WOW. Just... wow. Bloomberg had everything to gain from this debate. He could have instantly become the favorite. Instead, he completely crapped the bed. It will go down as one of the worst debate performances by an individual in American political history. It was that bad.
Good night for Liz and Bernie and even Biden. Too much in-fighting from the other moderates.
If the moderates want to win, they need to coalesce behind a single candidate. Who should that be? Biden? Warren? Buttigieg? Bloomberg?
“Spotty”? Bloomberg was skewered by Warren. A righteous slaughter. Hell yeah!
Trump and his team likely couldn't be happier seeing what they saw from this debate. Arguments about capitalism versus socialism, moderates unable to settle on one candidate and overall squabbling are music to the Make America Great Again crowd's ears. A long, drawn-out nomination contest — which everyone is now expecting — helps the president. The longer the prize is in play, the longer it takes for Democrats to focus on Trump, build the needed infrastructure for a national campaign and raise the necessary money to win. Trump got some good news out of the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll: 41% say the country is headed in the right direction, which is the highest in eight years of the poll; Trump has a 44% approval rating among registered voters; 54% approve of his handling of the economy; and 66% say the economy is working well for them personally. With those improving numbers and Democratic infighting, Trump and his team are liking their chances. This is such a depressing section to read knowing how true it is.6. The person all of this helps the most is Trump.
I think the author is in the minority in that most of the lazy disengaged American public knows very little about most of the candidates, and that for as information-lite and vacuous the debates are, they NEED the debates because that pittance is an order of magnitude more information about the candidates then they will bother to acquire without them. I knew who all these people were, and I knew where they stood. I didn’t NEED this debate. In fact, I was gonna launch into a whole spiel on this very website about how Debates Are Worthless.
https://discord.gg/ERN3Bk Perhaps I can make this appear in anyone's userpage that has a hubwheel. Not sure how I feel about discord though. I should consider building an on site chat box. That'd be a fun exercise.
Gross. Why even force me to consider that option. I would like to take this opportunity to note that I have been happily repeating the slogan " Vote Blue, no matter who! City, state and federal too!" Since last election. Whenever the DNC anoints their choice I will vote for them it's a foregone conclusion. Even if its Bloomberg.
I've been getting the distinct sense that Warren is triangulating for VP candidate. I think she recognizes that Sanders has the momentum but is unpalatable to establishment Dems while the Sanders camp is at "SANDERS ALWAYS but okay fine if we have to we'll stomach Warren". Warren's performance was the archetypal "I'm only the VP so I'm allowed to go off leash" debate. She cut into a lot of people but she only gave Sanders flesh wounds. I think she's still gunning for the nomination but I suspect she'd totally link up with the Sanders camp if that's what it took to get the superdelegates to be okay with a Sanders presidency.
I think Warren has to be President or remain in the Senate. As VP she would be too far outside of the policy-making machine that she is so good at. Bernie is all hat and no cattle... he has never gotten any serious legislation passed. He is a compelling speaker and an incredibly principled person. As VP he could take on the Big Picture issues and sway public opinion - as he has been doing in his campaign - but leave the practical aspects of the lawmaking to the people who have done it so well for so long. Warren is the wonk. Bernie is the message. Then we make Adam Schiff the leader of the Senate once Moscow Mitch is unelected by his constituency, and we can Get Some Shit Done, FDR-style.