FINALLY there were some fireworks on the debate stage, they started early and never really stopped. We had Warren vs. Everyone, Everyone vs. Bloomberg, Bernie vs. Pete, Pete vs. Amy. Gut reaction Bernie Sanders is the winner, not because he had the best performance (he didn’t) but because Bloomberg & Biden would’ve been better served not showing up at all and because Warren, Pete, & Amy went at each other a lot. This is by far the most likely debate to shift the race as I could see it hurting Bloomberg and it will definitely shake-up the Pete/Amy/Warren tier. My gut take rankings on each person’s performance goes:
- Warren
- Sanders
- Amy
- Pete
- Biden
- Bloomberg
Warren went scorched earth on nearly everyone tonight and if she’s gonna get results it’ll be because of a performance like that. Bernie is also a winner cause he handled himself well while letting everyone else fight it out. Pete and Amy both had decent debates but I’m putting Amy first because 1. it was hilarious that you could tell Amy was envisioning hitting Pete with anything and everything she had on the podium all night and 2. her line saying something like he just memorizes talking points because he lacks real experience was by far the best line either of them had all night. Bloomberg obviously last because…well you saw it…..and if you didn’t just imagine everyone going for the jugular off the jump, him getting booed, and well just basically worst case scenario. NBC’s weren’t as bad as I assumed but still waiting for the Democratic Debates have questions framed from a left-wing perspective. Maybe next time
Random Thoughts
Michael Bloomberg made his debut tonight and was immediately attacked by everyone on the stage. They went after him over stop & frisk, sexual harassment, buying his way into the race, supporting Bush, being against Obamacare, the list goes on and on. But i think what hurt him the most when Warren and Biden went after him on the NDAs. They (rightly) called out that Bloomberg could release these people from the NDAs and all he had to say was he was protecting a consensual contract or some nonsense like that. Bloomberg was getting shit on all night and if you remember that the he bought his way onto the stage….that means tonight was officially the most he’s ever spent to get shit on………..since his last trip to Epstein’s Island of course.
The other big story of the night was Elizabeth Warren going nuclear. Mike Bloomberg is the best thing to ever happen to her campaign. I don’t know why she doesn’t have this same energy all the time. She’s at her best when she’s going after corruption not when she’s picking stupid fights. Her campaign is still in trouble but she might’ve done enough to get the results she needs in Nevada and South Carolina. But if she doesn’t, at least she went down kamikaze style and left everything out on the stage and that makes me like/respect her more.
Joe Biden needed some of the energy Warren had tonight. He is making his last stand in South Carolina and he disappeared multiple times in the debate. (I still can’t believe I lost my bet for Biden least speaking time) He only had a few moments today where he looked lost mid sentence, which is a solid night on the Biden Curve, but besides attacking Bloomberg early he had nothing close to memorable. After that performance, it looks like he’s in danger of not finish top 2/3 in Nevada and that could end up killing his campaign before he can make his “last stand”.
Bernie Sanders clearly dislikes Mayor Pete and he does not hide it well. He loves pointing out Pete’s billionaire donors and how it affects his positions. It seems like an effective attack and Pete even showed his hypocrisy on stage multiple times. He’s said he thinks its smart for Bernie to embrace democratic socialism, praised Denmark tonight (a model country for many of Sanders’ plans) but also in the same debate talks about how worried he is about the electability of socialism and how bad/divisive Sanders’ plans are. Sanders/Warren would be well served to keep attacking Pete over his donors and his hypocrisy….It must hurt Pete to have his high school hero have visible disdain for him…but I know, between Bernie and Amy, it gave Pete some PTSD tonight cause it looked like he was at risk of being shoved into a locker numerous times tonight.
There was a lot of words flying back and forth between Warren, Pete & Amy which makes sense since they are fighting for survival to and past Super Tuesday. When I wrote the debate preview I compared the race between these 3 to a scene in The Dark Knight when the Joker does some recruiting and I don’t mean to pat myself on the back toooo hard buttttt I think it’s a near perfect comparison.
The questions for the debate weren’t as bad as I was expecting but of course there was the mandatory fear-mongering over socialism. Sanders gave a good rebuttal talking about socialism for the rich and I have seen him give better answers when he has more time. Plus it doesn’t seem to be too big an issue since he won the 1st 2 contests, leads in the polls, and 70% of people in exit polls in IA & NH supported Medicare For All. As much as it physically hurts me to type this (and I never thought I’d say this)……..I have to give Chuck Todd credit for a good question. Please stop booing…..Don’t get me wrong….he still sucks. But when he asked about a contested convention it was verrrryyyyy telling that every other candidate besides Bernie was cool with superdelegates choosing the nominee. After 2016 you’d think every candidate would want less of the DNC involved, less superdelegates but apparently not. It’s almost as if they see that as their only chance to win.
District of Clowns 