After last night’s snoozefest of political pandering – aka the pre-show of the “Woke Olympics,” the second half of the two-part first Democratic debate in Miami is set for tonight, and the prevailing wisdom is that there is more heft in this lineup than there was for Night One.
ICYMI, here is Caitlin Johnstone’s ‘summary’ of what happened last night…
Lester Holt: Hello and welcome to the Democratic Party presidential debates, where tonight ten people will pretend to be much further to the left than they actually are so that normal human beings will like them.
Savannah Guthrie: Our first question is for Senator Elizabeth Warren. Senator Warren, you have many plans for America. Many, many plans. Is this correct?
Elizabeth Warren: Yes that is correct. I have many plans to make things better, and Americans must come together and work together as Americans to make America America.
Savannah Guthrie: Thank you. Congressman O’Rourke, how do you feel about taxing the wealthy?
Beto O’Rourke: Me gustaría informar a todos que puedo hablar español.
Savannah Guthrie: Uhh… Okay?
Cory Booker: Hey I can speak Spanish too!
Savannah Guthrie: Yes, yes you both can speak Spanish. This next question is for Senator Warren. Senator, you have many plans for America. Do you think rich people should be allowed to feast on the flesh of poor people?
Elizabeth Warren: No. We should stop allowing rich people to eat poor people because there are laws against this and my plan is to enforce those laws.
Julián Castro: I can actually speak Spanish better than anyone here, so I pretty much win this debate.
Cory Booker: Yeah well I live in a poor neighborhood.
John Delaney: Well I think-
Lester Holt: You shut your whore mouth, Delaney. Senator Warren, we haven’t heard from you in a while. You’ve got lots of plans for America. Do you believe every American should have healthcare?
Elizabeth Warren: Yes, every American should be allowed to have healthcare.
Lester Holt: That’s beautiful. I love you.
Julián Castro: I pronounce Hispanic names correctly, too. Like, perfectly.
Bill de Blasio: May I just interrupt for a moment to say that I am a white guy who would like to be president?
Lester Holt: Yes, you may.
John Delaney: Can I?
Lester Holt: Fuck you, limp dick. Governor Inslee, you’re a white guy who wants to be president. How do you feel about a woman’s right to choose?
Jay Inslee: I basically invented it.
Amy Klobuchar: I would like to collect my identity politics points for him saying that please.
Cory Booker: The neighborhood I live in is rather poor actually.
Tulsi Gabbard: War is bad.
Tim Ryan: I also am in this debate.
Lester Holt: It’s time for a commercial break, but we’ll be back with more Elizabeth Warren after this.
~
Chuck Todd: Welcome back to the-
Microphones: Wakjbwoiwefnfboqnhunafkh bfkjdfnnikr hfbskjfbbhd giuvnmmhbfuui wnoerifiolsfni
Chuck Todd: Oops never mind, one more commercial break.
~
Chuck Todd: And we’re back! Senator Warren, you’ve got a lot of plans for America. Do you think it’s good for people to be murdered with guns, or bad?
Elizabeth Warren: It’s bad.
Chuck Todd: Brilliant. Congresswoman Gabbard, you have said that you hate gay people and you want them all to die and go to hell so you can urinate on their graves by the light of a blood moon. How, specifically, do you sleep at night?
Tulsi Gabbard: I do not hate gay people.
Chuck Todd: Right. Congressman O’Rourke, if I asked you a normal question in plain English, would you please give me a straight answer in response?
Beto O’Rourke: You know one of the most powerful pieces of art in the United States capital is the Trumbull painting of George Washington resigning his commission to the Continental Congress, at the height of his power submitting to the rule of law and the will of the people. That has withstood the test of time for the last 243 years, and some people say well does this mean that neoliberalism can’t work? And I always say you know what? We’re AmeriCANs, not AmeriCAN’Ts. I say we CAN come together, as Americans, as white Americans, as black Americans, as gay, trans and Latino Americans, and we can find a neoliberalism that works for all of us.
