Summary of Eleventh Debate (02/25/2020)

 

We have reached the last debate before South Carolina and Super Tuesday and this is where things really start to ramp up. In the wake of Bernie Sanders’s decisive victory in Nevada, he has solidified his position as the front runner of the primary and the desperation of the other candidates to try and throw the kitchen sink at him will be palpable. Here are my thoughts:

Bernie Sanders: I thought Bernie handled himself really well with everyone going after him and did a great job at counterpunching everyone who tried to launch an attack. When Bloomberg tried smearing Bernie for “supporting dictators” in Cuba, Bernie made it all a wash when he pointed out how Bloomberg was literally equivocating on China’s own Communist dictatorship and Xi Jinping just a moment earlier in the debate. When Amy tried smearing Bernie for being an “alienating” candidate, Bernie emphasized that he was the frontrunner who has won the popular vote in every state so far, so how exactly is that alienating? In short, Bernie came in as the frontrunner and came out the frontrunner.

Joe Biden: More assertive in this debate than he has been in a while, the desperation is extremely palpable as South Carolina is supposed to be his “firewall” state that he’s supposed to win, but with Bernie winning every state and catching up with Biden in South Carolina, it’s becoming his last stand. Half the time he doesn’t even sound coherent, through all of his mad ravings he sounds like a grouchy old man telling the kids to get off his lawn. We’ll see if this performance helped him when South Carolina votes on Saturday.

Michael Bloomberg: His performance here was slightly better than the last debate, but that’s not saying much. He pathetically brought up 9/11 for cheap political points in reference to his previous job as mayor of New York City, equivocated on Xi Jinping being a dictator in China and how he’s “responsive to the Politburo and his constituency” while trying to smear Bernie for supporting dictators himself, and even said that he “won” the last debate which he definitely did not do.

Elizabeth Warren: I don’t think she did much to really stand out this time which is a bit of a contrast from the last debate where she did make herself more assertive and really went after Bloomberg hard. She did continue to go after him here, but it felt like a bit of a retread and not as effective as the first time. She doesn’t really have much of a prayer to continue on in this race.

Pete Buttigieg: He is getting insanely desperate and whenever he attacked Bernie he would always yell over him to try and prevent him from making a response. He is panicking at the thought of being left in the dust when the two were comparable in delegates and votes just before Nevada. With Buttigieg doing terribly with minority votes, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Amy Klobuchar: Amy is also wearing her desperation on her sleeve as she would yell into run-on sentences even when her time was up just to try and bludgeon her opponents. It didn’t come off well at all, her time is up and she knows it.

Tom Steyer: I don’t know what he’s still doing here, there’s no point for him here. Didn’t make much of an impact as usual and he along with Bloomberg should just pack it up and stop trying to buy the presidency with their ridiculous amounts of money.

This debate may be the worst one yet. Everyone was yelling over each other and the moderators did a bad job of making sure the contestants followed the rules of the debate. The audience also felt like it was stacked in favor of candidates like Bloomberg and Biden and against Bernie Sanders in particular. The debate felt like it was designed to try and take Bernie down in a last ditch effort before South Carolina and Super Tuesday, but I don’t think it landed. Overall, just a complete dumpster fire of a debate.

Summary of Tenth Debate (02/19/2020)

With the first two primaries behind us, we now move on to more diverse pastures in Nevada and with Bernie as the front runner in the race. With the establishment panicking at the thought of him winning, they have decided to do away with the requirement that candidates have a certain amount of donors in order to let Michael Bloomberg on to the stage (after he bribed them of course). So now that we have a real contrast between someone who will fight for the people and someone who will fight for the elite, let’s get right to it:

Bernie Sanders: Honestly, I think he might be unstoppable at this point. He was the only one who looked like he cared about the American people when responding on the issue of the Democratic convention and how the person with the most votes should ultimately be the nominee, was resolute on the issues that matter to people like healthcare, climate change, income inequality, etc. and swatted every disingenuous attack against him like they were gnats. He made mincemeat out of Michael Bloomberg several times throughout the debate and destroyed Pete Buttigieg on the issue of his 46 billionaire donors. This debate only further solidified his standing as the true frontrunner of this race and he owned it like a champ.

Michael Bloomberg: I was not looking forward to seeing him on stage after the DNC changed the debate rules in his favor, but at the same time, it probably would’ve been better for him had he stayed behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz instead of exposing himself and his record to the blinding light of prime time television. I overheard the comment that he looked like a skink lizard and I thought that absolutely summed up his reptilian nature as an aloof, out-of-touch oligarch who bought his way on to the stage. His performance was basically that of a human-punching bag as almost every candidate had something to say about him and proved to be the ultimate dream match for Bernie, providing a perfect foil as a representative of the corrupt establishment to rail against. In short, Bloomberg would’ve been better off just making more ads.

Joe Biden: He showed a bit more fight in him than in most other debates this cycle, but at this point it might not be enough to really make a difference. He is no longer the frontrunner and I have a feeling it’s not a matter of if he drops out, but when. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Elizabeth Warren: Again like Biden, she showed a bit more aggression in her than in most other debates, but it might be too little, too late at this point. I don’t see her continuing on for much longer.

Pete Buttigieg: One of his worst performances to date, truly putting on those American Psycho vibes and having nothing to say except disingenuous lines of attack and flowery platitudes with no substance. He also pretty much admitted to this race coming down to Bernie and Bloomberg in the end, so I think that about does it. His campaign is not long for this world.

Amy Klobuchar: Another bad performance relying on more disingenuous attacks like going after Bernie for his supporters behavior towards the Culinary Union when really it was them rebutting Medicare For All fear mongering from the union bosses (unbeknownst to them, the members support it). She got a tough question regarding cops treatment of minorities and she didn’t handle it well, hence one of the reasons why she does so poorly with them along with Mayor Pete. Her campaign is also not going to go very far after this.

