Like thirty million others, I am watching the debate.
There are two events taking place, sequentially.
One is the live debate.
The second is what impressions and conclusions we form after the debate, based on the influence of the commentary
Here, in the moment, are my impressions, before I hear commentary.
1. Twenty minutes into the debate, and Joe Biden surprises me with the vigor in his early responses. He seems strong, verbally adept. Not old. Not "sleepy." Eric Swalwell confronted him with a funny quotation from Biden of 3 decades prior, quoting Biden then saying it was time to pass the torch to the young. Biden smiled and said he was holding onto the torch. It raised the age issue, and Biden said said a blunt, strong no.
2. Early on, thirty minutes into this, Bernie Sanders seemed like the guy most ready and able to take it to Trump. He seemed intense, and exactly as in-our-faces as is Trump, with Sanders calling out the insurance companies and drug companies and Trump himself, calling Trump a "liar." There are good guys and bad guys, victims and corrupt, greedy, corporations.
3. Buttigieg seems calm, descriptive. He is describing America rather than asking us for permission to lead it. He has a journalistic tone. He spoke of religion, saying what he thought God would reject: family separation.
4. Harris qualifies herself: as the head of the second largest department of justice in the country, that of the State of California, then confronts Biden directly. You opposed business. You, Biden, were hurtful in talking about working with two overt segregationists. I, personally, she said, was a little girl on a school bus. You let Americans down, she said. She accuses him.
5. Buttigieg, asked about the police shooting in South Bend, said, "I didn't get it done." We made progress, but not enough. They were supposed to have their body cameras on, but did not. The racial makeup of the police force is not yet reflective. There was a frank admission here. He may get credit for manning up, butEric Swalwell called him on it: fire the police chief. Hickenlooper said we got racial parity done in Colorado. Buttigieg seemed mature, but the criticism was fair. He had time to fix this, and did not. This is playing out as a real error, owned up to. This could play out either way, but his opponents will keep talking about it.
6. Gillibrand says she is speaking to women, and the men who love them. Women's reproductive rights are under assault. I will never compromise on women's rights. I have been the fiercest advocate for women's rights for over a decade. She has two messages: 1. women. 2. money in politics.
7. Marianne Williamson is not a candidate. She is promoting her self-actualization books. Go away.
Short takes and summaries of their closing statements. This is how the candidates want to be remembered.
Bennet: I can bring people together
Williamson: Love beats hate.
Swalwell: Generation, my two year old, new, generation, generation.
Williamson: Love beats hate.
Swalwell: Generation, my two year old, new, generation, generation.
Hickenlooper: I have success in Colorado doing progressive change.
Gillibrand: Women in America are on fire, our rights are under attack. Women. Women.Get money out of politics.
Yang: Solve the problems that got Trump elected. We need a trickle up economy. Put $1,000 into the hands of every American over age 18.
Harris: I have the ability to prosecute the case against Trump.
Buttigieg: Politics isn't theoretical, it is real in Americans' lives. It is time for a new generation.
Sanders: Angry and intense tone as he asks how come nothing changes: Stagnate wages, student debt, income inequality. Nothing will change unless we have the guts to take on Wall street, the drug and insurance companies, and the military industrial complex.
Biden: I want to restore the soul of this nation, bring dignity. The current president embraces dictators. Give work and dignity to regular Americans.
Immediate Aftermath:
MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, the NY Times, each have a similar take, that the highlight was Kamala Harris taking on Biden and confronting him on race.
The conclusion was that Biden was weak, and Harris was strong, and that this is a breakout moment for Harris.
Biden's campaign has a reaction within the hour. "Harris is doing exactly what Trump wants" in criticizing Biden.
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| Fox story. |
Reader comment sent to me within minutes of the debate end. It looked at Swalwell's comments, not Harris':
1. Local Democrat in his mid-50s writes me a text:
"Watching the debates tonight I was dismayed at how Biden was asked to pass the torch! My response would have been -if you want us to pass the torch, then maybe your generation should pass the ballots and not have a dismal voting record and get pissed of and go home when their favorite pick loses and not support the party. That's how we got Trump!
Biden's generation protected Roe for half a century. Look what's happening with the give-us-the-torch generation!!
My 2 cents."
2. Kevin Stine, Medford City Council Person, in his 30s sends a text:
"Swalwell is a fool."
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| Kevin Stine |
A few minutes later he adds:
"Think of sports. Generally, the old QB loses the starting job because he's not good or the young QB shows the potential to be the best on the team."
