--- title: Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton's 'Excuse Me' Moment description: "Excuse me, excuse me." canonical: https://time.com/4253568/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-excuse-me/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T04:45:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:46:15.344Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch Hillary Clinton's 'Excuse Me' Moment og:description: It got a much different reaction than Sanders'. og:url: https://time.com/4253568/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-excuse-me/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7076db08ccfd687/69888a6bbc6cfc71353dc176/democratic-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-election-2016-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Hillary Clinton's 'Excuse Me' Moment twitter:description: It got a much different reaction than Sanders'. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7076db08ccfd687/69888a6bbc6cfc71353dc176/democratic-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-election-2016-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Hillary Clinton's 'Excuse Me' Moment by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 10, 2016 4:45 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participates in a debate in Kendall, Fla. on March 9, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participates in a debate in Kendall, Fla. on March 9, 2016.Wilfredo Lee—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 10, 2016 4:45 AM UTC Hillary Clinton’s “excuse me” got a much different response than Bernie Sanders’. At the debate in Flint, Michigan, Sunday, the Vermont Senator objected to Clinton interrupting him by saying “excuse me” somewhat indignantly—a heated moment that led some people to accuse him of being patronizing or [just tone deaf](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/07/what-bernie-sanders-still-doesnt-get-about-interrupting-hillary-clinton/). On Wednesday night, the former Secretary of State had her own “excuse me”, which was the [second most-tweeted moment](https://twitter.com/gov/status/707781356886106112) of the debate, according to Twitter. At the debate in Miami, Clinton was blocking Sanders from interrupting her response to a question about whether bipartisan support is necessary to mitigate the effects of climate change. “Excuse me, excuse me,” Clinton said while continuing to talk over Sanders who sought to jump into the discussion with mention of legislation he called the “comprehensive climate change legislation in the history of the United States Senate.” The moment was tense. For about 20 seconds, Clinton finished her statements while Sanders pointed and shook his finger at the moderators, questioning whether or not he was called on to speak. “Did you ask me to speak?” Sanders repeated. “Madam Secretary, when he asked me to speak…” Clinton’s response was praised by some as showing her toughness. > [](https://twitter.com/sullivanamy/status/707770898762244097) But others saw it as evidence of a double standard against men. > [](https://twitter.com/jamescdownie/status/707771312400437256) > [](https://twitter.com/AsheSchow/status/707771153926885377) > [](https://twitter.com/LucyIdaya/status/707770923793784833) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253568/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-excuse-me/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253568/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-excuse-me/"},"headline":"Watch Hillary Clinton's 'Excuse Me' Moment","datePublished":"2016-03-10T04:45:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:46:15.344Z","description":"'Excuse me, excuse me'","url":"https://time.com/4253568/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-excuse-me/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Bernie Sanders","Flint"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7076db08ccfd687/69888a6bbc6cfc71353dc176/democratic-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-election-2016-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7076db08ccfd687/69888a6bbc6cfc71353dc176/democratic-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-election-2016-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton","caption":"Hillary Clinton","creditText":"Wilfredo Lee—AP","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/4253568/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-excuse-me/","name":"Watch Hillary Clinton's 'Excuse Me' Moment"}}]}] ```