Imabench

Buttigieg with a good answer about who knows who trump will piss off more, we need to work with many nations

Sanders with a dingus answer by going with the UN 

Guy before Swalwell major points for mentioning Latin America to resovle the migrant crisis. 

Harris really knocking it out of the park, Sanders and Biden aint doing much besides losing some ground, everyone else fairly quiet. 

Harris: "I will put into executive action the most comprehensive gun control action on the issue"

Executive action ends at the end of the presidency though, assuming they arent nullified by a court somewhere, thats just not the way to govern, and the GOP will oppose it even more if its being shoved down their throats. 

Buttigieg: "Gun violence is tearing communities apart. If more guns make people safer we would be the safest nation on earth. I can tell you, there are weapons that dont have any place on American streets in peace time"

Biden: "Im the only one who passed the Brady Bill on background checks, the only one who beat the NRA, I got assault weapons banned, I think we can get it done... We should have smart guns where your biometric signature has to be present to shoot the gun"

Oh boy Biden you lost people at the end there. 

Swalwell; "We have the NRA on the ropes, but im the only candidate calling for a ban + buyback program for assault weapons' 

Buy back programs arent mandatory though theyre optional, and any attempt to make it mandatory could be fully negated based on constitutionality. 

Sanders on his previous comments: "I was mischaracterized" (IT WAS A QUOTE) "I have a D- voting record from the NRA, end the gunshow loophole, universal background checks, assault weapons are for the military, they should not be on American streets"

Swalwell: "Will you buy them back"

Sanders: "Yes"

Harris could have run away with that question by focusing purely on economics and job growth + wage growth... Too bad she flubbed it by trying to list a bunch of other things at the same time while everyone else was picking obscure things or sticking with climate change. 

"You may only get one shot, what issue do you pass?"

Solid question 

First guy "Ending gun violence"...... Good luck

Bennet: "Climate Change"....... Safe pick

Gillibrand: "Family Bill of Rights"....... You cant select 'all of the above' and try to pass that off as your one shot for one issue

Harris: "Passing a Middle Class Tax Cut, DACA-"...... You also cant select 'all of the above' as your one shot for one issue

Sanders: "Starting a political revolution against the special interests"...... That makes ending gun violence look easy, and it isnt.  

Biden: "I will follow Obama on dealing with Climate Change by defeating Trump"..... Safe pick + bring up Obama = Super safe

Buttiguig: "Fix our democracy"..... Might be just vague and amibitious enough to work, but I doubt voters will be woo'd with that answer

Yang: "Universal Basic Income"..... He knows his claim to fame, Ill give him that. 

Hickenlooper: "Climate Change"..... Is that the third or fourth time that was mentioned?

Williamsen: "Make the US the best place in the world for a child to grow up"......... Bold to assume my generation even wants to have kids rn. 

Biden: "Our administration built the largest wind and solar farms in the world, drove down the cost, I will insist we build 500,000 charging stations so we can go full electrical vehicles by 2030" 

Hey look at that, an original talking point I havent heard from yet.... Not enough to erase that previous fuckup with Harris, but its a start. 

Moderators to Hickenlooper: "Can Oil and gas be partners in the fight against climate change?" 

Best answer is "Screw oil, we can use Natural gas to get us off coal, we should prioritize solar and wind"

Hickenlooper "Socialism is not the solution... (Additional rambling)"

????

Cmon Yang fight to get back into the conversation, poor guy is just standing there like a statue rn. 

Tying Trump to Russia and Kim Jung Un kinda weak since the question was about freaking climate plans, but seems forgivable compared to how well shes been doing before. 

Climate questions now, first one to Harris 

"Explain specifically your proposals"

Dang Harris is getting both the softball questions like Warren did last night, while also getting the kill shots like Tulsi did last night, this is going great for her tonight. 

