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Thread: Looking for SLN Pundits on the Democratic Debate

  1. #1
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Looking for SLN Pundits on the Democratic Debate

    I've been traveling for 4 days straight on little sleep and it appears I can't do what I used to do because I hit a wall at home last night and crashed at 8:30pm, missing the Democratic debates.

    Looking for analysis and reviews.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  2. #2
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    Biden gaffed on the number of black female Senators in the presence of the one he failed to count.

    Rachel Maddow seemed sort of obsessed with impeachment, on which there seemed little difference of opinion among the candidates.

    Harris attacked Gabbard for appearing on Fox News too much and acquiring Fox News cooties.

    The pack didn’t attack Mayor Pete to the extent I expected, despite his current strong showing in Iowa polls. Perhaps because they saw that his poor numbers with black voters meant he wasn’t a long term threat.

    There seemed to be something of a belief in the magical powers of the presidency to create legislation, assign pariah status to other nations or direct the economy. I kept thinking of Mr Obama’s admonition about rooting plans in reality.

  3. #3
    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    I thought it was interesting watching the remaining candidates try to advance or at least hold their ground in a venue that may have been the lowest rated news event of the day after two full days of impeachment hearings.

    Elizabeth Warren continued her pledge to lighten rich peoples pockets of undeserved coin and stayed on point even after Cory Booker reminded her that the Democratic Party should stop their war on the rich and start promoting ways for everyone to enhance their wealth as well. She also seems to have abandoned her numbers challenged Medicare For All plan since it didn't seem to come up and no one thought to ask her for an update. She and Bernie seem to be competing for the same party demographic but it seems to me that Bernie has better charisma so I'm not sure she can keep her recent gains as the campaign continues.

    Kamala Harris continued her recent attempts to come off as a down-home candidate but it didn't seem to help her much. She went after Tulsi Gabbard but seemed to wish she'd left that stone unturned before Tulsi's response was completed. The highlight of her night was being forgotten by Joe Biden during his recitation of black, female senators which didn't include her.

    Joe Biden continued reminding us that he either wrote or went out of his way to support every piece of popular legislation ever produced. I didn't know whether to be impressed with his single handed accomplishments or doubt his every word. It actually made me think of Ultralight's irritating 'OK Boomer' antics, I suddenly understood why that sort of slight becomes popular. I thought he may get some grief today about his use of the term 'punching' when describing his monumental protection of domestic violence victims, but maybe no one else noticed. I went into the debate thinking someone would surely congratulate him on his just discovered 15 month old grandchild but the group as a whole seemed to be much more polite with each other than they are to the average Republican.

    Pete Boot-edge-edge seemed smooth and polished as usual but I was amused to see a flash of anger in his eyes during an exchange with Tulsi Gabbard, he got control of himself right away and continued his calm, cool facade. Someone, somewhere once wrote that Mayor Pete 'had all the right words', and he still does. I suspected the recent revelation that a good portion of the Democratic base had problems with his being gay might come up, but it didn't. I guess no one else wants to admit that's even a problem within their party and I don't blame them.

    Amy Klobuchar worried me. I was immediately fixated with the fact that she appeared to be shaking uncontrollably from every camera angle as she spoke. Her hair actually seemed to be vibrating, and as a result I don't remember anything she had to say.

    As I mentioned in real time on another thread, Cory Booker had what I considered to be his true 'I am Spartacus' moment when he challenged Senator Warrens fixation on confiscating wealth. He also made a point of reminding us that Mayor Pete wasn't the only Rhodes scholar on the stage. Other than those two memorable exchanges, I found his other contributions to be boring.

    Bernie was his typical charming curmudgeon self. I don't recall him saying anything we haven't heard from him at least a thousand times.

    I'm confused as to why Andrew Yang is still in the running. I can understand Tom Steyer since he's spent roughly $300M of his own money in self promotion, but I don't see either of them as viable candidates. On second thought, I guess self-promotion may explain both of their presence in the field.

