I spent much of Tuesday not-so-quietly freaking out about Coronavirus and how America is not prepared for any kind of pandemic/major health crisis. The White House isn’t doing much to allay my fears either. Then at 8 pm, I gave myself a healthy dose of Nyquil, slept for eight hours and I feel so much better, in general. But I did miss last night’s Dem Debate! So what happened? Did Joe Biden yell at a cloud? Did Elizabeth Warren take out a baton and physically kneecap Mike Bloomberg? Did Bernie Sanders further explore his rape fantasies on stage? This was truly the first tweet I saw about the debate:
Sen. Warren has convinced me that Bernie isn't that worrisome. He'll never get anything done. SHE'S the freak who will show up with 17 idiotic plans every day and keep everyone up until it gets done.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 26, 2020
That… is basically an ad for Liz Warren from Ann Bloody Coulter. It’s part of the media-branding on Warren too – cable news journalists love to lament how no one is talking about “the issues” and “no one has a plan,” but then Warren comes in with a million plans, and she’s super-organized and then everyone is like “ugh, how boring, let’s just talk about the dudes.” I wonder why that is. Meanwhile, the coverage seems to suggest that it was a massive pile-on Bernie Sanders:
The debate kicked off with a question about whether Sanders’s brand of Democratic Socialism could be trusted to uphold a strong economy, giving the rest of the stage the opportunity give their reasoning for why Sanders would be a risky nominee. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg told Sanders that “Russia is helping you get elected so you’ll lose to [Donald Trump],” which Pete Buttigieg piggy-backed on, saying that Russia “want[s] chaos, and chaos is what’s coming our way.” “Imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump,” Buttigieg said. “Think about what that will be like for this country.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden went after Sanders’s history of opposing the anti-gun violence Brady Bill (which Sanders later suggested was one of the “bad votes” he’s made in the Senate), invoking the 2015 mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. “I’m not saying he’s responsible for the nine deaths [in that shooting], but that man would not have been able to get that weapon if the waiting period had been what I suggested,” Biden said. The former veep also took on Sanders for criticizing Barack Obama during his presidency, pointing out that Sanders “said we should primary Barack Obama, someone should, and that in fact his administration was weak and not up to it.” “Look folks, let’s talk about progressive, progressive is getting things done, and that’s what we got done,” Biden said, later emphasizing that “Bernie hasn’t passed much of anything.”
The candidates also pointed out that if Sanders is the head of the Democratic Party’s ticket, the Democrats’ House majority is in real danger and we’re not winning back the Senate either. Which… is actually a really strong argument, and I wish every Democrat was making this argument around the clock. If Sanders is the nominee, not only will Trump “win” re-election, but we’ll lose the House and the Senate. And the courts. And everything else.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Repubs hate people with plans who know how to do their jobs. This is why they’re so terrible at governance.
Btw, off topic, but… I found my party was switched to Repubs when I got my mail in ballot. Vom.
It’s critical to keep checking your voter registration between now and election. 2018 showed us that in many places these were problems that could not be fixed as you stand at your polling place ready to cast your vote. Check early and often online. Do it before your primary too.
On my pre-voting ballot, you pick your party affiliation on the same sheet you cast your vote. I could have voted Republican or Democrat but had to pick one and the vote had to match the party or would be discounted.
I hope there are so many more people watching and getting ready to vote than just the really loud voices.
Out of curiosity, does it matter if it says Republican but you vote Democrat? Why is it on there at all?
In the primary only party affiliates get to vote for their candidate of choice to represent the party in the general election. In the general election you can vote for anyone regardless of party affiliation.
@Lua, I know in Maryland you can only vote in the primary if you are a registered Democrat (only for a Democrat) or Republican (only for a Republican). I know every state is different and thus creates even more chaos but its one of the many reasons the primaries don’t always give us the best candidates and I really wish it was different.
In Texas you just have to register to vote but you don’t have to choose a party. I live in California and we have to choose a party we affiliate with, which is complete bullsh!t!