Maybe his retainer came lose mid-sentence :P 

To Sanders: "How would you handle a Supreme Court that has struck down Roe v Wade" 

Sanders: "We will do everything we can to defend Roe v Wade.... I will never nominate a judge who would not defend Roe v Wade.... And we have the constitutional authority to rotate judges into the Supreme Court"

I can write a thesis on why every part of that answer is horse shit.... Mods asking "But what if the Court has ALREADY struck down the law"

Sanders: "Medicare for All guarantees access to abortion"

If Biden has to go into retirement with the rest of his generation, Sanders needs to go with him, holy shit. 

Has Gillibrand said anything that isnt something Sanders or Harris hasn't already said over the past 4 months to 4 years? 

Biden talking about getting 3 votes changed on the Stimulus and getting McConnell to buckle on the stimulus plans is a good start, saying sometimes you have to fight is also a good way to end. 

Bennet trying to respond is pretty nonsensical by trying to argue the Stimulus plan for the 2009 recession was somehow a victory of the tea party. 

I sympathize with him and would support him between Sanders and Warren but even I admit that went pretty poorly for him. Harris making out like a bandit from this debate rn 

Sanders: "How come the worker in the middle of our economy is making no more money than they made years ago, while the top 1% have seen a massive growth in their income?"

This is just recycled talking points from 2016...

Gillibrand: "I have the most comprehensive plans to get money out of politics"

How about name some actual points or policy plans rather then just claim you have the best plans? 

Major applause for Harris, this could make or break Biden rn. 

"I do not praise racists #1. #2 Im happy to support civil rights, I became a public defender not a prosecutor, #2 (again?) I worked with Obama to see we deal with these issues in a major way. The bottom line is I ran because of civil rights, I continue to believe we should fight for civil rights" 

Harris: "Do you agree that you were wrong to oppose busing in America"

Biden: "I opposed busing by the Department of Education"

God dammit Biden youre fucking it up. Theres a couple ways to have handled that differently you went with one of the laziest ones to go with 

Harris saying to Biden "I dont think youre a racist and that you seek common ground with the other side, but it affected me that you worked with segregationists and at one point were against busing" 

Oh she's fucking broadsiding him rn, this could be super bad if he fucks up his response. 

Pete Buttigiug asked about police issues in his community, super ballsy move admitting he has not been able to reform the matter to start. This could easily be seen as weakness but also a solid gesture of honesty, finishes pretty good about wanting to have the police become more trustworthy. 

Hickenlooper jumping in almost defending Buttiguig by bringing up Ferguson and how this is a country-wide issue. 

Major points to anyone who claims that poverty and economic stagnation is a big cause of race relations issues between minorities and cops

Russia is irksome and annoying at times but they are also a side-show. Theyre the person who brags about high school in their 30's because High school is when they peaked. 

China has been acting far more aggressively and ambitiously over the past 10 years, candidates who consider them equal threats is a substantial red flag in our book because Russia kind of put themselves into a corner continually playing defense whereas China is looking for places to land punches, so to speak. 

I think the author lady has had more speaking time and more answers then Yang up to this point which is kind of annoying me cause Yang was one of those super far-off candidates I was actually mildly interested in hearing from compared to the 8 others on the last two debates. 

YANG QUESTION AGAIN FUCKING FINALLY 

Yang: "Russia is our biggest geopolitical debate, theyve been laughing their asses off" 

oof

Yang: "The tariffs and the trade war are punishing workers on both sides. The beneficiaries have bene SE Asia that has stepped into the void. We need to crack down on Chinese trade tactics, but a trade war is not the way to go"

Pretty good recovery there. He hasnt had his moment quite yet but he's still hanging in there

Thank god they moved on to Trade questions cause these other questions have been pretty ass so far. 

"How would you stand up to China" 

Question to Bennet: "We should focus on Russia not China" 

Hell of a swing and a miss Bennet 

I think she is actually setting herself up to be the full contrast of Trump.... Smart, articulate, rather pretty, had the balls to serve in the military, Indian, non-christian..... If you are looking for the polar opposite of Trump purely on character and appearance, Tulsi is probably your best option. 

