The Debate

What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where Bernie Sanders has a heart attack and comes back stronger than ever?

One in which Elizabeth Warren is busy snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The best line of the night?

When Bernie said what the people want, that 71% want Medicare For All.

It is about the voters, right? That Trumps all the triangulation, right?

And speaking of Trump, Warren was so busy worrying about future Republican attacks that she wouldn’t admit Medicare For All would raise people’s taxes. Yes, it would be a net win, but when you can’t answer a direct question over and over again…

You lose your credibility.

And that was Warren’s key.

Does she think we can’t do math? Have Republicans toxified the word “tax” to the point where no one can utter it? Our country runs on taxes, taxes are good. As for government waste…every business has waste, Amazon built distribution infrastructure and then tore it down when it was clear there was a better solution. The government can’t even throw out food. As for the private sector always doing better, how about those for-profit prisons, incentivized to house offenders, with less oversight than publicly-owned prisons with no profit motive. Some things just should not be in the private sector.

So Tulsi was labeled a favorite of the right in the NYT and she can’t get over it. Then she immediately starts talking about the downsides of impeachment and I think the NYT is right. She’s toast, she’s got to go.

As for Amy Klobuchar… I can’t put my finger exactly on why she bugs me. She’s a self-satisfied nerd. It’s like Lil Nas X saying he’s the great hope for saving music. Huh?

Beto’s got to go. He has no chance of winning.

Castro barely talked, kick him off the stage.

Kamala… She tried to attack Warren, as she did Biden in that previous debate, but it turned out Warren was on her side, made Kamala look bad.

Buttigieg. He lifted himself up to the top, surviving tier. He’s young, he’s educated, he’s smart…it’s just that he can’t run the police department of his own damn town, he can’t run on his experience.

Steyer?

Too late, sorry. And no charisma to boot. So you made your money in banking, why should we listen to you? Why don’t you add something to society, build something, create something other than wealth.

Yang?

He talks about the future when no one else does. He’s the antidote to grandpa Biden. Yang knows what’s going on, but that’s about all he knows, he’s got ideas but no experience. I mean why him, just because he’s a rich young techie? Zuckerberg is a rich young techie, he knows what’s going on, do you want him to run the country?

Biden was better.

But he faded. Like he ran out of gas. He started misusing words, stumbling, and while he was busy running on his past…

Sanders zinged him and told him it was about the future.

As for Warren… She didn’t warm up until the end, when most people had given up watching. I mean this debate was an endurance test, you really didn’t miss anything, but the problem is most people watch from the beginning and that’s when Elizabeth refused to admit Medicare For All would involve raising taxes. Isn’t this what we hate about politicians? The duplicity, the dishonesty, the slipperiness?

Which leaves us with Bernie.

Sanders was speaking English. He didn’t pull any punches. He was busy telling the truth. He didn’t blink, he’s not only for Medicare For All, he’s willing to own the process when Warren just talks about people going bankrupt. Bernie gets to the heart of the matter…the damn corporations who are ripping us off.

Biden can’t run because he can’t win. And his son stepping down in China just makes him look guilty. Illustrating, once again, that Biden doesn’t know how to play the game, he’s full of missteps.

Warren’s got to recharge, she’s got to plug herself back into the Tesla supercharger and realize it’s an uphill fight, that nothing really counts until you win the Presidency.

As for Bernie… Sure, he had a heart attack, but he was on his game. He shouted less, he was coherent, all his neurons were firing…

This is why Sanders did so well in 2016. Being honest. Speaking to the human condition in America today. Warren came out removed. In Bernie you saw someone who’s been fighting for the little guy from day one.

But being President means you’ve got to get along with everybody else to get things done. This has not been Bernie’s strong point, certainly not in the Senate.

But one thing’s for sure, no one on stage looked like a sure shot against Trump. Bernie was the only one with any believable zest. Biden got hot under the collar and pounded his fist on the lectern and you reacted, who is this old guy who is out of control?

Trump goes for the hearts and minds of his base, he speaks directly to them.

The only person speaking to the voters tonight was Bernie. Will it bring him back into the race?

All I know is these candidates have to pull themselves up into the national debate. If you’re running for President, weigh in on the shenanigans in D.C. Give Warren credit, she’s stood up against Trump and his crap from the beginning. But when she talked about the number of selfies she’d shot… We hate it when out of touch oldsters try to be young and hip. She’d have been better off talking about the number of likes she had on Instagram, nowhere online do they count the number of selfies.

It was disillusioning.

But on the other side of the aisle, the trials and tribulations of Trump and Rudy…

It’s absolutely horrifying.

P.S. If I’ve forgotten anybody that just means they’ve got to go. (Oh yeah, Booker…SAYONARA!)