Hillary Clinton's 10 Most Memorable Debate Moments

ByMISHA WEE ABCNews logo
Tuesday, October 13, 2015

For the first time in seven years, Hillary Clinton will appear on a presidential primary debate stage to duke it out with her fellow Democratic hopefuls Tuesday.

Ahead of the showdown, which will take place in Las Vegas and feature Clinton squaring off against Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb, ABC took a trip down memory lane.

Here's a look back at Clinton's most memorable debate moments of the 2008 presidential campaign:

The One Where She Wasn't Likable

In the ABC News New Hampshire debate on Jan. 5, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama famously dismissed Hillary Clinton as being "likable enough." Clinton won the New Hampshire primary just a few days later.

CLINTON: "He is very likable, I agree with that... I don't think I'm that bad."

OBAMA: "You're likable enough."

The One with the Greatest Weakness

In the MSNBC Nevada Debate on Jan. 15, 2008, Clinton and Sen. John Edwards gave very heartfelt responses when asked to name their greatest weakness.

CLINTON: "I get impatient. I get, you know, really frustrated when people don't seem to understand that we can do so much more to help each other, and sometimes I come across that way. I admit that.

EDWARDS: "I think weakness -- I sometimes have a very powerful emotional response to pain that I see around me."

OBAMA: "And as I indicated before, my greatest weakness, I think, is when it comes to -- I'll give you a very good example. I ask my staff never to hand me paper until two seconds before I need it, because I will lose it."

The One Where She was Booed

In the CNN/Univision Texas Debate on Feb. 21, 2008, Clinton accused Obama of political plagiarism, resulting in boos from the crowd.

CLINTON: "Lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox."

The One Where She Said "Nevermind"

Clinton claimed she was forced to flee from sniper fire in a 1996 trip to Bosnia. This was later found to be an exaggeration, and she apologized to voters during the ABC News Pennsylvania debate on April 16, 2008.

CLINTON: "On a couple of occasions in the last weeks, I just said some things that weren't in keeping with what I knew to be the case and what I had written about in my book. And, you know, I'm embarrassed by it. I have apologized for it. I've said it was a mistake."

The One Where She Couldn't Decide

Clinton was forced to backtrack in the MSNBC Pennsylvania debate on Oct. 30, 2007 after Democratic candidate Sen. Chris Dodd called her out on flip-flopping on the issue of allowing undocumented immigrants to hold driver's licenses.

CLINTON: "I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Governor Spitzer is trying to do it. And we have failed."

DODD: "Wait a minute. No, no, no. You said, 'yes,' you thought it made sense to do it."

CLINTON: "No, I didn't, Chris. But the point is, what are we going to do with all these illegal immigrants who are driving?"

The One with the "Slum Landlord"

In the South Carolina Debate on Jan. 21, 2008, Clinton denounced Obama for having ties with Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was indicted for business fraud. A few days later, a picture of Rezko, who was later convicted, with Bill and Hillary surfaced.

CLINTON: "...I was fighting against those ideas when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."

Then-senator Obama said "nobody had any indications" that Rezko was engaged in wrongdoing. He was not mentioned in the indictment.

The One Where She Lost Her Temper

In a surprise move during the New Hampshire Debate on Jan. 5, 2008, Presidential hopeful John Edwards labeled himself and Obama as "agents of change" and cast Clinton as one who would maintain the status quo. Clinton's response was fiery.

CLINTON: "I want to make change, but I've already made change. I will continue to make change. I'm not just running on a promise of change, I'm running on 35 years of change... so you know, I think it is clear what we need is somebody who can deliver change. And we don't need to be raising the false hopes of our country about what can and can't be delivered."

The One Where She Wasn't Bill

In a botched "gotcha" moment in the New Hampshire Debate on Sept. 26, 2007, Tim Russert, of NBC's "Meet the Press" challenged Clinton's stance on hypothetically torturing a terrorist who knew the location of a ticking bomb.

RUSSERT: "The guest who laid out this scenario for me with that proposed solution was William Jefferson Clinton last year. So he disagrees with you."

CLINTON: "Well, he's not standing here right now."

RUSSERT: "So there is a disagreement?"

CLINTON: "Well, I'll talk to him later."

The One Where Republicans Were Just Jealous

In the Pennsylvania Debate on Oct. 30, 2007, Clinton responded to GOP candidate Rudolph Giuliani's allegations that she did not have enough experience to be electable.

"In a perverse way, I think that the Republicans and their constant obsession with me demonstrate clearly that they obviously think that I am communicating effectively about what I will do as president," she said.

The One When She Was Honored To Be There

In a rare show of emotion during the CNN Texas Debate on Feb. 21, 2008, Clinton said that her personal struggles did not measure up to those of the American people.

"You know, the hits I've taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country...That's what gets me up in the morning. That's what motivates me in this campaign. And, you know, no matter what happens in this contest - and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored."

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