Another twelve person debate didn’t afford any one candidate much time to shine. But here is some of what stood out to us about each one.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1255966
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1255966
Saint Bernard of the Sacred Valve Stent didn’t so much stand out as hunch over and slouch down.
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Beware:
At best, Gabbard might be a Jill Stein Ver 2.0 (Democratic Insider Edition) and at worst, she has a “Trumpian Facet”!
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Tulsi Gabbard belongs at the kid’s table, if any. Her one trick is the military, and who gives a shit? Did she distinguish herself there or was she just GI?
She reeks of desperation.
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Tulsi had a few GOP talking points to contribute… The DNC should have split this into Adults and Kids Table debates so the discussion among the former could have been more substantive. Although Tom Steyer made more sense than I expected, not that I necessarily trust that guy. If I had his money, I’d spend it all on senate races.
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This is such an ungodly long campaign, and its very hard for even those candidates who have fresh and original ideas to keep sounding that way as they repeat themselves for what must be the five hundredth time already, and there’s a full year ahead. Just the act of selling yourself so hard for such a long time is intrinsically unattractive. We need a much shorter campaign season, which would also have the added benefit of being less expensive.
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Warren still seems a bit shifty on the middle class tax thing and condescending to anyone who disagrees with her. She reminds of the person who always says, “I majored in so and so, so I know better than you.”
Yeah, I get the larger point she’s trying to make. But it still comes off as if she’s doing her best to make sure that no one catches her on camera saying that she supports a middle class tax increase
I think there is a blind spot about her and people are going to think that she plays better than she actually does.
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Like x 1000. You nailed it. If she is the Democratic nominee,we will lose in November 2020.
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More than one false premise there from “Clint Watts (selectedwisdom)” but I’ll mention only this one: Biden did challenge Gabbard on her notion that the Syrian mess was or is a “regime-change war.”
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Tulsi Gabbard also reeks of narcissism. She is a disgrace to the Democratic party.
Tulsi Gabbard should lose her House seat. She is at best a Jill Steinian distraction, and at worse, a useful idiot of Syria and Russia.
She has already drawn one strong challenger - a sitting state Senator -
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This this this. For all the plans and ideas from Dem candidates for POTUS of what needs to change, unless Senator Mitch can be stripped of power, none of these can be implemented.
I wish the candidates would bring forward this point at every debate.
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Yang - super smart, great responses. Dog stuck on a bone.
Bernie- he is who he is. Comes off as super authentic. If you are a pure democratic socialist, he’s the man.
Uncle Joe - coming off a bit too much like great uncle Joe
Kamala - it’s like she’s trying to zingbot her way into the White House.
Booker - trying way too hard to be the grown up in the room.
Gabbard - blame America first isolationist (I’m not trying to be nice here)
Warren - already went over
Klob- has potential for moderates but doesn’t seem to inspire anybody.
Beto - is he always stoned or hung over? Can’t tell
Mayor Pete - good potential as a centrist candidate in the primaries. It would require all hands on board for a super rough general election because the right would lose their mind. It is a fight worth having.
Oh crap I forgot Castro - exactly
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I don’t get the Pete praise. He doesn’t seem to say anything other than that people don’t like Washington. I wonder if his mileage isn’t partly based just on being a intelligent young man.
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That’s because its exactly what she was doing. And it was a tactical fail. Part of her problem on this was of course, completely surrendering the issue to Bernie several debates back, and basically going with “I support whatever he says on the issue”. So now, Bernie is clearly stating he will raise taxes ( a lot) and she is refusing to say the same, even though everyone on both sides of the issues is calling her out on it.
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Klobuchar is misspelled.
As far as Yang: If the solution fits the problem, why is that weird?
Its a silly “solution”, not based in reality.
He is advocating for spending over 3 TRILLION dollars a month, and in the process, completely destroying any ability to ever manage the nation’s money supply.
It doesn’t fix any problems. It merely eliminates tools necessary for managing the economy.
Pete seems to be a B Clinton 3D way democrat. His proposals could appeal to those of us who think Bernie is a bridge too far.
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I’m not in love with any of these candidates and that worries me. In my adult life, when the Dems have had a rockstar - Bill C and Obama, we’ve won the WH fairly easily. When we’ve tried to force someone who isn’t inspiring or charismatic, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, Hillary - it’s gone badly for us.
Bernie did great, and the more subdued approach actually works for him. He will be in it until the end and, hopefully, win.
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I was stunned that she lacked a cogent response to Buttigieg’s critique of her position on MFA. That issue had been teed up in discussion during at least the last week, and Buttigieg released a position paper on Medicare for All Who Want It before the debate. Instead, she spent way too much of her time talking about kids with cancer who need health care, which all the Democratic candidates agreed they should get. Instead of addressing how the tab for the MFA bill will be paid (and some have estimated it at over $30 trillion over ten years), Warren indulged in rhetoric.
I live in Pennsylvania, where we need to turn out suburban voters for the Democratic candidate. Many of those folks tend to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. They pay high taxes (because we pay a lot of state and local taxes in our state whose deductibility is now limited under the #45 tax cuts) and don’t react happily to proposals for huge increases in spending. It is worth noting that although 118 Dems in the House have signed on as co-sponsors of MFA, that number does not include most of the freshmen who carried previously Republican districts in southeastern PA and NJ. What are they telling us?
To be honest, Warren’s “my way or the highway” demeanor rubs me the wrong way. It reminds me of #45’s “I alone can fix it.”