Last night's debate was the closest I've seen to a political version of a WWE Smackdown. The last couple of debates have been a bore but last night's finally delivered some real fireworks.
Definite winners and losers.
Bernie was solid and delivered a reliable Bernie performance. He effectively defended himself from the attacks he knew were coming. No surprises there.
Joe Biden was as good as Biden is capable of being. He was better than he's been in recent debates but that's not a real high bar to clear.
Mayor Pete just didn't bring it. He was ineffectual in his attacks on Bernie and spent too much time punching down at Amy Klobuchar who has no chance of being the nominee so why did he even bother?
Amy Klobuchar also made little to no impression although she did get in a good line or two.
Elizabeth Warren was a gladiator. She came to fight and she did great taking shots at everyone. Her shots at Bernie didn't really land so she mostly gave up on him and focused on castrating Mike Bloomberg which she did with surgical precision.
Mike Bloomberg was a sad and pathetic little man last night. He had nothing inspiring to say, seemed woefully unprepared for the attacks he should've seen coming and just came off as a smug,, entitled, sexist, racist rich guy who did no prep for the debate and is counting on his money to land him the job.
The progressives, Bernie and Liz, came off the strongest with Warren being the overall winner. Both of them looked like strong and motivated candidates ready to take on the marmalade moron.
Bloomberg will get better as time goes on. He'll have a team of experts prep him for the next debate.
I can see a lot of us are already getting out the tar and feather for ol' Mike, but stop and ask yourself why.
He USED to be Republican. So what?
He made some sexist jokes. Yeah? You haven't?
He's a 'racist' because he advocated frisking suspicious-looking (black) people? What's really wrong with profiling? You and I do it all the time. Admit it.
It seems to me your real problem he's not a socialist.
Hey, I'm s socialist but I know it's unrealistic to believe the general public will vote for Sanders.
Or, he's a billionaire. So? Warren Buffet's a Democratic icon and he's almost as rich as Bill Gates.
ANY Democratic candidate is better than any Republican. Can we at least agree on that?
So the real question is, which candidate is more ELECTABLE?
Biden? I love Joe, but isn't he a bit of a retread? AND getting old...
Warren? A good choice, but how can I say this...never mind, I think you know what I mean.
Bernie? A dream come true, but, as St Sinner (I know, a troll) points out, has lots of quasi-'communist' baggage. Hey, I'm a neo-communist myself! Some day, maybe, we can have a communist system based on computers and automation, but NOW? I just can't see him getting elected. It would take a true revolution of the mind for that to happen, and no amount of revulsion toward Trump'll be enough.
Bloomberg? I hate to say it, but I like his policies, his lack of actionable baggage (compared to Trump), and his New York power base.
I just think he's the best choice.
So I'm watching the debate with 3 thoughts running though my head:
I fucking hate politics.
I agree with all your comments. Liz Warren's initial attack on Bloomberg was breathtaking and very effective. I am interested in seeing what her next poll numbers are.
i have just come from facebook and everyone there is complaining about how mean the candidates were to each other. i wonder if they think tea and scones should have been served, before or after the quadrille. everyone did what they were there to do, some better than others. for me, warren won that fight, and bloomberg lost, and everyone pretty much did what i thought they would do. i have already voted -- for warren. however, even if it's bloomberg, whom i dislike quite strongly, i intend to vote blue no matter who. someone put it well in a meme which i will misquote but you'll get the gist: not voting blue no matter who is like being on an airplane and being asked whether you would like the chicken dinner or the shit on toast, and asking the flight attendant how the chicken is prepared.
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It's survival of the fittest. The strongest, sturdiest candidates will weather the storm of attacks and reveal themselves the most fit for battle. I've always believed this to be Bernie or Liz. After last night, I'm leaning more toward Liz for the first time.
I loved how she just bitchslapped Bloomberg over and again. It was beautiful.
@Sgt_Spanky omg we agree on something!
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@genessa We actually agree on two things: the 2020 political landscape and that there's no god -- so politics and religion, the two most divisive issues known to man...and we agree on them both!
Maybe we should get married.