Chuck Todd: Please stop standing on top of your podium.
Cory Booker: I too can speak with lots of inspiring-sounding words. I speak them really intensely, like I’m trying to rip into your guts with my voice. I live in a poor neighborhood. People get shot. Shot right in the face. You people don’t even know.
Tim Ryan: I would like to use my small amount of time to argue for the indefinite occupation of Afghanistan because the Taliban attacked us on 9/11.
Tulsi Gabbard: They definitely did not.
Tim Ryan: You are the same as Donald Trump.
Rachel Maddow: So, who wants to Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia? Russia! RUSSIA! RUSSIA!!!
John Delaney: I would like to Russia Russia Russia-
Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd: SHUT THE FUCK UP, DELANEY.
Amy Klobuchar: You know, sometimes giving the rich and powerful people everything they want is the most progressive and revolutionary thing you can do.
Rachel Maddow: Okay we’re running out of time, so everyone quickly give your parting remarks.
Bill de Blasio: I am well-known and I have familiarized myself with the progressive-sounding things to say.
Tulsi Gabbard: I’m like a hundred percent certain I could take Mike Pompeo in a fair fight.
Tim Ryan: This is the weirdest Republican primary debate I’ve ever participated in.
Jay Inslee: I- wait, which one am I again?
Beto O’Rourke: Together, all things are possible in America, where our inspiration to thrive outweighs our differences and overcomes our obstacles, and I don’t know about you, but I believe we can all make positive changes and sail off together into the sunset in a sailboat on a field of wheat.
Julián Castro: Even the names of Central and South American countries. I pronounce them absolutely perfectly.
Amy Klobuchar: Klobuchar 2020! Together, we can make small, incremental changes or leave them the way they are if it’s too politically inconvenient!
Cory Booker: In my very poor neighborhood they call me Crazy Eyes. They say it’s because my eyes are so normal.
Elizabeth Warren: You cannot stop me. I am inevitable.
John Delaney: America-
Chuck Todd: And we’re out of time! Tune in tomorrow for more of the same with Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Iggy Silverstein, Jorp Japson, Merv Meebleton, and many other famous politicians!
But on to Night Two…
As Liberty Nation’s Joe Schaffer details below, while no one denies that Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are top dogs for now in the field of more than 20 candidates, a couple of other second-evening names also being thrown around as weighty still have much to prove.
Here are the ten candidates who will debate on Night Two:
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Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
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Kamala Harris (D-CA)
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Former Vice President Joe Biden
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Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, IN
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Michael Bennet (D-CO)
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Author Marianne Williamson
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Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
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Businessman Andrew Yang
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Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
Want To Be Big Time
Harris and Buttigieg have been touted for months as high-quality contenders for the Dem nomination, but is that really the case? Harris is a far weaker candidate than the media portray her, with substantial shortcomings that hint of future struggles to reach progressive voters on a national level. Her Chris Christie-like “tough prosecutor” theme does not jibe with leftists, who want to see radical criminal justice reform that includes severe reductions in incarceration rates. Moreover, Harris is hardly a star in her home state, the blue bastion of California. A 2018 Morning Consult poll foundthat 28% of state residents surveyed either didn’t know or had no opinion of her. This after she had been a sitting U.S. senator for over a year. Harris has hardly secured her own nest yet, much less made a dent on the national scene. Much as she would like to continue to be defined as a major player in the race, Harris hasn’t done much to move the needle. She doesn’t need a crowning moment in Miami, but Harris must show that there is far more to her campaign than she has shown up to this point.
Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg has the most to lose of all 20 candidates heading to South Florida. Outrageously favorable media coverage has largely disguised the fact that the small-town mayor has never won a statewide, much less national, election. He clearly feels his homosexuality is a huge selling point for a party in thrall to identity politics, yet the more he harps on the subject, the greater the danger that he will come across as a one-trick pony. He likes to talk about “values” and “vision” but hasn’t outlined these vague notions in terms of unique policy platforms that would justify voters seeking out a young local official with no significant accomplishments to hang his hat on. Buttigieg must cogently explain to a national audience just what it is that makes him a bold new option in this 2020 field. Based on what we’ve seen so far, however, we’re far more likely to get Hallmark Card platitudes than a serious discussion of the issues from the official Mr. Gay Midwesterner candidate.
Will Bernie Be A Tiger?
Biden and Sanders have a chance to take shots at each other if they so choose, though neither has to so early in the race. There will be other debates with smaller fields, and they will offer a better opportunity for personal skirmishes. That said, Sanders has a nice opening at Biden’s rib cage in light of recent media reports of Blue Collar Joe’s pampered political rock star lifestyle. The Washington Post reported on June 25 that Biden has earned millions since leaving the Obama administration. The paper says he charges up to $200,000 for some speeches and demands “Caprese salad and raspberry sorbet with biscotti for dessert” at all engagements he agrees to attend.
Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden
It’s not hard to goad Biden into gaffes, and needling him along these lines may prove profitable for Sanders, who can combine the assault with a renewed declaration of his commitment to working-class voters. Even if he chooses not to target Biden, Sanders will get to contrast his frumpy “democratic socialist” persona with Biden’s well-coiffed establishment figurehead standing to good effect in the eyes of progressive voters.
Not Much After That
The remaining six candidates on Night Two all will be seeking to increase their standing in the crowded field.
Gillibrand was supposed to be a top-shelf candidate, but her muddled campaign to date has done her enormous harm. Gillibrand has yet to find a progressive talking point that she won’t shamelessly pander to and has relentlessly flip-flopped on previous policy positions. Not only is her presidential campaign already on rocky ground, but the sheer incompetence she has displayed lends credence to rumors that her senatorial career may eventually be threatened as well, even though she is not up for re-election until 2024. It is somewhat shocking that a U.S. senator can so utterly fail to capitalize on the advantages that come with high office and run such a trite, meaningless campaign.
The two Coloradans in the race, Bennet and Hickenlooper, are afflicted with the same problem facing the lesser lights that make up most of the Night One field. Both tease now and again that they are more centrist than the rest, but when pushed on particular issues, they remain comfortably ensconced in the progressive Dem cocoon. Quite simply, there is no path for victory for smaller names that parrot the same party line that all the other candidates are already voicing.
Swalwell is the Bill de Blasio of Night Two. Abrasive, self-aggrandizing, and not likable, look for him to try to engineer some kind of contrived controversy in order to garner attention for himself. He will have his appointed time to talk, and then he will be largely forgotten.
Finally, there are the two outside-the-box long shots, Williamson and Yang. Both are running gimmicky campaigns, and it’s a shame to have to say that about Yang because it didn’t have to be that way. While his call for universal basic income has many drawbacks, Yang began his insurgent campaign by eloquently highlighting the most crucial debate topic of the 2020 election: the suffering of the American working and middle class. Unfortunately, the mercurial Yang was not disciplined enough to focus on this vital topic in a laser-like Ross Perot manner.
Instead, he veered off into insane policy positions on gun control and immigration reform and completely lost the momentum he initially generated with his strong critiques on giant, faceless corporations and the damage they do to local U.S. communities. Yang was never going to win the nomination, but it was hoped his presence on the dais could spur a much-needed conversation on the employment crisis facing too many Americans in this country. Those hopes have largely faded. Wellness guru Williamson has nothing to offer at all, and will instantly fade away after her brief moment in the spotlight.
Night Two then seems mostly to be about a Top Two and a Second Two. Whereas Biden and Sanders will see their fates affected more in later debates, Harris and Buttigieg must make some hay right now. If they do not, their names may very well be listed among the remaining dwarves who survive to move on to Round Two.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2YdxtKo Tyler Durden