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'Horrifying': AOC, Green Groups Criticize Debate Moderators for Asking Zero Climate Questions

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a lead sponsor of the Green New Deal, on Tuesday critized the Democratic presidential debate moderators for not asking any climate crisis-related questions. (Photo: Senate Democrats/flickr/cc)

'Horrifying': AOC, Green Groups Criticize Debate Moderators for Asking Zero Climate Questions

It's "honestly shocking that CBS, in the final Democratic debate before Super Tuesday, didn't ask a single question about the defining issue of our lives," said the Sunrise Movement.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took issue with the moderators of Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, calling their failure to ask the candidates a single question about the climate crisis "horrifying."

Tuesday's debate in Charleston, South Carolina was the 10th time Democratic hopefuls faced off. It was moderated by CBS's Gayle King, Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett, and Bill Whitaker, and could have been an opportunity for the seven candidates on stage--frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren--to address their plans for tackling the planetary emergency.

It wasn't.

Climate action advocates joined Ocasio-Cortez, a Sanders campaign surrogate, in criticizing the moderators' failure to ask about the crisis.

In "more than two hours of debate--in a city that is already facing the consequences of the crisis--not a single question was asked on climate change. This is unacceptable," Sierra Club said Tuesday night. "The voters have demanded action, and the public deserves plans."

"We cannot afford four more years of Trump's deadly and dangerous inaction while communities like Charleston are experiencing what happens when the president ignores climate change," the environmental group continued. "Every Democratic debate must demand answers on how the candidates will address the climate crisis."

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