@Sgt_Spanky thank you for your kind offer but i am spoken for )
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@genessa Aww, okaaaaaaay.
Given the format, Bloomberg didn't stand a chance. The other candidates got to attack him one after the other, and Bloomberg had to just stand there and take it.
I wasn't impressed with Mayor Pete either.
Warren was in her comfort zone, attacking a rich white successfull businessman.
"Warren was in her comfort zone, attacking a rich white successful businessman."
Sounds like exactly the person we need to go up against Trump.
@Sgt_Spanky It plays well with Democrats, not with Independents and Republicans.
Bloomberg will need to spend a few hundred million more just to reverse the damage taken in this debate.
I'd be so much happier if people finally saw him for the boondoggle he is and just abandon him. He's cur from the same cloth Trump is. Exactly what we don't need.
Yes, it is extremely stupid how these people who's main concern is removing Trump are willing to put in power a man who is guilty of all the same awful things as Trump is and more just because they have this misguided belief that he can win in November, which he can't, he has the least chance of winning.
If he wanted to beat Trump so bad, he should run as RepublicanT
I agree with your analysis. A very articulate write up. But Bernie's lines have not changed... Millionaires and billionaires, we are the only country...., It is the same worn out and boring lines and he has nothing new to add.
Elizabeth Warren looked better among all to me. She was forceful, her fight showed that she can land punches on Trump in debates and she is articulate with a good handle on issues instead of throwing the same old punch lines like Bernie.
Why should he revise his message when he's already on point with what he's saying? His message resonates with voters and has taken him to the top spot. You need to get over this mindless Bernie hatred.
@Sgt_Spanky I don't have any Bernie hatred. I have a deep concern that Bernie will bring upon a great defeat to the Democratic Party and Democrats.
The message can be the same but the delivery should be fresh, interesting and does not have to be the same lines, the same words all the time. He does not speak anything new. Millionaires and billionaires does not resonate any more because he is a millionaire today.
@Wangobango3 I will be here in November 2020. Let us talk after. Don't go nowhere.
He has been making those same arguments his entire career and that is a good thing, it's called consistency. He continues to talk about the same stuff because we have the same problems. Wealth inequality is steadily rising and we are the only country that does not have a rational healthcare system. He will stop saying those same lines when it's all been fixed.
@RoboGraham
In that case, why has he stopped talking about his love for and praise of communism and socialist countries?
He does not talk about his dark past with these things here = [agnostic.com]
The cold war is long over. These red scare tactics fall flat.
To whatever extent that any of that is true, it won't do much damage. Visiting and complementing ideological rivals doesn't make you a communist. It makes you a worldly critical thinker able to look at things from outside the confines of your own country's ideological identity.
He has had a consistent message about the changes we need to make to improve the lives of working class people and that is what voters focus on and care about.
@RoboGraham What is wrong with being honest in saying that ... "Yes, I made mistakes. I was a communist before but I do not believe in it anymore."
Wouldn't some honesty from a candidate seeking the highest office in land be refreshing?
Most definitely.
Honesty is a top quality. I've seen Bernie be honest before. I'm not sure that he ever was a communist. Most likely, he just wasn't as anti-communist as everyone around him during that time of fear and cold war.
This is his second time running. the media and the establishment are doing all they can to stop his momentum. Something tells me that if what you are claiming were true, if he ever was an actual communist, it would have been all over the news long ago.
@RoboGraham
Why is it hard to accept all evidence here? [agnostic.com]
Because that information is coming from someone known to have a massive anti-Bernie bias and I haven't seen it verified elsewhere.
@RoboGraham Is being in denial really honesty?
@maturin1919 I have also said Bernie's nomination will make the loss multi-fold, huge and traumatic. Please don't forget I said that.
Again, the media, the establishment, the moderates, and the Republicans have been trying to take him down for years. He has been very heavily vetted. If there is truth in your accusations, I believe it would have come out already.
I'm not going to just take your word on it
@St-Sinner Bernie has the right message; to make things better for the middle-class and improve the lives of the average American. So if the message is right then it's axiomatic that to disagree with it would be wrong.
