Democratic Debate Highlights
The most memorable moment of the debate for Elizabeth Warren was the uppercut to the jaw that she landed on Senator John Delaney: “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for the President of the United States to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for. I don’t get it.” You know what I love about Elizabeth Warren; she doesn’t just want to be in the thick of the fight against corruption in Washington, she wants to lead it. She covered everything from green technology, to healthcare, to immigration, to capitalism and the wealth tax. She even smiled from ear to ear when Don Lemon pointed out that John Delaney, who is worth more than $65 million, would be subject to her wealth tax. She did what other candidates failed to do in this debate: talk about her campaign while bringing up the inconsistencies in her opponent’s campaign. She provided a solution for every problem that was discussed. Her biggest critique is that she debated well with centrist candidates, like Delaney, who would never win the Presidency anyway. To really distinguish herself as a candidate, she will need to start differentiating herself and her policies from front-runners like Sanders, Harris, and Booker.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren dominated the healthcare conversation during the debate. They were like Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy defending their Medicare-for-all proposal against the rest of the candidates. The viewers attacked three main points on Medicare for all: (1) Medicare for all would result in fewer options in the healthcare system; (2) Medicare for all would be extremely costly; and (3) Coverage would be worse if there was Medicare for all. Sanders said, first of all, who cares if there would be fewer options because the majority of Americans would choose to have a universal high-quality healthcare program that includes all Americans. Secondly, he said that hospitals would not go bankrupt because they would be able to save loads of money by merging their billing departments. Lastly, he said that his plan would cover far more Americans and would be far more generous than private plans. His quote of the night was in response to Senator Delaney saying that Sanders might not fully understand certain aspects of the bill; Sanders said “I do know it, I wrote the damn bill.” My favorite description of Bernie Sanders came from Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: “With his usual bark, he owned his “’Get off my lawn!’ persona with ‘I wrote the damn bill!’” However, both Warren and Sanders dismissed legitimate talking points as “Republican talking points,” when they were asked about abolishing private health insurance. They will definitely need to address this issue more in depth if they want Americans to buy into Medicare for All.
Kamala Harris was the clear target of this debate and it can only be because of how well she did in the first Democratic debate. Biden came at my good sis early on her record as the California attorney general, which...IS SO PLAYED OUT. Senator Gillibrand and Senator Michael Bennett followed suit, calling her tough on crime and all of the other generic critiques that she has received since the first day she declared her candidacy. If i'm being honest, she struggled to defend her record on health care and the criminal justice system and eventually just said that everyone on stage just wasn’t telling the truth. I couldn’t tell if she was frustrated that the same topics are being used to critique her, or really what was going on, but this was not her best night. She is still my candidate though and will get all of my votes.
Tulsi Gabbard's debate tactic was played out. I mean, we have quite literally, seen it several times before. When you come into the debate as an unknown candidate, the only way to get air-time or to get noticed is to go after a big name candidate: Kamala Harris. Gabbard came out gunning for Kamala Harris about her past on criminal justice reform, which has been a critique on Senator Harris ever since she entered the race. Maybe she should, you know, advocate for herself and what she could do as a President instead of trying to attack another viable democratic candidate on an issue that has been attacked for months…literally MONTHS.
This debate was terrible for Biden, but not as bad as his first. Also, whoever made the decision to put him in between Senator Harris and Senator Booker needs a raise because that was television gold. Overall, Biden just seemed lost to me. When he was under attack for race and criminal justice reform policies, he would just immediately stop talking when his time ran out, instead of expanding on his already confusing answers. I also tend to agree with Booker when he called out Joe for picking and choosing when he wants to associate or disassociate himself with Obama’s legacy. At one point during the debate, he said “Look, I love Barack Obama and admire what he did in the White House. But Joe Biden isn’t Barack Obama.” *inserts Nick Young confused emoji* WHAT!?!?!? He also greeted Kamala Harris before the debate started and said “Go easy on me kid”…*reinserts Nick Young confused emoji* WHAT?!?!?! We just need to get him off the stage because it’s just getting brutal.