Voting laws need to be changed and make every state the same and easier to work with.
Stupid: Not just for Cheetolini! Cryptkeeper Coulter wants in on it too!
What is wrong with EW? Why is she wasting her time going after MB instead of Bernie. I cannot for the life of me understand what she is thinking. It’s all good for her base that she’s taking down the billionaire women hater but what is she getting out of it, she is still in single digits. IMO, she will not win the primaries unless she stop Bernie. Get it together EW.
Watched the debate and she took a few hard stabs at Bernie. Check Twitter, let me see if I can find it…
https://www.instagram.com/tv/B9AyG2mHazT/?igshid=kl4lbjt2xlr3
She basically kneecapped Bloomberg, which was desperately needed. Don’t forget how high he was in the polls before his first debate.
Yes, she took MB down but what is she gaining. Bernie is the one she needs to take down, he’s leading now. Bernie the one she needs to go after. Bloomberg is not who her focused should be on. I will not vote for Bernie, I’ll vote down ballots if Bernie is the nominee. Why is Elizabeth afraid to attack Bernie??
BnAfn: I dislike Sanders with every fiber of my being but will choke down my bile and vote for him if he’s the nominee. I urge you to reconsider your position of only voting down ballots if for no other reason than this: our dear RBG may not make it through another presidential term. Can you imagine if Trump is able to appoint another justice?
I think her team has convinced her that, since there is overlap in the demographics, if she goes on extended attacks on Bernie it will anger those people and they’ll cling even tighter to him. Whereas if she attacks Bloomberg, it may sway over Bernie voters who don’t think he’s showing at all how he’ll compete against Trump.
But all the campaigns are in the same boat right now – mention Bernie in any negative way, and his rabid cultists will attempt to rip our their throats, while insulting their appearance, gender, sexuality, and romantic partners. Because that’s the sort of support he has.
They’re right. The Bernie Bros will not vote for her if she goes after him completely.
I think it makes sense for her not to attack Sanders as they do share a lot of ideas and did work together on lots of things. I just can’t understand how people can have Elizabeth Warren on the ballot and not vote for her.
Especially when the other option is Bernie Sanders!! Warren has all of the same ideas as Sanders, but with actual concrete plans to make them work. She plays well with others, which means she might actually have a shot at getting some things done. And she’s not an asshole. It is baffling that so many prefer the 80 year old, just had a heart attack, constantly yelling white dude over her.
She’s not going to win, especially with the fake heritage scandal rearing up again, so she’s probably hoping for an eventual cabinet position.
I’m a Warren voter. But why can no one admit that Bernie is winning, he is the most wanted by the democratic party? I didn’t want to admit it but the numbers don’t lie. Now is not the time to fight against what the public clearly wants.
A couple of reasons: we don’t know the extent to which Republicans have voted for or will vote for him in the primary to screw us, the field is artificially large (Bloomberg, Steyer, Klobuchar and likely Buttigieg have no business sucking up votes). And we don’t know the extent to which Russia has helped Bernie. Again. Since they helped him in 2016 and he’s known for the last month they were helping him again.
Agree, Ans. It’s not just BernieBros voting for Sanders. He is genuinely popular with a lot of Democrats, that’s why he’s running. The panic here is so weird.
I love Warren, and I want her to win. But Sanders is my next choice, based on policy. Their policies are so similar. If she doesn’t win, I want him to choose her as VP.
I respectfully disagree. That’s what the primary process is all about — voting for the candidate EACH of us feels is best for the job. If we’re going to anoint someone after only 3 small, mostly-white states have weighed in, well, heck, why not just cancel the remaining primaries? (Sarcasm.) It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
‘he is the most wanted by the democratic party?”
I don’t think that is supported by facts. You essentially have 2 lanes: the extreme left and the moderates. All of the extreme left (about 25-30% of the Democratic party voters) support Bernie. The moderates are the majority, but their support has been splintered among 5 candidates (Biden, Buttigieg, Steyer, Klobuchar, Bloomberg).
