One of the final segments of the Tuesday debate in Ohio covered the recent controversy swirling around the friendship between comedian Ellen DeGeneres and former President George W. Bush.
DeGeneres made headlines last week after a video surfaced of her and wife Portia de Rossi being friendly with Bush at a Dallas Cowboys game. After receiving backlash on social media about her friendship with the Republican president, DeGeneres asserted on her popular talk show that not all of her friends agree with her politically and stressed the importance of getting along with people from all walks of life.
Using the incident to ask the 12-candidate Democratic field on stage how they intended to get along with those who espouse different values, each expressed how they would reach across the aisle.
“I believe that we should be more kind to other folks,” former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro said. “I also believe that we should hold people to account for what they’ve done, especially public servants who have a record of having done something or not done something.”
“We are all God’s children,” Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said. “So I’ve developed friendships that some people may be surprised about … like [former South Carolina Rep.] Trey Gowdy, for example. He and I disagree a lot and very strongly on a lot of political issues … The challenge before us today is that our country is very divided. Donald Trump must be defeated.”
As debate moderator Anderson Cooper continued to ask which friends each candidate had from the other side of the political aisle, each contender named people with differing views with whom they were able to get along. Several candidates, including Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden named the late Republican Sen. John McCain as a close friend.
