As you know, I’ve been generally positive of the way that the DNC has run the primary debate process for 2020, but I will pick one bone with them. They really should have given a debate to FOX to sponsor. Why? Because FOX would never in a million years have been as blatant in their attempt to torpedo these two debates as CNN has been, they would have been tarred and feathered for their partisanship.
I wrote earlier today that I sincerely hoped that the candidates in tonight’s debate had watched last night’s debate, and wised up to the CNN moderators plot to pit them against each other. Apparently CNN factored that possibility in, and left them no option. Just to make sure that they got the demolition derby they were counting on, they went even further in their quest for the perfect “gotcha” question.
In what sane world does a debate moderator begin a round of questioning by stating, “Candidate A said something really nasty about your *blank* plan. How do you respond to Candidate A’s statement?” As I type this, there is still another 35 minutes of debate left, and while I have it on in the background, I ain’t missing a thing. Not only is CNN trying to pit the top tier candidates against each other, they’re inviting the “Who?!?” candidate to pile on and create more mayhem.
CNN should be ashamed of itself. In the first half an hour, the top tier candidates, especially Biden and Harris, tried to keep their paws out of the trap. Especially in the healthcare question, Biden responded to Harris solely with valid information from her plan, and her responses dealt with gaps in Biden’s plan. But that wasn’t enough of a cage match for CNN, so they invited also-rans to pile on, and then pitted one opponent against the other on that. And the melee was on.
Here are just some random observations on night two, in no particular order. Biden was much better, but not his best. Biden stayed as much above the fray as he could, but engaged effectively. He also looked more at home on stage, even occasionally passing a light moment with Cory Booker on his left. But he did go down the rabbit hole with Booker on the crime bill and stop-and-frisk in Newark, and forced busing with Harris, which was a mistake, he didn’t need to go there. But nothing is going to happen to his position as front runner coming out of this debate, and he benefited from everybody on the stage dumping on Sanders and Warren in absentia.
Andy Yang is a really neat, down to earth guy, and I’d love to have a beer with him, but not in the Oval Office. Bill DeBlasio is just another big mouth, New York dick. And you know how big of a dick he is when even other New Yorkers don’t want him running for President, so that the rest of the country realizes how big of a dick he is.
Kamala Harris stumbled, and badly. She was in hog heaven last month, setting the trap, and watching Joe Biden twist in the wind on segregationist senators, and forced busing. But she really, really didn’t like being on the hook herself. Not only did Biden legitimately hit her on her record as California AG in response to her attack on his record, but Tulsi Gabbard was more than happy to pile on with other questionable judgement she had shown. Harris appeared to be really flustered with the attacks, shaking her head, and Teri noticed as well as I did that the longer the assault lasted, the more emotional she seemed to get, her voice sometimes trembling, almost on the verge of breaking. That kind of response to pressure is not great for somebody who wants to be commander in chief.
Right off of the bat, Biden, along with Cory Booker, focused the attack as much as possible on Donald Trump, and most of the rest of the stage joined in. Trump was repeatedly bashed as the racist he is, along with his inhumane treatment of migrants on the southern border, and even his diplomacy by tweet. And last but not least, the one saving grace of having the also-rans on stage tonight was that CNN occasionally pitted them against each other, a totally gratuitous bit of trouble making, but it allowed the front runners to grab a breath and regroup for the next assault.
And now on to the awards. The biggest loser? Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the far left progressive movement. Not one candidate on the stage tonight backed a Medicare-for-all plan that bans private insurance companies, and they all took great pains to highlight the potential problems with it. The next biggest losers? The Democratic candidates and dignity. The biggest winners? Donald Trump and the GOP. For the second straight night, they got a cornucopia of clips to use in attack ads down the road, against whomever becomes the eventual nominee.