He isn’t the most wanted by the “democratic party”, he’s the most wanted of the extreme left of the party.
Coulter needs to slither back under her rock.
Well I did watch, and here’s what I thought: there was finally some actual pushback to Bernie, who seemed shocked that he was booed over his castro/dictator fascination, Biden probably had his best nite with foreign affairs and contrasting the Obama preparedness for pandemic with the nonsense being spouted now; Bloomberg needs a new joke writer; Steyer shouldn’t be there; Klobuchar did make good points about rural health care; unfortunately Warren went one too many times with same thing against Bloomberg, and continues to be too silent regarding Bernie and I thought it was her weakest debate; Mayor Pete was like the calm in the storm and was the only one to stress how important house races are or nothing gets done. Biden and mayor Pete get a plus from me, and I’m glad Bernie got rattled. For the record, I’ve contributed to both Elizabeth and Pete.
I think Klobuchar, Bloomberg and Steyer need to drop out. It is beyond time for the herd to be thinned. They are putting ego over reality at this point.
I’m tired of the talking point that a bullish stock market and soaring real estate prices means a strong economy. 50% of Americans don’t even own stock. And the proliferation of $15 an hour service jobs isn’t going to help anyone buy a house in the majority of the county. Unfortunately I don’t think Warren stands a chance regardless of who she goes after. Populism rules right now and. Bernie and trump fit the bill.
I agree but many people do own stock via their 401k and retirees care. Old farts will vote for trump in droves.
It was the same with Hillary. She was looked down upon and mocked for being “too prepared” and a policy wonk. I will never not be angry over what happened in 2016.
Al Gore was too much of a policy wonk for many also. Me, I love me some.
With the destruction of our federal agencies over the past 3 years, we really need a good policy wonk right now.
And you would think people have learned and realized that but…..look at where we are. *sigh*
Yes! I work for a federal agency & have many friends in public service, and we are all appalled at what’s been happening.
People don’t realize it until they actually have to deal with it. Few of us interact with the federal government on a regular basis. We get a social security card when we’re young and don’t contact SSA again until we’re approaching eligibility for retirement and Medicare. We file with the IRS and get a refund or write a check but there’s little interaction for the most part. Maybe someone in the family gets VA services. Maybe we get called to a federal jury, rare. Maybe a Census worker rings our doorbell once a decade. Trump has destroyed these agencies and so many more. I now have my congressional rep’s constituent services director as one of my most frequent contacts because of problems a family elder has had with Social Security and the IRS. It can take nearly 2 years to get a disability determination hearing and just as long to get the decision. We had to get 3 Representatives, from 2 states, and 2 Senators involved to get a veteran’s marker for my Dad’s grave because the VA didn’t respond for over a year, after confirming to the cemetery that our paperwork was good. Our State Department is essentially skeleton staff and their main job now seems to be hosting Ivanka for her lavish world tour. We have had the highest rate of children’s deaths due to the flu in our history this year. He directs money away from everything to pay for the Fence of Hatred. He is destroying us.
Instead of simply forgiving student loans, let’s talk about ridiculous University costs. I paid a $400 mandatory activity fee every semester as a part-time student, and I lived off campus.
Why not both?
Sure we can do both. We also need to ask why people are bullied into borrowing ridiculous amounts of money to train for jobs that don’t return high salaries.
Simply forgiving student debt doesn’t address the real problem, which is that college costs are a complete racket. There are great loan forgiveness programs in place for people who take full-time positions at underserved schools and hospitals. This is an awesome way to forgive student debt while ensuring that critical need jobs are filled.
Thank you. Am I the only person that actually saved for my kids college. I did not go on expensive vacations and buy designer clothes. Had I only known Bernie and Elizabeth would come over and let all the irresponsible people off the hook I would have traveled the world three times over.
