Vocabulary from the Fifth Democratic Debate, February 4, 2016

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders met for their first head-to-head debate on February 4, 2016, the last before the New Hampshire primary on February 9th. In addition to addressing issues both foreign and domestic, the debate touched on the definition of the label "progressive" and there was also an extensive discussion of both candidates' electability, that is, how likely they are to win a nationwide contest against their eventual Republican opponent. Here are twenty words from the Democratic debate of Feb 4, 2016.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. progressive
    favoring or promoting change, often by government action
    ...in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done.
    -Secretary Hillary Clinton
  2. belligerence
    hostile or warlike attitude or nature
    We've got to do more to support our partners in NATO, and we have to send a very clear message to Putin that this kind of belligerence, that this kind of testing of boundaries will have to be responded to.
    -Sec. Clinton
  3. paranoid
    suffering from delusions of persecution or grandeur
    Clearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid.
    - Senator Bernie Sanders
  4. systemic
    affecting an entire structure, network, or complex of parts
    You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed.
    -Sec. Clinton
  5. infrastructure
    the basic features of a system or organization
    I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power.
    -Sec. Clinton
  6. inequity
    injustice by virtue of not conforming with standards
    Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund.
    -Sec. Clinton
  7. shenanigan
    the use of tricks to deceive someone
    I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages.
    -Sec. Clinton
    Secretary Clinton is referring here to the financial crisis of the early 2000s, which involved, among other things, a mortgage crisis which lead to many foreclosures and people losing their homes or going deeply into debt.
  8. heinous
    extremely wicked or deeply criminal
    I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it [the death penalty] for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism.
    - Sec. Clinton
    This response was given to a question about the death penalty.
  9. contentious
    showing an inclination to disagree
    I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare.
    -Sec. Clinton
  10. deregulation
    the act of freeing from rules
    I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans -- Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan -- about [how] great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge.
    ... I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is -- was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.
    -Sen. Sanders
  11. destabilize
    make unsturdy, insecure, or less able to function smoothly
    We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world.
    They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work...
    -Sec. Clinton
  12. ballistic
    of the motion of objects moving under their own momentum
    They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability.
    -Sec. Clinton
  13. haven
    a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary
    Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens.
    -Sen. Sanders
    A "tax haven" provides shelter from the tax laws, so these profits would be money that is taxed at a lower rate than it would be in the United States, or even not taxed at all.
  14. unfettered
    not bound or restrained, as by shackles and chains
    I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations.
    -Sen. Sanders
  15. defraud
    deprive of by deceit
    Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about.
    -Sen. Sanders
  16. antiquated
    so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
    ...it is a public financing system that everybody knows is antiquated. It no longer works. Nobody can become president based on that system.
    -Sen. Sanders
  17. enamored
    marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
    Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment...
    -Sen. Sanders
  18. rampant
    occurring or increasing in an unrestrained way
    In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen...
    -Sen. Sanders
  19. intrinsic
    belonging to a thing by its very nature
    what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world.
    -Sen. Sanders
  20. verge
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago...
    -Sen Sanders
Created on Thu Feb 04 23:30:58 EST 2016 (updated Fri Feb 05 10:57:56 EST 2016)

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