My final assessments: Joe Biden did nothing to hurt himself, other than those unfortunate interactions with Harris and Booker, and likely solidified his position as front runner. He seemed more assured and in command, and attacked Donald Trump every time he could. As much as I hate to say it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kamala Harris slides in the polls after tonight. She appeared, at least to me, to unravel badly under the pressure of the assault on her record and positions as California AG, and what the posse giveth, the polls taketh away. And if she slides, I really don’t see anybody on stage either night who did anything that would allow them to slide up closer and fill the gap to the top tier. If anything, whatever Harris loses in the polls will likely be snatched up by either Biden, Sanders, or more likely Warren. And my last assessment is that CNN should never again host a primary debate until they show that they’ve grown up.
The infamous CNN show Crossfire was cancelled & for good reason. It seemed to me like they were desperately trying to revive it – and at the expense of Democrats and the country. Why do I think those same CNN panelists wouldn’t DARE to try those kinds of “gotcha” questions in a general election Presidential debate particularly putting Trump on the spot?
Frankly, I was disappointed by the candidates over and over again when this stuff came up. If the group last night should have been prepared for what they got from the panel then there’s absolutely no excuse for tonight’s group not to have been ready to start an answer with:
“I’m not going to dignify your attempt to start a fight. I think my plan is better than candidate so-and-so’s plan but BOTH of us have superior plans/positions to Trump. I’ll let him/her make their own case but here’s why my position/plan is better for the country than Trump’s” – and then go on to skewer Trump.
I also think that while the purpose of a debate is to show how one’s own plan/position is better than other’s on a given matter too often they might as well have been Republicans in the harshness of their attacks.
I don’t think anyone won tonight. Instead I think we all lost.
They were using GOP taking points and techniques.
Yeah…CNN…I’ve said it all week…yuck.
I think both nights were a zonk. I think the primary reason was that CNN pushed for an aggressive format that doubly encouraged the 1% candidates to jump in with sharp attacks. They did…I don’t think it’ll help them…and I don’t think it will really hurt any of the top tier candidates. I could be wrong, but I’d be surprised to see polls move much at all for anyone.
I didn’t have as negative opinion on Harris’s performance. It wasn’t her best night, but given all the noise from twenty candidates over two nights I’m not sure anything hurt her too much. Gabbard’s attack was pretty sleazy. I didn’t see Harris as weak…just that she refused to engage much with the ridiculous attack from a candidate that’s about to run out of money and voters.
And by sleazy…I think Gabbard was accusing Harris of blocking evidence in the Kevin Cooper case. Cooper was convicted in 1983 based on a mountain of evidence, and 2001 DNA tests backed those convictions up 100%. Harris denied additional tests…which have now been ordered for political reasons, and will show that Cooper did in fact murder four people, including two children, stabbed another boy several times and left him for dead. He also admitted to two violent rapes. So Gabbard was stretching the truth pretty thin in her accusation.
Jake Tapper was the worst offender. And both CNN and MSNBC have used guests to bash Bernie and Socialism as if single-payer healthcare that also includes negotiated prices for drugs and the addition of dental, eyesight and hearing loss and free college was going to turn us into a Socialist state just like Venezuela instead of a Nordic country like Denmark.
It wasn’t a debate. It wasn’t even an interesting argument. It was more like a group of strangers at a cocktail party trying to play The Dozens.
I was just reading about Williamson’s interview with Anderson Cooper, where she made it clear that she has no clue about antidepressants and doesn’t intend to get one. (She thinks they’re harmful. She’s insulting the intelligence of everyone who has used them in the past or uses them now.)
I was NOT impressed with Biden on the question of his patriarchalist statements. I did not catch the date on those egregious “keep the little woman at home” attitudes, but the man is completely unable ever to say “I was wrong”! He just bulls through and does not offer evidence of changed attitudes, at all.
I commented on another thread about how CNN basically wants to create a pie fight for ratings. It is hugely unfortunate that this company is all we have to get our message out. The R’pukes have a network called Fox News that promotes them 24/7, where is ours?