This is a disgusting comment and reeks of privilege. There are people who live lives with no extravagances. They work hard and use every penny they make to keep a roof over their heads and feed their family. Just because someone is unable to pay for their child to go to college does not mean that they squandered their income and lived a life of excess. It means that there is a real problem with access to higher education in this country. And people who are told their entire lives that they need to go to college in order to have a future and are only able to go to college because they take out loans to cover the cost of tuition, books, room and board, etc. should not have to live with the weight of crushing student debt for the rest of their lives. And your comment is the very reason why this issue is not taken more seriously.
I get tired of seeing them bash each other. Tell me what YOU will do well, not what the other people will do poorly. The whole structure of debates is just frustrating to me. And it stubs me that Dems had NO PLAN on how to defeat Trump. They should’ve worked together to narrow it down to the top 5 people who could realistically win, not this never ending sh**show.
Orange Voldemort is tweeting about the debate with lots of insulting, bigoted nicknames and now extra-added violence against women. #BeBest!
I also had one of those days yesterday with the coronavirus. We’re being told to “be prepared,” but the only way they’re telling us to prepare is to wash our hands and make sure we can telecommute?! WTF.
I thought Amy’s comment (paraphrasing) if we have four months of dividing our democratic party we’ll have four more years of Trump dividing our country was spot on! Personally, I’m tired of these bicker sessions disguised as debates. She was the one to reign in the arguing last night something I’ve noticed she’s done in other debates.
I’m with you, I hate the bickering, tearing each other down. The person who they should be going after is 45 because he’s tearing the country apart. Also, Bernie is not a Democrat and they are afraid to call him out. IMO, if Bernie is the nominee, #45 will eat him up and spit him out and that will not be hard to do. #45 I sure has vetted every inch of Bernie and is just waiting for him to get the nomination to make minced meat out of him, with Putin’s help. I see four more years of the craziness. Ew is dropping the ball, Whoever advising her to go hard on MB is not her friend, she will lose if she don’t take on Bernie.
Pffft. Not that I needed another reason to vote for Warren in VA next week, but Coulter’s dumbass comment seals the deal for me.
Why do you think that if Bernie is the nominee the democrats will lose both the House and Senate?
Because most people are either really stupid or really mean, or both. And they are willing to die from lack of health care if that means black and brown people will suffer too. They are so concerned that someone they deem not worthy or deserving may get something “for free” that they’ll live in poverty if black and brown people are even poorer. The ruling class has done a great job, since before this was even America, of leveraging racial identity to keep the lower classes divided. If poor and working class whites would ever get over themselves and unite with poor and working class people of color they’d be unstoppable. If rural white people making $40,000 a year driving a truck would realize that they are more likely to become homeless than they are to become part of the 1% maybe they’d vote in their own best interests for once. But they won’t. They’ll rail against “socialism” while collecting SSI and swallowing opiates by the handful.
yeah, I don’t get that. If Bernie’s the nominee, I’ll hold my nose and vote for him and I’ll do whatever I can do to ensure qualified Democrats that plan to work for us get elected to the house & senate because we need to have the majority to (a) get anything done; (b) fill judicial slots with folks who aren’t RWNJ; and (c) hold the executive branch accountable regardless of who’s in office
He’s not popular in “purple” areas. Moderate democratic house members, which won the house in 2018, are distancing themselves from him because his policies do not appeal to their voters.
I heard on Pod Save America the other day that something like 40% of Bernie’s OWN SUPPORTERS do not know he identifies as a socialist. I don’t think that younger Americans realize how triggering “socialism” is for older Americans.
I don’t think people are being snarky by saying that his nomination would be risky for down ballot elections. It’s just acknowledging reality. He, his campaign, and his supporters are going to have to mount an incredible persuasion campaign if he becomes the nominee.
Everyone is making valid points here about Sanders. Personally, I think the answer is to do what Pottymouth Pup suggests: vote for the Dem candidate no matter who it is, and, individually, take every action we can to elect Dems to the House and Senate. The only time we can control the results of the election is before and up to the election (and yes, there are some factors we can’t control, such as tr’s attacks against the eventual nominee, which will happen no matter who it is, and foreign interference). Just my 0.02.