Overall this debate had a ton of fireworks and it’s hard to fully process everything that went on. The moderators had some terribly biased questions like “are Bernie and his supporters polarizing,” and everyone was desperate to go after Bernie (who is the frontrunner) and Bloomberg (who is rising in the polls). One very sad moment was when everyone, except for Bernie, refused to support the idea that the person with the most votes should win the nomination, essentially throwing the idea of democracy out the window for the sake of personal aggrandizement and power. It feels like we’re in the endgame now, to quote Doctor Strange and the stakes are getting high as we move closer to Nevada, South Carolina, and ultimately Super Tuesday. Buckle up, things are about to get really bumpy from this point on.

 

Summary of Ninth Democratic Debate (02/7/2020)

With Iowa out of the way, it’s time for the next debate to begin that will help decide who is the best candidate to win New Hampshire, so without further adieu, here we go:

Bernie Sanders: I have to say it, I believe he is now the frontrunner as of tonight. This is perhaps his best performance on stage to date and he really came off as bold and concise in his responses. He just commanded the stage in a way that far outshined everyone else and made a much greater impact. From pointing out how Pete Buttigieg is taking contributions from over 40 billionaires while he himself hasn’t, to being firm in his stance on not assassinating random world leaders willy nilly, to resolutely supporting the ban of cash bail and private prisons, he truly knocked it out of the park with his answers. His only weak moment in my opinion was when he equivocated on the article written by his surrogate Nina Turner regarding Joe Biden’s record, but he was able to quickly brush that off and create some of his best highlights soon after. Bernie Sanders came out of the debate as the true leader of the Democratic primary and you love to see it.

Elizabeth Warren: She is just regurgitating Bernie’s points while watering them down as well. Also had the audacity to lump him with candidates “sucking up to billionaires,” which is categorically false. Her campaign is on its last legs, I don’t see her hanging on for much longer.

Joe Biden: Perhaps him at his most incoherent and bewildered. I could barely understand anything he was saying and he came off as a rambling old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. I believe the loss of Iowa really got under his skin and it clearly showed, he looked defeated and even brought up how he’ll probably not win New Hampshire right when he started speaking, which is not a good sign. It looks like his campaign may not last as long as many people thought.

Pete Buttigieg: Just as he was being propped up by the mainstream media over a rigged election that he claimed to have “won,” this debate really brought Pete back down to Earth and he was given a true challenge unlike anything he’s had to face to date. One of the moderators, Linsey Davis, asked Buttigieg very specific questions regarding his criminal justice record as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and when pressed to give a direct answer, he repeatedly deflected and was thrown out of whack, always having to resort to a stump speech in order to try to keep his head above water. Bernie Sanders also called out the fact that he takes money from over 40 billionaires and was unable to come up with a good answer for that either. He was cornered and caught in a state of panic the entire time. I don’t see how he can recover from this performance, it exposed him for who he was in a blinding light.

Amy Klobuchar: I don’t know why she’s still here other than the media loving her, but her time is up. There’s nothing to say since she effectively said nothing all night.

Andrew Yang: He had some good moments calling out Pete’s inauthentic and forced rhetoric, though I kind of wished he had been more aggressive in calling out the media’s treatment of him, that would’ve been very powerful. Not bad all things considered. 

Tom Steyer: The only reason he’s even on that stage is that he has a lot of money. Nothing memorable really and if he wasn’t super rich he would already have been long gone by now.

The debate overall was probably the best handled one to date, some questions were framed from a pro-establishment perspective as usual, however Linsey Davis stood out for actually doing her job as a moderator and holding contestants accountable for when they try to obfuscate and deviate from providing direct answers to questions, such as when Pete was trying to avoid having to answer for his poor record on criminal justice. If only the rest of the debates were like this, they usually wouldn’t be as bad to sit through, but there you have it.

Summary of Eighth Democratic Debate (01/14/2020)

So I was away in Germany back in December so I wasn’t able to comment on the last debate, but now that I’m back, I’m ready to share my thoughts on the last debate before the Iowa caucus next month! There have since been quite a few people who have dropped out of the race so now I can focus my thoughts on the smaller amount of candidates who are still running, so without further adieu, let’s begin.

Joe Biden: He’s just being his usual rambling self, not much punch or action out of him, really just a pale shadow of his former self in regards to debating prowess. Very forgettable performance.

Bernie Sanders: I may be biased, but with that said, I believe Bernie came out of this debate the winner of the night and it wasn’t even close. He answered every question, including the loaded “gotcha” questions, with a refined finesse and came off as very energetic compared to everyone else. Perhaps it’s because this race is getting down to the wire, but out of all the candidates on stage, Bernie was the only one who left a memorably positive impression for me. He seemed very confident and had the presence of a leader who is ready to take on the numerous problems this country faces. Watch out Trump, here comes Bernie!

Elizabeth Warren: This might be Warren’s worst performance to date. She came off as awkward, stilted, and often making a deer-in-the-headlights look when caught flat-footed on the engineered “sexism” scandal that she tried to pin on Bernie. This does not reflect well on her and even after the debate she refused to shake Bernie’s hand when he extended it out to her, despite him being the one who was betrayed. This ploy backfired spectacularly and Warren’s poor political instincts have been revealed for the whole country to see. Anyone who was considering voting for her probably won’t do so after this.

Pete Buttigieg: Meh, just coasting along as usual. He won’t be in this race for much longer, partially because of the complete lack of black support that one of the moderators embarrassingly pointed out to him. Almost felt bad for him then (almost).

Amy Klobuchar: I have no idea what she’s still doing here, nobody cares and she has really overstayed her welcome. She drones nonstop while saying nothing but serious politician-sounding word salad. She should just drop out already, nobody is interested.

