The January Democratic Debate | Talking Points Memo

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Editor & Publisher:

Executive Editor:

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1284498
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“We’ll be liveblogging our way through the last Democratic debate of 2019.”

Slight correction - this will be the FIRST Democratic debate of 2020, TPM. ; )

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Maybe they aren’t gonna liveblog this one :wink:

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I know I’m partial, but I’m liking Buttigieg again tonight.

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I’m liking Warren too.

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Hah! I’m liking Klobuchar too!

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Biden’s not doing badly either. Foreign policy is his wheelhouse.

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Her answers so far have been incredibly naive.

I understand the popularity of saying “Withdraw all troops, from everywhere”, but that has consequences, too.

What I just found interesting was Steyer’s response. He got so close to making the connection, but failed.

Australia is having a climate change crisis. And we are talking about American policy in the Middle East.

Yet our policy in the Middle East is ALWAYS about ensuring the oil flows. Which leads to climate crisis. The two are interlinked. And its very difficult to devise a long term strategy to address global climate change and also ensuring that the world uses plenty of oil.

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Also, everyone is answering this question with a given assumption that we have allies we can unite to deal with Iran.

That’s not necessarily a given. Far from it, in fact.

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Oh, I think they all know that a lot of work needs to be done to regain the trust of lost allies.

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I want more from him than “not doing badly”.

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The truth is there may be no going back and Iran is going to develop nuclear weapons, not to mention Russia might pass them hypersonic technology. The lack of a president with a brain and a functioning state department has shredded what slim changes for enhanced security we had.

But none of them can say that. They’re politicians. America can always fix things. Blah blah blah. People eat it up.

@kelaine

I want more from him than “not doing badly”.

I judge Biden by a different standard, meaning is he doing better than I’ve previously seen him do. I tuned in late, but so far he hasn’t seemed like a deer in the headlights.

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Damn. These moderators are tough.

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Right?

I am liking Brianne Pfannenstiel the most out of anyone tonight!

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Ok…so here is the thing. And Warren specifically mentioned the trade deal with the EU…

A big part of trade deals is the diplomacy beyond trade that is involved. TPP was a crucial piece of diplomacy for containing China and expanding US diplomatic power in the region.

So, it gets kind of hard to woo back allies when you want to get tough on them on trade at the same time. While telling them “No, no, no…Trump won’t happen again. Trust us”.

There is going to be a lot of going around with hat in hand, and offering up restitution for Trump over at least the next 4 years. Probably more like a decade.

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Pete and Elizabeth are doing great. Joe seems tired.

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Ah now we get to it. The BIG ISSUE. Do you think women aren’t competent enough to be president, Mr. Sanders?

ETA: In the end, they both answered pretty well.

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I think that is where Biden has an edge. I’m betting most of our allies would prefer him because they know him.

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Without doubt.

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He did promise to do his damnedest to get whoever wins the nominee elected. That’s more than I thought he would say.

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