@Sgt_Spanky
I think as the primaries are moving closer to nomination and the general, the message, sincerity, passion, honesty are not going to be important. That was yesterday. Today, voters are desperate to nominate a candidate with can beat back and beat down Trump decisively in debates.
Bernie is risky - his body, hands language and speech are not effective, Biden can fall apart any time who struggles to find words, Buttigieg is not ready. In this case and especially after last night's electric performance of landing strong punches on Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren is being talked about as the most likely nominee. She is not far behind in delegates.
@St-Sinner I agree. As of last night I have a renewed vigor for Warren's potential as a contender. She eviscorated Bloomberg and I think she can do the same with Trump. He has even more skeltons in his closet and bodies buried in the desert than Bloomberg. I think she'd attack his corruption without mercy. That's as it should be.
@Sgt_Spanky
I want to start rooting for Warran | Castro ticket. Castro will deliver Texas.
@St-Sinner I'd vote for that ticket in a heartbeat.
What you are selling is hard to buy. [agnostic.com]
Let's take a closer look. You have a list of 14 bombshells, each proving that Bernie is a dirty communist. Taken all together, there can be no doubt, he is Stalin lovin commie.
First, let me tell you why I'm suspicious. As I mentioned earlier, Bernie has been running for a long while now. He is the current leader and came close last time. The establishment, the media, the elites, the billionaires, they all want him taken down because they realize that he is a true reformer for the people who will end their corruption and hurt their bottom line. So the most powerful people in the country are highly motivated to find dirt on him. He already has an association with communism because he calls himself democratic socialist and many Americans are too ignorant to know that they are not the same thing. So these people are looking for exactly the sort of information that you provided and they've had a long time to search. Once they find something like this, they will show it everywhere to ruin their competitor's reputation and remove him as a threat to their power. But I haven't seen any of this before. I follow this stuff closely and this is the first time I've seen these accusations. Why is that? Wouldn't this stuff be on the front page all over the place? I mean they are so desperate to attack him with something that they are going after his supporters, saying they are mean and abusive. Why wouldn't they use this smoking gun you have here to just show everybody that he really is a communist?
And of course the answer is that it isn't really true. The source you provided, the New York Post, is a right wing sensationalized paper owned by Rupert Murdoch. I don't doubt that there are some kernels of trust to some of those points, especially those that point out his affinity for Debs, the hero of the labor movement of the 20th century, but I also don't trust this to be factual.
I've heard Sanders compliment the public transportation of the Soviet Union and he said they have beautiful public spaces. Big deal, complementing your country's ideological enemy doesn't make you a commie. I've never heard him say anything good about there government or economic system. I think he is just open minded enough and unnationalistic enough to recognize and feel comfortable speaking about the positive qualities of other nations, even ones that we are at odds with.
Finally, lets say hypothetically, all this stuff, all 14 of your points are 100% true. It really doesn't matter. Even if somehow his secret goal is to bring communism to America, it isn't possible. He will have a hell of a time just getting a rational healthcare system in place. It will be an epic political battle just to get something that the other developed countries have had for decades. Even if he truly was a communist dead set on bring the bolshevik revolution to America, it would be irrelevant. He is very limited in what he can accomplish to the point that some people think he may as well not be president because he won't be able to change anything anyway.
Why are you pushing right wing propaganda? You have expressed to me previously of your urge to vote for Trump and now this. And usually you go around behaving as if you believe that you are the savior of the democratic party. We are trying to hijack the party and you, the heroic moderate, are all that stands between your beloved democratic party and a bunch of socialist Bernie Bros. If you love the party so much, why are you attacking it's front runner with right wing trash?
So yeah this big Bernie take down of yours is a total flop. Probably why it got 0 likes and two comments, one of them your own.
I would give Amy higher grades than you. Bloomberg and Biden are done IMO. Mayor Pete and Amy are fighting for a VP slot.
Its a race between Liz and Bernie.
It's possible I'n harder on her than I should be but she's just never impressed me as an especially viable candidate. She's too much of an establishment Dem.