Tom Steyer: Again, this candidate is in over his head and is only here on stage because he has a lot of money when several other qualified candidates couldn’t make it because they didn’t have the polls and donors that he was able to buy for himself. Claimed to be the “number one climate change candidate (um, Bernie would like to have a word with you about that) and yet he has invested in fossil fuel companies in the past. He’s not going anywhere.

While CNN inevitably had plenty of loaded “gotcha” questions framed from a corporate elite perspective, they also surprisingly had some decent questions to ask as well, like one relating to Tom Steyer’s conflicts of interest despite his insistence on being the “climate change” candidate and one on Biden’s hypocrisy on asking for congressional approval before sending troops under the Obama administration. The bar is set pretty low so while there was more of the usual establishment hackery, smears and lies I’ve come to expect from networks like CNN and MSNBC, they did have a few questions that weren’t half bad at least.

Summary of Seventh Debate (11/20/2019)

 

We have arrived at the next debate in November and it is time the field started winnowing down and the campaigns really start getting more aggressive in order to make that big push towards Iowa in February. So here is what I thought about the candidates, moderators and the overall vibe of the debate.

Joe Biden:

Just Joe Biden being Joe Biden and making up tons of disingenuous lies about Medicare For All, being against legalizing marijuana for being a “gateway drug” but then says he’s fine with decriminalizing it, talks about how we need to show “civility,” complains about the no good, very bad Putin for the quadrillionth time, and emphasizes how we need to keep “punching at” the problem of domestic violence against women (poor choice of words there bud). Whatever debating prowess he’s shown in the past is basically dead as a door nail, and if he can’t come back at this point just a few months away from the first primary in Iowa, I don’t think he ever will.

Elizabeth Warren:

She didn’t really stand out much tonight and I found her performance pretty mediocre. She made some bad points about how more Americans should serve in the armed forces and does not question the status quo when it comes to foreign policy. She’s just coasting along really so there’s not much I can really say about her performance.

Bernie Sanders:

Bernie still delivering the goods as always. When asked on the issue of impeachment, he didn’t take the bait of just focusing on Trump but instead expanded his answer on how the entire system needs to be changed, since it’s the corrupt system we have today that has given rise to people like Donald Trump. Bernie emphasizes the importance of going after the source of the problem rather than a mere symptom of it. He upstaged Tom Steyer on the issue of climate change, his bold, confident delivery commanding the attention of everyone watching every time he spoke. He is also perhaps the first major political candidate, at least in a very long time, to emphasize the issue of treating the Palestinians with fairness and dignity rather than just genuflecting to Israel every time they want something like more illegal settlements. He also brought up how we should re-evaluate our relationship with Saudi Arabia and not legitimize a theocratic dictatorship that treats women as property rather than human beings by giving them weapons in exchange for oil. Bernie really knocked it out of the park tonight and was definitely one of the big winners of the debate.

Pete Buttigieg:

He kept pushing the Medicare For All (Who Want It) nonsense and nobody called him out for the scam emails he sent to African Americans that automatically had them endorse Pete and his Douglas Plan unless they specifically opted out of it. A lot of people who were emailed weren’t black and don’t support Pete in any way, even Representative Ivory Thigpen, a supporter of Bernie Sanders’ campaign, was messaged about this! The fact that nobody brought this up at the debate is absolutely insane and should immediately end Pete’s campaign right on the spot! Fortunately Tulsi Gabbard was able to give him a huge blow on the issue of sending troops to Mexico, and he only had lame pro-Assad smears as a rebuttal.

Kamala Harris:

Her performance was really sad, pitiful really. She couldn’t let go of the fact that Tulsi Gabbard had pointed out her record last time so she tried to re-litigate the pro-Assad smears, but they landed with a thud. Tulsi Gabbard told Kamala that she was unable to question the substance of her points, which is why she throws out these smears to begin with. She is also willing to ramp up brinkmanship with countries like North Korea just because Trump was willing to talk to Kim Jong-un instead of just saber rattling the whole time. The only time she looked remotely decent on stage was when her 6 month paid family leave plan was put up against Klobuchar’s measly 3 month plan. Other than that, I’ve got nothing.

Tom Steyer:

I still don’t want to entertain Tom Steyer’s candidacy as anything more than a billionaire’s ego trip. The fact that he was able to buy his way on to the stage while other people who are more qualified for the job of president but don’t have enough money to get their names out there are ignored is a sad reflection of just how corrupt this system is, no matter how many progressive buzzwords he uses to try make us think he’s one of the “good guys.” He did make a point about climate change and how that’s the number one issue, but even there he was upstaged by Bernie Sanders’ boldness. He didn’t have much else to say the rest of the time.

Tulsi Gabbard:

Next to Bernie Sanders, I believe Tulsi Gabbard was another big winner of the night and this was a massive improvement from her last debate. She called out the Democratic Party for the corruption and wrongdoing it engages in on live television, which was pretty historic for a Democratic candidate. Just because it’s the lesser of two evils when put up against the GOP, does not mean that it’s somehow not evil anyway. Kamala also got demolished in round two of the Tulsi-Kamala battle and was just laying in a pool of her own blood, again. She also was able to skewer Pete Buttigieg for what he said regarding sending troops to Mexico to continue engaging in the War on Drugs. She stood strong and firm the entire night and I don’t really have any negative things to say about her performance.

Andrew Yang:

Pretty solid performance for the short amount of time he had. Made some great points on paid family leave and designating white supremacist terrorism as domestic terrorism, so he wasn’t just talking about UBI the whole time, I felt like he had more to say this time. Good stuff.

