The temperature is plunging. It is the last day of the bandwidth billing cycle and I still have almost four gigs left. So instead of hanging out at work to watch the Nov debate, I sped home to watch it cozy.I’m going to heat up some dinner and live-blog it. To the extent that this is a blog. To the extent that this is live.
MSNBC. Ten candidates. Maddow kicks it off with Impeachment. My notes only address the points that struck me as somewhat vivid in either direction, categorized by candidate and then listed in chronological order beneath each name.
***
Warren
–Billionaires. Sure they should exist, but I’m gonna milk ’em dry. (My thumb is up.)
–Your wacky housing question should be about equality, journalists.
–A peace corps for federal lands. (It’s fresh; I like it.)
–You wanna talk justice, Kam? How about student loan debt forgiveness?
–Lays down a good riff on the ‘border crisis’.
–She kills it on a trick question from the mods on abortion. She’s a smart woman.
Closing: The biggest problem of all is corruption. (I agree with her, except I’d say: greed at every level.) And fuck the fossil fools.
Klobuchar
–channels Walter Mondale and that fits … (Hey Amy. What do you think the percentage of people under 50 might be, who even know who Walter Mondale was?)
–Overturn Citizen’s United. Kill gerrymandering. Okay, I like you just a little bit now Amy.
–Identity politics. Vote for me ’cause I’m the senior woman.
–I’m liberal, especially toward pregnant women, but oh god I’m soooo fiscally conservative
–An even worse answer than Biden’s on foreign relations.
–When she takes shots, it’s at Pete on experience–trying to climb upwards at his expense looks like.
Closing: It’s about decency. It’s about patriotism. It’s about middle America. (It’s about over, AK.)
Sanders
–Calls Trump a pathological liar and then lets go of him, talking about shit that actually matters
–I wrote the damn bill again. Love you man. ‘The current healthcare system is cruel.’ You big pharma big insu leeches make me sick (that is not a quote).
–Makes a kind of socialist ‘silent majority’ argument. No one likes being poor and unloved. The divisions are superficial.
–Climate change is a problem NOW. The fossil fools are on the criminal damn hook.
–Did he go after Biden as an Iraq war supporter? Amen. But maybe I heard wrong.
–The Saudis are terrible, but Israel is just as bad. Hell yes.
–Voter empowerment, a multi-point plan, and bless you Bern.
Closing: I’m an immigrant just like the 11 million undocumented. Fuck SuperPACS. Join us.
Buttigieg
–Also passes by the Trump question in favor of more important things, and good on him for it
–I’m gay, short, and white, but I’m Obama, ‘kay? Except I’m poor and I don’t play golf, ‘kay?
–We need to move the war machine away from battleships and toward AI. Err … maybe, Pete.
–I know I have like three black votes nationwide right now, but I do want to be their friend, really.
–Slaps back righteous at Amy on experience. Good job.
–Doesn’t fare as well against Tulsi’s slap at him, and is much more disrespectful to her.
Closing: Let me shore up my black flank a minute here.
Biden
–Takes the bait re: Trump and says it’s all about electability. Uh-huh.
–Most Demo-cats don’t supported single-payer. (A blatant lie.)
–Takes a shot at ‘my friend’ Steyer on climate change. You’re making him look good, Joe.
–Wants to make the Saudis into pariahs, which is great, but I don’t believe him.
–Says he’s the pick of the litter for the black folks, and Booker and Harris laugh at him openly.
Closing: Remember that Obama guy? I’m an optimist too. I’m sick of mopes. Let’s make America great again. (Hoo Lord.)
Harris
–Says she’s about justice now; it’s her word over and over
–Rips into Tulsi as payback, and to prove she’s a obaman centrist
–‘for the people’ … but that ain’t fooling anyone
–I’m way more woman-liberal than Amy. No really.
–She says good things about America and respect, but Kama it’s not Trump alone that lost it.