Then, Friday morning, with some time to reflect, Stine writes:
"When Donald Trump was sworn into office he became the oldest first-term President in history. If elected, Joe Biden would be 8 years older than Trump was, while Bernie would be 9 years older. That's extremely notable, and should be a topic of discussion, albeit one that has had little play thus far. There are ageism issues there, so it is difficult for an analyst to want to touch. Candidates should definitely not be bringing this up. In politics, you want to bring the dirt on your opponents, but you want your hands to be clean.
At less than 1% in the polls, Eric Swalwell decided to dig in and referenced a Joe Biden speech from 1988 (a mere 46 years old then) talking about "the torch that has been passed". Swalwell moved the words around and said Biden should "pass the torch" to the next generation. I would say it was a dumb move on his part, but I've been there myself.
Sometimes you just try to get noticed. Swalwell looks bad doing it, but it may help every other non-Biden or Bernie candidate. It became a discussion, with Biden and Bernie both answering. Bernie later called it ageism when asked about it post-debate.
Bernie and Biden are old. They would turn 80 years old in their first term. Eric Swalwell made that a discussion point that may move forward. Other candidates may be asked if 80 is too old to be President, they'll respectfully say "no", but the topic will live on. Unlike the other 1% Democratic candidates, Eric Swalwell has contributed something to the 2020 President debate. Now, hopefully, he can leave the debate stage and never return."
8 comments:
You could smoke all the dope you want, and still, none of these democratic candidates would look attractive.
Biden looked old and senile. He was shot. The biased NBC moderators avoided asking Biden about his China bribes.
Sanders and Harris looked angry and nasty. Harris looked like Hillary II.
Pete looked like a dufus. The NBC moderator should have asked why blacks don't support Pete.
The rest of the pack looked like Single-A minor-leaguers. They are running to embellish their resumes.
All of the candidates supported open-borders, and illegal aliens first, and to hell with Americans.
All of the candidates wanted to give away free stuff, and pander to the voters. All that free stuff will bankrupt America, which illustrates that none of the candidates are operating in reality.
If the election were held tomorrow, then Trump would destroy every one of the 20 democratic candidates.
The winner of these "debates" was Elizabeth Warren. She'll be the democratic nominee. Harris will be her running mate. They'll get destroyed by Trump. Both are hard-left. American voters won't relate to them and their extremism. Pocahontas will get "scalped".
All-in-all, the debates looked like a clown-car show.
I loved the debates! What a wonderful array of accomplished and thoughtful Americans, and while somewhat contentious they were respectful to each other and talked in complete sentences. Refreshing.
In eight months, when it matters, we will be in Iowa, and will look back on this first outing with fondness. Most of these candidates will have moved on, alliances and endorsements will have been made, and the real contest will begin.
As for now, it's very entertaining, but not that consequential.
Nice to see that anonymous is still too cowardly to post his diatribes under his own name. Typical of Regressives, I suppose. I didn't get to see the entire show, (technical issues), but what I did see left me more convinced than ever that the vast majority of these people who have convinced themselves that they are fit to be President is proof eternal of just how far the election of Donald Trump has lowered the bar.
If the Democratic Party doesn't take back the Senate, and banish McConnell back to the mudhole he crawled out of, all the debates on the planet are meaningless. If McConnell continues to hold the Senate hostage, it wouldn't matter if Jeebus himself were elected President
Just imagine, Rick. Not once did anyone go measuring handsize, or anything else, at least that I'm aware of. Hard to believe, isn't it ?
Eddie.....focus on the message, and not the messenger.
To me it was like watching a French movie about 20 unmedicated lunatics in an asylum with most screaming their plans to escape and take over Paris. Six of them seemed frightened for their physical safety from the frothing combatants if they misspoke and might be set upon for blasphemy. In this asylum there is no lunatic fringe because political lunacy is the foundational criteria for admission to the stage. This was just episode one of a political dark comedy mini series that would best be watched in a Netflix weekend binge but is so compelling you have to tune in live. It can only get more bizarre as the subdued patients claw for attention and the wannabes plot more bloodletting to snatch the torch from the ward leaders to beat them to death. Stay tuned my droogies!
The debate review just doesn't get better than this!
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/40u5nk/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-2020-democratic-primary-debates---night-two
You can always rely on Thad Guyer to be the one democrat who has some common sense.
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