Booker did really well this debate, fiercely discussing immigration and criminal justice reform. But again, like Sanders and Warren, he needs to be wary of dismissing valid questions about their policies as “Republican talking points.” In other news, Joe Biden should’ve worn a bullet proof vest because Booker wasn’t just taking shots, this man was unloading the whole clip on Biden. He really told Biden, on national television, to stop sipping Kool-aid when he doesn’t even know the flavor…Epic. He also called out Biden for distancing himself from Obama’s legacy when it is convenient for him and taking credit for certain things from the Obama Administration when it is convenient for him. He served as a sharp reminder to Biden that you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
I looked up a photo of the GOAT online yesterday and I actually did not see one physical difference between it and Marianna Williamson. I have been talking about Williamson since she first declared her candidacy and put a trillion dollar reparations bill on the table for Black Americans. She out-debated virtually everyone on stage, regardless of the fact that she referred to some of the evils within government as a dark psychic force…which was, weird but I still stan. She constantly re-directed other candidates to the bigger picture: beating Donald Trump. She discussed healthcare, education, institutionalized hatred, corruption within the government, reparations…I mean my good sis was really just on a roll. She even had my absolute favorite quote of the night: “If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days.” She likely won’t qualify for the September and October debates because she hasn’t even reached 5% in the polls, but she had a good run while it lasted. Nothing but love and respect for my Hippie President.
Pete Buttigieg really just wants us to know that he is a veteran…like really bad. I feel like whenever he might get a little tense on stage, the second voice in his head is like “Ok Pete, when in doubt, remind the American people that you are a military vet that fought in Afghanistan and that you're younger than 40.” All jokes aside, I think that Buttigieg is an excellent debater and proved why the American people and donors are so attracted to him. He actually used scripture to point out G.O.P hypocrisy, which wasn’t surprising because he is fluent in both foreign policy and religion. He is also one of the only Democratic candidates that is extremely outspoken against both mandatory healthcare and free college. I’m interested to see where he falls in the polls because, as a centrist democrat, he is gaining a lot of momentum.
Amy Klobuchar had one approach to convincing the American people that she would be a viable candidate: continually bring up her electoral history and the fact that she has not only won blue areas in Minnesota, but red areas as well (I’m assuming this was supposed to convince us that she would be the only practical candidate to beat Donald Trump). She was trying to position herself as a practical, centrist candidate, amongst a group of extremely far left loonies. Klobuchar did have a stand-out answer regarding gun control though, advocating for laws that avert those with histories of mental illness from purchasing guns, background checks, a nationwide ban on assault weapons, and restrictions on magazine capacity. I still, however, am not convinced that she can beat Donald Trump.
John Delaney got a lot of air time in comparison to other centrist candidates, like Klobuchar and Buttigieg, and that is only because he was the main antagonist to Warren and Sanders. There isn’t really much to say about him, other than the fact that his version of centrism seems to be a bit more corporate than populist. I don’t think his message/agenda will woo the American people, especially when trying to beat Trump.
Somebody said that Beto doesn’t seem to realize that he’s not a Kennedy and I absolutely lost it. He really only talks about Texas though; either about how he visited all 254 counties in Texas during the Senate race and how he almost won the Senate race in Texas as a Democrat, which has always voted Republican. He never discusses the fact that he was running against one of the most hated men in the country by Republicans and Democrats: Ted Cruz…maybe he’s saving that discussion for another day.
Again, Castro made a name for himself by going after a big candidate, but in his case, he decided to gun for Joe Biden. After Biden shared his perspective on immigration reform, Julian Castro calmly responded: “It looks like one of us has learned the lessons of the past and one of us hasn’t?” This would be the perfect time to insert a clip the battle rap parody where the guy says “but I’m not a rapper” and everyone yells OOOOOOOOOHHHHH and then he jumps into the crowd because he just ended the other guy’s life with that diss. This is exactly how I feel about this quote…It really knocked the wind out of my chest. He also went after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio about the way that he handled the officer who choked Eric Garner. Sad thing is, he is still unlikely to qualify for the September and October debates because of how he is doing in the polls, but maybe things will change. Only time will tell. Xoxo Gossip Jazz
I have two words for Kirsten Gillibrand: Opposition Research. Kirsten clearly did her research. She reminded Biden of the time he expressed concern about the family if a woman works outside of the home and reminded Kamala Harris of her past with criminal justice reform when she was the AG in California. But again, she dismissed valid questions as “Republican talking points.” I’m still not sure why so many candidates did this.
I'm not discussing Steve Bullock or Tim Ryan because I don't know anything about them and didn't pay attention to anything they said. I'm also going to just apologize to John Hickenloopoer for not discussing him either, but i'm just simply not voting for anyone whose last name is Hickenlooper.