–She says the Dems takes their own voters for granted, although she means blacks, not progressives.
Closing: The rule of law. The fight fight fight. And, er, unify. For the people. She strikes me as Photoshopped.
Booker
–Fuck your wealth tax, Liz. (Oh Cory. I wanted to like you. Your prosperity gospel is Oprah’s and that’s not a good thing.
–We’re going to fix your housing problem with tax credits and lawyers for renters.
–He bombs, in my opinion, a question about Hong Kong protests. But recovers okay, with a mention of Yemenis and Latin American kids at the border.
–Black voters are, quote, pissed off. And then he calls Joe high on the legalization question, oh my god that was great. The drug war is racist. (Okay I like you again just a little.)
Closing: It’s fiery and just, but a little disjointed too.
Gabbard (ignored til 25 minutes in and then targeted to defend her own tiff with Hillary. Not a good look MSNBC.)
–Yeah. Hillary’s evil because she’s about war. Suck it.
–Oil company subsidies are insane. Yes they are. Credible response to climate change.
–Springboards off Amy to smack at Pete, says Pete has advised sending troops into Mexico against the cartel.
Closing: I will respect you.
Steyer (ignored til 30 minutes in and then hammered with a personal question, about his wealth. Definitely not on team RachelMaddow either, it seems)
–I’m for term limits! These guys don’t care about term limits! (What the fuck.)
–I’m for housing, especially in California. (He does say sustainable and climate besides though, so that’s good.)
–I’m the only one on this stage who. No you’re not. You’re just not. Stop saying it. Please.
–Says smart things about voter disempowerment and tactics against it.
Closing: I’m different from everyone else! No Tom. You’re not. And to hell with your term limits.
Yang (ignored til 32 minutes in and then hammered with a personal question about his experience. Journalism!)
–Family leave. US and Papua New Guineau are the only countries without it. So … UBI.
–A very good joke at Trump’s expense. Quick thinker, this guy.
–A WTO for Data. Man I love the things he thinks about.
–White supremacists are terrorists, and we are (I paraphrase heavily) spiritually sick. Well said.
Closing: Our kids are not alright, and it’s our fault. Not even Donald Trump’s fault. (He rocked it.)
(Yang and Gabbard especially are getting shafted hard on opportunities early. Also: three of the top four in number of minutes allowed, before the first break, are the other three women. Tulsi is definitely getting structural hate.)
***
Headed to TYT for post-debate coverage first. They say:
Damn those four centrist woman moderators sure like their Amy K. (Agree. Not strongly.)
That Biden guy is wobbly, lost the debate, and Pete will benefit. (I guess.)
(I get bored quick and find that The Hill has some live-post on too. Here we are cheering the Bern, instead of concern-trolling the Biden. That’s a preferable prejudice to my ear. )
Bernie said a compassionate thing about Palestine. (Yes he did.)
Pete is outspending the next closest competitor 10 to 1 in Iowa, gambling a big chunk of his resources on one throw. It’s working, tactically, but whether it ends up being good for him strategically is unknowable.
The hate for Tulsi is palpable to Hill analysts too. They note something I didn’t–Kamala’s first line of attack on TG was that she spent four years criticizing Obama from the left. Maybe that explains the rage. Partly. It’s still mystifyingly vitriolic, to me.
They agree on the biases of the MSNBC mods too.
“This debate changed nothing.” (Yeah, more or less true.)
They echo TYT on Klobuchar being pumped up structurally (just the opposite what Tulsi got I’d say).
A Sanders spokesdrone takes a moment to say that Julian Castro was missed, and I think that was a gracious thing to say.
***
Okay. 3.25 hours in the bag and they’re done. Almost.
There were four people out of the ten up there that have any kind of shot at inspiring me. Cut four in half, because two of them are serious contenders and two of them are very dark horses. Cut two in half because one’s got my heart and my brain, and the other just has my brain.
There’s all the ranking that matters really.
Bonsoir.