Amy Klobuchar:

She’s perhaps the least appealing candidate on that stage (which is really saying something). She’s obsessed with Russia, always talks about how we need to care more about balancing the budget and lowering the deficit over actually helping people and making a positive difference in their lives, hence why she supports only a three month paid family leave program, and is just so ponderous, boring and lifeless. Words come out of her mouth, but it all sounds like establishment gibberish that puts me to sleep and time seems to slow down every time she talks. I honestly don’t see what people like about her so much that they keep having her at these debates.

Cory Booker:

Mostly just stuck to his establishment talking points and displaying his wide-eyed, “charismatic” theatrics so as to try and become the next Obama. Pretty awkward and kind of hilarious performance with his only strong moment being when he called out Biden for being against legalizing marijuana.

Of course the first question of the debate was from Rachel Maddow and involved impeachment, because she still can’t let Russia go. She has peddled this conspiracy theory really more than anyone else and the fact that she hasn’t been discredited by mainstream media is an indictment of the way our media system operates and who they pick and choose to either let go or keep on air to represent as mouthpieces for the establishment. The centrist candidates who have the least support tend to get the most speaking time for whatever inexplicable reason while the leaders get ignored by the moderators. This was a pretty boring debate without much fireworks save for a few noteworthy moments.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to cover the next debate in December as I will be away in Germany during that time and will probably be asleep while the debate is premiering in the United States. So in the meantime, I will cheer on Bernie Sanders in spirit!

 

Summary of Sixth Democratic Debate (10/15/2019)

October has arrived and the stage just got a little bit bigger with the return of Tulsi Gabbard and the last-minute arrival of Tom Steyer. This made for a crowded night as its the most amount of candidates together on a debate stage, at least within the Democratic Party, with 12 people. So let’s just get right to it.

JOE BIDEN: I don’t know what he’s still doing here other than boosting his ego, it’s just another tired performance that did nothing to better his chances and he was too much on the defensive to really stake out his place against the others. Trump is going to take Biden’s squeamish answers on his son’s meddling with Ukraine and run to town with it and Bernie KO’d him on his record of things he “got done,” including voting for the Iraq War and NAFTA.  He is on a downward trend and I don’t think this campaign is going to get any better for him.

ELIZABETH WARREN: Though she had some strong, assertive moments like her dealings with Kamala Harris, she’s just not appealing to me as a candidate and came off as awkward and flustered half the time. In between talking about how she wants to protect workers from multinational corporations she sprinkles in random comments about how selfies are the new measure of democracy as if voters who are struggling to pay their bills give a damn about that. I’m just not really feeling her.

BERNIE SANDERS: This being the first debate after his health scare, Bernie actually came off better than in the last debate where he had a sore throat and was able to make himself stand out in a big way. There was a missed opportunity on the issue of healthcare where he could’ve reframed the question and referred to premiums, copays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses as private taxes to be cut instead of giving the media the soundbite of having to “raise taxes,” but other than that he did a great job at being more assertive and making clear distinctions between himself and candidates like Joe Biden. He also mentioned how Trump should be investigated in the impeachment inquiry on the basis of violating the emoluments clause of the constitution, something which actually has real merit to it compared to the usual Russia fearmongering. He also scored some huge endorsements from Illhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which should top off a great night for Bernie.

KAMALA HARRIS: I think her time is up. She made some bad points involving keeping our soldiers in the Middle East so that we can fend off Syria and waded into dangerous, authoritarian territory when considering censoring/shutting down Twitter accounts of people she disagrees with or dislikes, namely Trump in this instance. I may not like the guy or what he has to say, but this is a slippery slope we should never tread anywhere near. What if a future president decides to ban the accounts of those who criticize his or her record? That would be a major violation of the First Amendment and Elizabeth Warren went after Harris on this issue, who never recovered from it.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: At this point I don’t see what’s the point of him even running. He’s not standing out much from the pack no matter how long he speaks and just keeps coasting. Doesn’t have much of substance to say and would keep reiterating how he supports “Medicare For All Who Want It” to emphasize how consumers should be given “choice” when it comes to healthcare. This is a false choice that people shouldn’t have to be subjected to and dealing with for-profit healthcare is comparable with a fire department choosing not to put out a fire because it started in the garage rather than the kitchen.

ANDREW YANG: I’m not really feeling this guy. He seems like a one-trick pony to me on the UBI program and he made some really bad points about how people shouldn’t have a federal jobs guarantee because people might not like the government and he insists $1,000 a month will take care of everything. I think he means well but he’s just not resonating with me.

CORY BOOKER: I don’t have much to say about him, he does nothing for me. Other than talking about how we should defend women’s reproductive rights, he’s just a non-entity for me and I think he should drop out.

TOM STEYER: Basically a Howard Schultz-like character with more money than he knows what to do with who bought his way into the debates. Tried to come off as super-progressive by seemingly agreeing with Bernie’s points on how the wealthy need to pay their fair share and so forth, but I’m not buying it. He’s just a super-rich guy on an ego trip who isn’t serious about becoming president.

TULSI GABBARD: Had some good moments like when she went after Pete Buttigieg on the issue of foreign policy and calling out the disingenuous smears against her, but I’m not sure if this is going to improve her standing much at this juncture. I didn’t like that she was against Bernie’s federal jobs guarantee and I thought her answer on the issue of age and experience was a bit unfocused, especially when that was about to lead to her addressing Elizabeth Warren just as there’s about to be a commercial break. I think she should’ve shortened her answer on that question and then pivoted over to Warren before the break so that she could’ve killed two birds with one stone. Even if her performance was a little bit of a let down from before, she still is one of the more impressive candidates on that stage.

BETO O’ROURKE: He should drop out, he’s not going anywhere at this stage of the game. I believe his mandatory gun buyback proposal that he used to make himself stand out from the crowd last time has come back to bite him and he was not able to stand his ground on the issue in a convincing way. This is something that will alienate millions of gun-owners and they will want nothing to do with Beto after this. Voluntary buy-backs and universal background checks are one thing, but he needed to be bold and unapologetic if he wanted a policy as controversial as this to land, but he fell flat on his face. It’s time for him to go, he’s not going to recover.

