got every second because

it was entertainment. one of the ceos of one of the leading corporate media entities said we know it is bad or the country but it is good for us. so we end up with narcissistic tweets on one hand and counter narcissistic counter responses. of course he is racist. there is no such thing as racism in the modern world when there is predatory capitalism. ththe racicism is concealing the social misery linked to oligarchy power. they never get to plutocratic power. .t is just he is racist and you end up in this corporate media loop over and over again. and the liberals think they are doing something. this is just self-righteousness. we know he is racist and xena phobic. let's keep track of the big money, military, tax cuts, ways that he is undermining the working class and not saying

anything about the poor, and thinking the market can take care of ththe poor with these wonderful statistics. clarify oneto point. ron brown wrote in the atlanantc candidates saying they would provide full benefits to the undocumented, as well as william castro. i want to go right t now to the issue of the war in iraq. part of the debate focused on this. this is governor jay inslee of washington. on this panel today were called to make a judgment on the iraq war. i was a relatively new member of congress and i made the right judgment because it was obvious to me george busush was fanningg the e flames of war. situations similar where we recognize, we have a president who is willing to beat the drums of war. we need a president who can stand up against the drums of

war and make rational decisions. >> vice president biden, he was obviously suggesting you made the wrong decision and had bad judgment when you voted to go to war in iraq as a u.s. senator. >> i did make a bad judgment trusting the president who said they were doing this only to get you when inspectors in. from the moment shock and all started, i was opposed to the effort and was outspoken as much as anyone in the congress and administration. amy: former vice president biden as a senator voted to authorize the war in iraq. dolores huerta, you got the last word. dolores: we know we are still suffering from those decisions day. i want to say something about iran. president obama was criticized when he made a treaty with iran and gave them the millions of dollars that we had of their money. that has never been brought up to the public.

when defense secretary carter was there, took hostages in iran, they took u.s. hostages because they wanted their money back. the shah -- amy: we are going to have to leave it there.

the north has launched two missiles. it marks the third set of launches in just over a week. south korea's joint chiefs of staff is reporting that two unidentified projectiles were fired early friday morning from near the country's east toward the sea of japan.