    Tulsi Gabbard held her own when Mayor Pete and Senator Harris went after her, but she seems like Vice President material at best to me.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Alan, your analysis pretty much sums it up.

  5. #5
    Yppej
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    Biden was bumbling and ineffective so Bloomberg is probably more likely to get in though late entrants have problems. (Deval Patrick decided to have his own event in Atlanta and only two people showed up.)

    There was not enough discussion of foreign policy, though Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders did get to make a few non-interventionist points briefly and demonstrated concern not just for Americans but other human beings around the world. At least we didn't have to hear the same health care topic already hashed out endlessly in previous debates.

    Kamala Harris attacked Gabbard for appealing to other than core Democratic Party voters. Some reviewers said Harris had her best debate yet, but I felt the positive audience reaction was due to the Atlanta locale. I find her hectoring tone and habit of seeming highly enamored with her own words very annoying.

    Gabbard went after Hillary Clinton and the other machine Democrats and she and Buttigieg briefly tussled over the US sending military forces to Mexico to fight the cartels.

    Booker called out Biden for opposing legalization of marijuana since the war on drugs has been waged in a racially discriminatory manner.

    Amy Klobuchar is trying to pick up the women's issues mantle Kirsten Gillibrand used to wear.

    Yang was personable and had a sense of humor and Booker was personable even when on the offensive, maybe because no one was going after him. Steyer and Buttigieg both seemed scripted and didn't offer anything new. Warren also stuck to her script but didn't have a robotic delivery.

    The app was awful and kept going out and sometimes rewinding and repeating itself once or twice.

    Edited to add: Warren did vow to not reward bundlers with ambassadorships a la Gordon Sondland but no one else would take the pledge.
    Last edited by Yppej; 11-22-19 at 5:29am.

  6. #6
    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    The most frequently used phrase in tonight's debate: Millionaires and Billionaires

    My take-away: They don't like em!
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

  7. #7
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    I actually thought it was a good debate. It's interesting, however, watching the Democratic debates with a Trump-loving DH. I seriously need a glass of wine and some solitude right now.

    I thought that the smaller stage with 7 contenders really helped some shine. I still love Bernie. Elizabeth is a copy. Joe did better than he did in past debates. Pete got reamed by the women, but gave it back effectively. I like Amy--she was not bad.. There was point where they all were doing the politically cloying thing, but it wasn't excessive. I like Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang, especially Yang. His extemporaneous response after being the first to respond after Judy Woodruff's off the wall Christmas ask was great.

    Overall, pretty entertaining. My opinion of Bernie is the same, my opinion of Amy, Tom, and Andrew might have nudged up a tad; my opinion of Liz and Pete might have gone down a tad, and Joe is just Joe.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  8. #8
    Yppej
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    Steyer and Buttigieg seemed rehearsed, Sanders to a lesser degree (he talked about things like Palestinians that are not rehashes of his stump speeches), Warren still couldn't get traction on let's not sell ambassadorships even from self-proclaimed reformers like Steyer, Biden was boring but less bumbling than in other debates, maybe because the attacks were now focused on Buttigieg. Yang was refreshing - stayed on topic, answered the questions, was specific, and didn't run over his time. I would love to see him debate Trump. Klobuchar made points she has not previously while still sticking to her themes. The two women both said they would ask for forgiveness whereas all five men said they would give a gift, maybe an indication of how we are socialized by gender - women to be agreeable and not offend, men to be confident like they are God's gift, in this case not to women but to the nation.

  9. #9
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    The two women both said they would ask for forgiveness whereas all five men said they would give a gift, maybe an indication of how we are socialized by gender - women to be agreeable and not offend, men to be confident like they are God's gift, in this case not to women but to the nation.
    Very interesting observation. Boy, if those two women still play by those rules, what hope is there for the rest of us?
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    My husband voted for trump but told my son last night he is a moron. It will be interesting to see who he votes for next time. I assumed last election he voted independent. I never asked who he voted for and actually wish he had never told me. The hatred of Hillary was that great. I don’t understand it.

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