AMY KLOBUCHAR: I found her the most insufferable candidate of the whole night who kept running her mouth without adding anything substantial to the dialogue. It confounds me just how much speaking time she was given compared to many of the other candidates despite her standing in the polls. She kept repeating the same standard neoliberal talking points about how we should keep troops in the Middle East because Russia, Syria, Assad, Putin, yadayadayada, kept insisting on arguing in favor of a public option instead of Medicare For All up front, which would result in little getting done if you know how negotiation works and just was not appealing to me as a candidate. I don’t really understand why she’s still in this race.

JULIAN CASTRO: Didn’t stand out much the whole night, just sort of blended into the background. He did make a good point near the end relating to Ellen’s comments on George W. Bush, saying that we should hold public officials accountable for their actions in office, but other than that, not much to talk about from him.

Overall with there being so many people on stage the whole night was a mess and the moderators really made their bias known throughout the night, framing their questions from a pro-corporate perspective as usual, ignoring Bernie throughout most of the night in favor of candidates who poll much less, and cutting off Tulsi Gabbard in favor of a commercial break after she tried to address Elizabeth Warren. It felt desperate on their part, as if they were trying their best not to give any time to candidates who want to fundamentally change the status quo, whether it involves domestic or foreign policy. I honestly couldn’t wait for it to end, despite having some good moments.

Summary of Fifth Democratic Debate (09/12/2019)

 

It is now September and the field of candidates is at last starting to get winnowed down. We now have ten candidates debating on one single night rather than having twenty candidates debate across two nights. That leaves more time for discussion with three hours given for everyone to have their say. With that out of the way, let’s evaluate how every candidate did during this crucial moment.

JOE BIDEN: If I have to be frank, I say it’s time for him to retire, seriously. He took hits nonstop from candidates like Castro and Bernie and hardly had any good counterarguments to repel them. Mentally speaking he just wasn’t there and the gaffes were absolutely endless, even by Biden standards. From addressing Bernie as the “president of Vermont” to saying “I’m the Vice President of the United States” even though he’s not in office anymore, to talking about record players as a solution for education, to randomly switching the subject from education to “Madura” and Venezuela completely out of the blue, he just seemed to sputter like a malfunctioning robot all night. For his sake and his health’s sake, I think he needs to drop this campaign and just be with his family for the time being. I don’t think his debate performances are going to get any better after this.

ELIZABETH WARREN: Probably did the second best out of all the candidates, but sort of a distant second. She didn’t really resonate much with me and just seemed like a more tepid version of Bernie half the time. She would make similar points to what Bernie made, but just didn’t seem bold about it and would sometimes use weasel words for certain proposals like Medicare For All in particular, saying that people should have greater “access” to healthcare. She did state that in regards to education, she’s the only one on stage who actually served as a teacher, which is a fair point and certainly gives her a credible understanding of the issue. She also said that “people like their doctors and nurses rather than their insurance,” which is also a good point. Not a bad performance really.

BERNIE SANDERS: Despite the obvious bias the moderators had against him and their desperate attempts to ignore him in favor of other candidates throughout most of the first half, Bernie still put in a very strong performance towards the end, even while having a sore throat. As usual he made some great points about Medicare For All saving more money in the future than if we were to continue with the status quo, absolutely gutted Joe Biden on his war record and was able to proclaim to everyone that he was “the only one who voted against all three of Trump’s military budgets,” potentially throwing some shade at Elizabeth Warren, who did vote for Trump’s military budget. On education he was resolute in saying that teachers would make no less than $60,000 a year and all student loan debt would be canceled with the help of a tax on wall street speculation.  Even with all of the obstacles he had to face tonight, he made his presence felt in a big way.

KAMALA HARRIS: She appeared to have a hard time recovering from the last debate and wasn’t able to counter one of the moderators questions regarding her criminal justice record in an effective way. I’ll give her credit for at least giving Bernie credit for helping shift the Overton window on the issue of healthcare. Not sure if she’s really genuine about it, but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt on that one.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Still just coasting along without any real fireworks, which I feel is not good for his campaign at this point. At some point there needs to be some spark, but despite a little tussle with Bernie early on in the debate, not much is there. He made a terrible argument regarding healthcare and how Bernie apparently “doesn’t trust the American people to make their own choices,” when in actuality this is a false choice. So choose between healthcare that covers everything, is free at the point of service, and saves money in the long run, or private healthcare that price gouges you and doesn’t even cover everything? That’s a choice the American people should not have to make, it’d be like choosing between drinking water or urine. I’m not convinced that Buttigieg is going to make it into the final run.

ANDREW YANG: Again pushing for his universal basic income idea, what he calls the “freedom dividend,” everything seemed to go back around to that proposal in some form. Apparently he’s pro-charter and “pro-good schools” as well, whatever that’s supposed to mean. I’m not really feeling this guy, just seems a bit too technocratic and numbers-focused for my taste.

CORY BOOKER: Despite being given the third-longest amount of speaking time relative to his low polling numbers, he didn’t have much to say that actually stood out. Again, just spoke in generalized platitudes and gave personal stories and anecdotes. I don’t have much to say about him really.

BETO O’ROURKE: Honestly I say he’s done. There’s been no standout moments for him thus far in the campaign and he keeps flailing around with generalized platitudes like how “slavery and racism are bad.” Great, could you explain what policies you’re in favor of to try and combat institutionalized racism, or are you just going to talk more about your personal story? If he’s not going to get serious and start talking policy, then I say there’s no use for him on that stage anymore.

