--- title: Democratic Debate: Here's What the Republicans Said description: They didn't have much to say canonical: https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-20T04:01:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:29.496Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's What Republicans Said During the Democratic Debate og:description: They didn't have much to say. og:url: https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt938628c8f8108da1/6988763dcd1bba73686fe9e7/gettyimages-502023412.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Republicans Said During the Democratic Debate twitter:description: They didn't have much to say. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt938628c8f8108da1/6988763dcd1bba73686fe9e7/gettyimages-502023412.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Republicans Said During the Democratic Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7345b3d0-af58-448d-9231-b9097ca9b253&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2015-12-20. Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 20, 2015 4:01 AM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 20, 2015 4:01 AM UTC Republican presidential candidates were unusually quiet during Saturday’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire. Reactions from other candidates were slim, but some cracked jokes or pulled from their stump speeches. Many of their campaigns expressed their displeasure with the Democrats via Twitter—the Saturday night time-slot for the Democrats broadcast was the target of much of the jokes. The Republican National Committee joined in on the fun, passing out energy drinks as a joke to reporters at the debate. > [](https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN/status/678378196082032640) Donald Trump, [usually active on Twitter](http://time.com/4072643/trump-democratic-debate/), didn’t fire off a single tweet during the debate until ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos commented about it. Trump tweeted out a response. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/678420732343427072) Here’s some of what the Republicans had to say below: > [](https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/678385486411522048) > [](https://twitter.com/GOP/status/678380001985712128) > [](https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/678396861196206081) > [](https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/678412766898552832) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Does secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? Yes, I apologize. We should move on because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. [ MUSIC ] We're listening to the bickering back and forth. Maybe that's normal politics in Washington, but that is not the politics of higher purpose the people expect from our party. [ MUSIC ] And excuse me, no. Governor, now to be able to abide by the rules here, we'll call on you shortly. But I do wanna pick up on something. Actually passed, Comprehensive guns, safety legislation with a ban on combat assault weapons David. [ MUSIC ] They want American soldiers on the ground fighting them. [ MUSIC ] Giving them many more targets, and giving them a great recruiting opportunity. I believe in action, in which we put together a strong coalition of forces. [ MUSIC ] Out of pocket costs have gone up too much. And prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. The greed of wall street is destroying this economy. And it's destroying the lives of millions of Americans. This one falls under the category of " I have actually done this ". I believe that all of our kids should go into an income- based repayment plan. [ mmm ] [ MUSIC ] Must never surrender them to the fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos- [ APPLAUSE ] Of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/"},"headline":"Here's What Republicans Said During the Democratic Debate","datePublished":"2015-12-20T04:01:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:40:29.496Z","description":"They didn't have much to say","url":"https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt938628c8f8108da1/6988763dcd1bba73686fe9e7/gettyimages-502023412.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt938628c8f8108da1/6988763dcd1bba73686fe9e7/gettyimages-502023412.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In New Hampshire","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In New Hampshire","creditText":"Andrew Burton—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/","name":"Here's What Republicans Said During the Democratic Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes","description":"Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lTPNqlFm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-20T05:14:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4156145/democratic-debate-what-republicans-said/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```