Bernie’s got my vote in the primary. Been following him closely since 2015 and admire his consistency, humility, drive and dedication to helping the middle class rise. I’m voting for the things I really want for myself & fellow Americans – affordable healthcare, medications, higher education, Social Security protection/expansion, environmental policies that will make a difference for future generations. Time to stop playing small and embrace that big changes are possible. I’ll be voting BLUE not matter who in Nov.
I’m in for Warren at this point. I’m trying to stay out. I’m only reading news, not watching anything. I really can’t stomach watching people fight. And I’ve shut everyone at home out, when it comes to debates that is lol. I think what I think politically. I’m right. What’s important to me lives leaving left, shakes global hands and it’s colored in green. That’s the bottom line. I’m not listening to anything else lol.
I’ve shut out the MSM because they’re clearly shilling for the Democratic Party establishment. I’m just following progressive independent commentators.
#PresidentWarrenGetsThingsDone
I’m on board!
America: We need someone with real leadership and plans on how to actually accomplish stuff. Sanders is promising to pay for stuff with money he doesn’t have. Biden is out of touch. Bloomberg bought his way into a candidacy. Buttigieg is okay but lacks experience and plans for well, everything.
Warren: Hi! I have detailed plans for handling well, everything ranging from affordable healthcare to combating government corruption. I have many years of being a duly-elected leader in my home state. I am beholden to no one and I want to fight so everyone gets a better slice of the pie.
America: Gah! Your plans are too detailed and boring to pay attention to. Plus you sound like a nagging grandma. Speaking of which, you are a woman. Sit down, no one likes it when your kind tells us what to do. Even other women. Why are you so angry, is it that time of the month already? We might as well sit this one out since there are no worthy candidates. Or maybe we should just vote for Trump again. We don’t like what he says or does and he’s an abject failure as a leader and human being. But, he tells it like it is and is good for the economy. Our tax rebates were really high this year. Plus, he’s entertaining.
You have nailed it.
He does not tell it like it is, all he does is lie and deceive. Seriously how on earth can you say that? You think he tells it like it is because he name calls, changes his story/answer depending on who he is talking to? And your country has no real sense of community or the common good. It always appears that most of your citizens are only out for themselves and the national mantra is “screw them, I got mine”. I know there are many who do care in your country but you have mostly elected people who continually just tell you what you want to hear then turn around and do what is the most harmful for the vulnerable, the poor and the disenfranchised while also trying to screw over what is left of the middle class. Your country will more than likely saddle the world with another 4 years of that corrupt, stupid, tween girl stuck in an old mans body. Watching in real time as you devolve into a banana republic is beyond sad and frightening at the same time and it has real implications for the entire planet not just your country.
@CATY, do I really have to explain the joke to you?
Caty….ummm, Sean was joking. Sarcasm….
You’re telling it like it is Sean. It’s why I’m despondent. F@cking morons. Lazy, hypocritical, hateful, racist, selfish, misogynistic imbecilic miscreants.
Sadly, depressingly on point. But you forgot to skewer the people who think Bernie is “real.”
This is exactly why I just early voted for Warren!!! She has great policy proposals, derailed plans, And s history of getting Sh&t done! Will hit the ground running.i also think she is the last best chance for uniting the democrats. Now if the media would just quit erasing her…… high hopes for SC and Super Tuesday…..off to donate to her again.
Elizabeth Warren has likely not taken on Bernie because they hold similar positions and doesn’t want to undermine support for progressive politics. Rather than challenge Bernie on principle, she needs to challenge him on practice and his competence to govern.
“I agree we need to X. How do you plan on achieving it, Bernie?” When he gives his vague answer, pounce.
You’re so right!
The candidates need to start making their case against Orange Voldemort instead of off each other. Warren was good to kneecap Bloomberg, but they all need to start bringing out the big guns against Orange Voldey.