AMY KLOBUCHAR: Honestly watching her talk is like watching paint dry. She had nothing interesting to say and it would feel like she rattled on much longer than she actually did. She didn’t provide much of substance and just kept referring back to the same old, tired centrist ideas like the public option and returning everything to “normalcy.” She’s clearly not going anywhere and it feels like she’s just wasting our time at this point.

JULIAN CASTRO: Surprisingly did pretty well and was able to get some good swings at Joe Biden on issues like the Medicare buy-in and immigration. Told Biden that unlike his healthcare plan in which you have to opt-in, Castro’s plan wouldn’t have to make you do that and it “would fulfill the legacy of Obama, rather than Biden’s plan.” I like that Castro was able to try and claim the mantle of Obama’s legacy in an effective way. I still won’t vote for Castro but he did deliver a stand-out performance.

Out of all the debates this season, this was by far the worst-handled and was just a colossal mess. It was riddled with “gotcha” questions, right-wing corporate framing of questions, and lower-tiered candidates being given more speaking time than some of the frontrunners. Bernie Sanders for example was deliberately ignored and sidelined throughout much of the first half of the debate, almost as if the moderators were desperate to have anyone speak except for him. There was hardly much discussion of substantial issues and more of a focus on generalized platitudes most of the night, the final statement being about the virtue of “resiliency” rather than just a regular closing sendoff from each of the candidates. Whenever Bernie was able to speak was when the discussion returned to actual policy issues like war, college tuition, and Medicare For All. I’m just hoping for a better debate next time, or at least not as bad as this one.

Summary of Fourth Democratic Debate (07/31/2019)

Another night, another debate with more of the Democratic candidates. I will summarize my thoughts on each of their performances along with how I felt about the moderators and the types of questions they asked. So here we go:

JOE BIDEN: His time is done. He may have improved his performance over the last round by being a bit more on the offense, but it wasn’t enough and he still just came off as tired and bumbling. He would try to cling to the Obama legacy whenever it suited him but distanced himself for anything bad that happened under his watch (some protesters in the crowd pointed out the number of deportations that occurred under the Obama administration), be stubbornly pro status quo yet insisting that progressives would ultimately come around to him and couldn’t come up with a good response to Gilibrand’s question regarding his 1981 op-ed which criticized an expansion of the child care tax credit that would allow more women in the workforce. He also couldn’t stop cutting himself off whenever his speaking time was up which gave me the impression that he doesn’t have anything substantial to say and is only trying to fill the vacuum with the sound of his own voice. The idea that Biden is going to be president is a bunch of malarkey.

KAMALA HARRIS: The seemingly invincible aura she developed after a strong performance during the previous debate has all but shattered when she was truly challenged for the first time by Tulsi Gabbard. She was left almost speechless by Gabbard’s lines of attack and would immediately pivot over to Biden in order to cover up the fact that she really has no response to any direct critiques of her record. She talked about how predators are “cowards” and she would go after all those who seek to do bad things to others, but the fact that she let Steve Mnuchin off the hook for his crimes when she was California’s attorney general makes anything she have to say here ring a bit hollow. She’s lucky to have received softball questions (reiterating the federal busing issue) and plenty of time to speak, since she didn’t really do all that well overall. Kamala’s performance in my mind is a case of “what goes up must come down.”

TULSI GABBARD: Like the first debate she wasn’t given a whole lot of time to speak, but she made even greater use of it and came away with some decisive victories that will really leave an impression on voters. While she was able to knockout the lower-tier Tim Ryan on the issue of foreign policy during the first debate, this time she was able to go straight for the jugular and deliver a double whammy to Kamala Harris, one of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary. First, Tulsi went after her healthcare policy in which one of the key architects, Kathleen Sebelius, is affiliated with the for-profit Medicare Advantage which would lead to a conflict of interest and the perverse incentive of making money at the expense of patient care. Then, she went after her record as California’s attorney general, pointing out how she jailed people for smoking marijuana, blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from Death Row until the courts intervened, and kept prisoners beyond their sentences to use as cheap labor for the state of California among other things. Kamala never recovered from this and didn’t even address what Tulsi had to say, preferring to change the subject altogether. She also laid out her vision of ending our endless wars and making peace with fellow nations so that we can reinvest the money from that back into our country. Also unlike John Delaney, she rightfully criticized the TPP for its international tribunals in particular which would violate our sovereignty as a nation. For how little she was able to speak, her words were precise and packed with substance. I believe she won the night in epic fashion. 

CORY BOOKER: Didn’t really do much for me, basically trying to be the next Obama and would often spoke with very “inspirational” rhetoric and an elevated tone. Don’t have much else to say about him.

ANDREW YANG: Didn’t really budge much from the last time, but I believe he spoke up slightly more this time around at least. He continued to push forward his “Freedom Dividend” idea, making sure everyone got $1,000 a month and made a great point about how corporations exploit immigrants for cheap labor. An okay performance overall.

JULIAN CASTRO: Again, it feels like he’s trying to be just another Obama impersonator (he was part of his administration) and didn’t stand out much. He did have some good moments where he criticized one of the moderator’s questions as a “right wing talking point” and threw some shade at Bill DeBlasio regarding the NYC cop who killed Eric Garner while he was mayor. Other than that, not much to talk about.

KIRSTEN GILIBRAND: Other than catching Biden flat-footed on an op-ed he wrote back in 1981 criticizing an expansion of a childcare tax credit, she didn’t really resonate much with me and her performance felt a bit desperate and forced. At times she acted like she was applying for a job and listing her resume rather than making a direct appeal to the people about what she would do as president. I don’t have much else to say about her.

BILL DE BLASIO: The whole time I was watching him, I felt like he was putting on an act, masquerading as something he’s not. He presents himself as some progressive warrior but I wasn’t convinced based on his sleazy inflections and how forced his talking points felt to me. He did call out Biden for supporting NAFTA but I don’t remember much that really stood out about him.

