Last night I watched the second night of the Democratic debate.  I’ll make this brief, because I agree with the following CNN article.

WINNERS

*Kamala Harris: The California Senator gave the strongest performance not just of Thursday night’s debate but of either nights’ debate. She was calm, poised, knowledgeable and, yes, presidential…

* Pete Buttigieg: If you knew nothing about Buttigieg going into Thursday night, you would have assumed from his performance that a) he was a senator or a governor who had been at this for a long time and b) a co-frontrunner with Harris in the race. That person would be stunned to learn that Buttigieg is currently the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and running at the back of the lead pack. He was serious, smart, thoughtful and probing. * Michael Bennet: Look, I don’t think that the Colorado senator is somehow going to shoot from 1% to relevance in the polls based on his performance in this debate. He wasn’t that good. But, for someone who a) no one knew going into this debate and b) had limited speaking opportunities to make his case, I thought Bennet performed well. Bennet’s incredulity with Biden’s belief that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would start working in a bipartisan way if the former vice president won the White House felt genuine — and was powerful. In short: Bennet came out of this debate looking better than he went into it. Which is a win.

LOSERS

*Joe Biden: Well, that went poorly. From the get-go, Biden seemed too rigidly attached to his stump speech and his talking points. He struggled to fit his points into the 60-second time limit. He got defensive — as we predicted — when Harris pushed him on his comments about segregationist Sen. James Eastland and his opposition to school busing and quite clearly lost the back and forth. Badly.

* Bernie Sanders: The Vermont senator learned a tough lesson Thursday night: Debating nine people as one of the frontrunners for the nomination is a very different beast than debating a single, establishment frontrunner when you are the freewheeling insurgent. Rather than passionate, Sanders came off as just plain loud. Rather than committed, he came across as repetitive. And, even worse, there were large periods of the debate where Sanders seemed to just plain disappear…

* Marianne Williamson: Watching the author and spiritual adviser on the debate stage reminded me of my own experience playing high school basketball: Hopelessly out of her league…

* Andrew Yang: Yang’s online army insisted that this first debate would be his break-out moment — a chance to push his message of the dangers of automation to the general public. The only thing that evoked automation was Yang; in the few moments when he spoke, he sounded like a robot.

* Eric Swalwell: You know that guy in high school who has a catchphrase? And, the first time you hear it, you’re like “That’s not bad!” But by the time he says it for the 30th time before lunch, you have to fight down the urge to vomit in your mouth? That’s Eric Swalwell and “pass the torch.”…

Inserted from <CNN>

I think that the only Kirsten Gellibrand was not included with the winners is that the moderators gage her so little time.

To watch the entire debate, click here.

Here are Key Moments from the NY Times.

At least they agreed on the need flush Putin’s Pervert. Biden’s deference to home rule on busing looks all too Republican. Slam dunk for Harris.

Here are some awkward moments from the Washington Post.

“My time’s up?” Biden surrendered and ducked.

I think Rachel Maddow was shell shocked.

I disagree with Rachel. Biden did back down by saying “I’m out of time,” when he could not answer Harris.

What did you think?

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

Last Night, I watched the first night of the first Democratic Debate.  The only negative performance, came from DeBlazio, who was aggressive and rude.  Most of the 2nd tier candidates did little to distinguish themselves.  The biggest exceptions were Inslee and Castro.  Among the top tier, both Klobuchar and Booker held their ground.  O’Rourke’s performance was weak.  But the hands down winner was Warren.  She was a rock star, but she did make one major mistake.

Elizabeth Warren came into Wednesday night’s debate as the candidate to watch most closely, the only one of the 10 onstage who had double-digit support in polls, with an apparent momentum that none of those rivals could claim.

Her performance over two hours in Miami probably strengthened that position.

During the first hour, Warren was crisper than most of her peers. She was clearer. I didn’t always like what she said. But she said it well, leaving no doubt about the direction in which she’d pull the country and giving voters a fair amount of detail, within the crushing constraints of time, about the map that she’d use to travel there.

Warren left no doubt, too, about the great villains in American life, at least in her view: “giant corporations.” She said the phrase repeatedly, with force and derision, and she never strayed far from it, framing just about every ill in American life as something caused or exacerbated by greed.

She has bet her entire bid for the presidency on that argument’s resonance with American voters, and on Wednesday night she doubled, tripled and quadrupled down. Elizabeth Warren was unswervingly true to Elizabeth Warren, which is precisely why she has caught fire and why she’ll continue to burn relatively bright. Her passion and confidence should petrify Bernie Sanders, whose song she sings better than he does…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Warren’s mistake was making Medicare for All mandatory.  That may keep Sanders from getting to her, but Big Insurance, Big Pharma, and the Republican Reich millions on adds that Democrats are taking away voters’ insurance.  She should adjust her position to Medicare for All Who Want it, while also making it available for Companies to and Unions to pay premiums for employees and members.  Private Insurance would soon be reduced to supplemental policies and advantage plans.

Here’s a link to the entire debate.

Here’s Key Moments from the NY Times.

Here’s Best One Liners from the Washington Post.

Here’s coverage from MSNBC.

I shared my take.  What’s yours?

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!