MICHAEL BENNETT: I don’t have much to say about him other than he stole a line from Bernie Sanders and made it sound much less convincing.

JAY INSLEE: I’m sure he’s well intentioned but he just kind of blended into the background. Emphasized that he was the climate change guy and pointed out his record as governor of Washington, but still delivered a pretty bland performance.

The debate somehow felt lacked even more control than any of the previous ones, or at least proper vetting, as protesters would erupt with chants throughout the night regarding deportations and firing the police officer who killed Eric Garner. The questions had the usual corporate bias that I’ve come to expect (like how raising taxes might hurt the economy) and there were some softballs thrown to candidates like Kamala Harris that they would never give to candidates like Bernie Sanders. Many of the candidates just kind of blurred together half the time and didn’t really stand out from one another, save for a few. I’m hoping the next debate really trims the fat and we focus on more substantial discussion within a smaller group of candidates.

 

Summary of Third Democratic Debate (07/30/2019)

Round Two has arrived for the Democratic candidates and it’s time for me to write down my thoughts on their performances and how the debate was handled by the moderators. So without further adieu, here we go.

BERNIE SANDERS: Without a doubt, the best candidate of the whole night. There is an old Latin proverb that says “fortune favors the bold” and that certainly applies to Bernie, who held no bars and took no prisoners against the centrists who denigrated him and his ideas all throughout the evening. He called out the special interests who prop up networks like CNN, noting how corporations in the healthcare industry for example will place ads during the debate’s commercial breaks, fired back at opponents who say his ideas are radical by reminding everyone of Medicare’s 54th anniversary and how that was once considered “radical,” and criticized the Democratic Party for being afraid of supporting big ideas designed to help people, especially when the Republican Party firmly supports big ideas designed to harm them. His first debate performance was good, but his second debate performance is where he truly knocked it out of the park.

ELIZABETH WARREN: I would say Warren is a solid second place behind Bernie Sanders. She had some really great moments of her own throughout the night like when she supported a plan where the U.S. should not be the first ones to deploy a nuclear bomb, that the rich paying just a two-cent increase would help fund many of the great ideas progressives are in favor of, and said that white supremacist attacks should be called for what they are, terrorism. She did have some moments like where she dodged a question regarding whether or not she agreed with Bernie Sanders’ Medicare For All Plan, but I’d say she definitely delivered a solid performance.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Didn’t really stand out to me, pretty boring and stale though he did have a few good moments. He quoted some scripture in favor of raising the minimum wage, which isn’t all that common among Democrats since it’s usually Republicans who use the Bible as a means of serving their hardcore conservative ends. I’m not Christian or religious at all, but I do like the idea of co-opting the other side’s rhetoric to fulfill very different purposes. He also is in favor of withdrawing from Afghanistan, which is good and I hope he sticks by that promise.

BETO O’ROURKE: Though not quite as bad as he was during the first debate (at least he didn’t spontaneously start speaking Spanish again), he still delivered a pretty awkward and stilted performance right from the start. The only memorable thing he said was that he would stop any current wars and prevent new ones, so at least rhetorically he’s on board with ending our endless wars. Other than that, meh…

AMY KLOBUCHAR: Honestly I thought she put on a sleep-inducing performance that made me bored every time the camera cut to her and she started speaking. She’s like a politician from the 1980s who went into a time machine, traveled 30 years into the future and just started campaigning today. She relied on personal anecdotes as if we can take her word for it that any of her stories are true, supports the status quo on healthcare, and couldn’t help but bring up Russia for the gazillionth time. Stop concerning yourself about the affairs of other countries when we’ve got problems of our own to deal with. Hopefully the last time I have to speak about her.

JOHN DELANEY: He and John Hickenlooper are practically tied for the worst performance of the whole event. He is the epitome of what Bernie Sanders was talking about in regards to the Democrats being afraid of big ideas that help people, because all he did was foolishly go after popular proposals like Medicare For All, which has a 70% approval rating, and sing the praises of the unpopular TPP despite the corrosive effect these outsourcing deals have had on middle class jobs throughout the country. The only policy proposal I remember him bringing up was raising the capital gains tax, but that was greatly overshadowed by a hopeless display that will no doubt be the last we hear of him on the debate stage.

JOHN HICKENLOOPER: Pretty much similar to Delaney, with a little bit more old school McCarthyist red-baiting thrown in for atrocious measure. He may have been even more desperate than Delaney at taking down Bernie (and failing), as he mocked Bernie’s quirks and physical mannerisms which shows that he truly can’t compete with Bernie in the battle of ideas, so why not just attack him personally instead? He’s also in favor of endless war, which does him no favors and I believe it’s now lights out for his presidential ambitions.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON: While she was being her truly hippie-dippie self the whole night, I think she did actually improve her showing this time around. She did mention how we should have public funding for our elections and even did the math on how we ought to pay African Americans for reparations after their combined experience of slavery and Jim Crow. Still not going anywhere near the Oval Office, but she did leave a memorable and lasting impression to say the least.

TIM RYAN: Another boring and generic centrist who blended in the background. He didn’t get clobbered as hard as on the first night by Tulsi Gabbard but Bernie managed to give him a bloody nose when he retorted “I wrote the damn bill” after Ryan questioned his knowledge on the issue of healthcare. He’s not going anywhere if voters see him as a human punching bag.

STEVE BULLOCK: I really didn’t like this guy. While he wasn’t as insufferable as the two John’s on stage (Hickenlooper and Delaney), he struck me as smug and arrogant every time he spoke. He was too busy lambasting everyone else’s ideas as “wishlist economics” to really proclaim any bold solutions of his own. I doubt we’re going to be seeing more of him in the future.

Overall, the debate was probably more chaotic than even the last few and there was a bit more aggression on display between the candidates. The moderators didn’t even try to hide their corporate bias and the framing of their questions was disgustingly pro-establishment, more so even than the previous ones.

One question that really stood out to me was “Is Bernie Sanders too extreme to defeat Donald Trump?” which reveals their own anti-Bernie prejudice and desperation to want to have someone other than him go up against the incumbent president. They are trying to push a narrative and plant seeds in the minds of the audience rather than informing them of real issues. At least we have candidates like Bernie Sanders to do their job for them tonight.

Summary of Second Democratic Debate (06/27/2019)

Democratic Primary Debate Participants June 27, 2019 flickr photo by DonkeyHotey shared under a Creative Commons BY-SA license

I covered the first night of the Democratic debates, so it only makes sense that I now cover the second night as well. I will write my thoughts on every individual candidate, the type of policies they brought up, how they resonated with me and a quick summary of how the debate was handled. So here we go with round two:

JOE BIDEN: Basically wants to bring back the Obama years and return everything to how it was then. As expected, he was a gaffe machine and failed spectacularly against Kamala Harris’ argument regarding how he worked with segregationists in the past on legislation like that which would prevent bus desegregation. Apparently bus desegregation was okay in Biden’s mind because it was a “city council decision,” implying that the federal government ought not to enforce racial integration. He was pretty much left a blubbering mess and never really recovered from that knock out blow. Also while he was talking he suddenly cut himself off for no reason since apparently his “time was up.” Why?!?! If you have something to say, then say it! Perhaps he knew that, indeed, his time was up.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Pretty much coasted along the whole night with a few good points but not too many fireworks. Brought up a carbon tax, Medicare (for all who want it), no free college (cause we can’t help rich kids), and called out the hypocrisy of religious conservatives who invoke “moral values” while doing horrible things. The last point I thought was his best moment. His performance was a bit better than I expected, though my expectations were pretty low to begin with.

KIRSTEN GILIBRAND: Her raison d’être seems to be helping out women and their families get better care and assistance, focusing on paid family leave and going on the offense against pro-life conservatives who want to do away with Roe v. Wade. Pretty decent, don’t have much else to say.

KAMALA HARRIS: I wasn’t really expecting much out of her compared to Bernie and Biden, but she actually delivered a surprisingly aggressive and bold performance that caught everyone’s attention. She first brought up changing the tax code in order to have it benefit the working and middle classes negatively impacted by Trump’s new tax law and wanted to show everyone that she was the “adult in the room,” insisting that “America doesn’t want to witness a food fight.” Being a person of color, she brought up racial justice quite a bit (despite her own shady history as California’s attorney general) and had her biggest moment of the night when she clobbered Biden for working with segregationists on preventing bus desegregation and that she was part of the second class of desegregated students. Definitely a moment that’s going to be remembered long after election season is over and she is going to be quite the contender as of tonight.

BERNIE SANDERS: The one candidate I was rooting for going in and for the most part turned in a solid performance in classic #FeelTheBern style. Went after the usual suspects like Wall Street, big pharma, big oil, insurance companies, and even managed to get a good swing at Biden’s foreign policy record. He also suggested the idea of rotating supreme court justices to other courts in order to help reduce ideological polarization at the very top which is definitely an interesting point to consider. I think he should’ve spoken up a bit more throughout the night and made his voice heard more often (I’m worried Kamala stole the show), but still did a very good job as usual.

JOHN HICKENLOOPER: Perhaps the worst candidate of the whole night, and that’s saying something considering how poorly Joe Biden did in my eyes. Relied on old school red-baiting smear tactics straight out of the 1950s and insisted that Medicare For All, providing government jobs, and doing away with fracking were somehow evil forms of socialism and big government is always bad. Why don’t you just join the Republican party already if that’s how you feel about it? You’re not worth anymore text.

ERIC SWALWELL: An obnoxious candidate who had almost nothing of substance to say and mostly just spoke in platitudes and cliches about Russia and how he represents “the next generation” whereas Biden and Bernie should just step aside and pass the torch already. They say good things come to those who wait, so I’m predicting this guy is going nowhere near the Oval Office anytime soon. 

ANDREW YANG: A very technocratic and wonky candidate whose signature issue is universal basic income and implementing a “trickle up” economy, instead of a “trickle down” economy, by giving people $1000 a month for them to recirculate and help boost more revenue growth and jobs. It’s an interesting idea and it’s nice to have it part of the political discussion, though as a candidate he seemed to kind of blend into the background a bit and didn’t speak up as much. It would improve his chances if he spoke more often, but if his goal was to spread the gospel of UBI, then I think he succeeded in helping start the conversation around it.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON: A pretty silly, hippie-like character who lacked real substance. Kept bringing up how we should stop talking about concrete “plans” and instead be more “aspirational” and “imaginative” on how to make things better. She even brought up New Zealand just randomly out of the blue for some reason which made me scratch my head. Brought up reparations at least so that’s something I guess. Not much really going for her, maybe she has some books to promote and wanted some free publicity.

MICHAEL BENNET: Didn’t care for him, basically a clone of Biden’s “moderate” ideology and wants to implement a similar agenda to the former vice president. Just make some “tweeks” to the Affordable Care Act for example, and everything will be fine (just pay no attention to the millions of people who still don’t have healthcare)! He sounded like he had marbles in his mouth half the time and the only moment of him that stood out to me was when he called out Biden for helping out the Tea Party when he was coming up with examples on how “bipartisan” he was.

Again, the moderators just had to frame their questions from a very right-wing perspective, making people believe that Medicare For All was going to get rid of private health insurance, (which it does not), very obnoxious of them but pretty much expected since they represent corporate interests. More fireworks in this debate compared to last night, especially during the heated exchange between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Definitely one for the books.