FUCKING CHRIST NBC

You almost ask a solid question by putting Biden on the spot about how much Obama deported people during his term, and then fucking miss the ball saying 'Should someone who is here without documents be deported if they dont have a criminal record"

Whoever wrote the questions to be asked needs to go back to making coloring books since 'staying safe within the lines' seems to be their fucking forte.  

ANOTHER question where just about every candidate raises their hand and yet we explore the line of questioning regardless.... Christs sake, does NBC not have the balls to try to have an actual debate within an actual debate just because they fucked their mic's up last night?

Biden tryna tout his foreign policy experience is overall a good move, but not for this forgettable line of questioning. Save it for an actual foreign policy question for maximum efficiency, don't blow it early on an immigration question

The questions which are basically 'Do you think the migration camps are bad?' is such a waste of time Im thinking I could go get a drink and not miss anything that would make me consider supporting another candidate... Its already a given that every person on the stage think its deplorable how it is being handled, ask about how they would work with the destabilized countries causing the migrations in the first place to try to reduce them in the future. 

Tulsi Gabbard, and she did really solid last night. Her and Booker were the most googled candidates following the debate last night from what Ive heard. (Booker in the South, Tulsi everywhere else) 

Oh im pretty fucked if I have to go to the ER cause i opted for lower coverage since I live a pretty uneventful lifestyle. 

Migrant question to Harris. Freaking Mods though completely miss the chance to ask a good question by just handing her the mic to let her give her plan

Much better question would be how would she handle the situations in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala which is causing the migration process in the first place. Just throwing money at the problem wont fix it, but I have a feeling a lot of candidates's plans dont go any deeper then that, and I would like to figure out which candidates those are so that I can start ignoring them more. 

I think my deductible is around $300 (monthly) just because im young and not a smoker

Biden at least did some of his homework by firing off (admittedly previously discussed) talking points about how undocumented immigrants in some ways contribute to the economy as an explanation for why his healthcare plan would offer coverage to undocumented immigrants. 

If Biden can just 'get by' in this debate and not suffer an ass whipping like Beto or Ryan did the other night, he'll still have a chunky lead in polling after the debate. 

Christ we still have 7 months before the first actual primaries kick in 

Sanders having a good point that they dont like the healthcare corporations that provide their healthcare plan, they like their doctors and hospitals, but again fails to demonstrate how that makes his idea of 'Medicare for All' somehow obtainable in 2020. 

Another food fight breaking out by Ryan triumphing over the moderators was a surprise. 

"Would your healthcare plan provide coverage for undocumented immigrants?"

(Everyone raises their hand)

Okay we've established already that the candidates for the Democratic Party are liberal, can we explore how the candidates are DIFFERENT rather than SIMILAR? Thats the fuckin point of debates isnt it? Everyone is on the same page on this one, move on to the next question so that we can maybe have an interesting conversation and a point of contention. 

WHY THE HELL DO THEY NOT LEAVE THE NAMES OF THE CANDIDATES ON THE SCREEN.... Christs sake, I cant tell which generic white guy is which, I still cant figure out who was John Delaney from last night. 

Biden is hanging in there but I agree with ya that Yang needs to get another question

Who the legitimate hell is this person? Name is Marianne Williamson and shes just an author? Regardless her remarks are all over the place

Bernie getting a tough question where how he will get a government system implemented when state systems like NY and CA have failed (government healthcare), yet he distracts by pointing to how other countries have accomplished it and how corrupt the current system is. Thats not answering the question, thats dodging it, which the moderators just asked him again. 

"We will have Medicare for All when tens of millions are ready to tell the companies that their day is gone"

Must be nice to live in the fictional reality Bernie thinks is right around the corner. 

If she gets a few more solid moments like that she definitely will, but thats if she gets more moments, and that bigger names like Biden and Sanders dont get solid moments of their own. 

"Would you get rid of your own private insurance in favor of government run plans" 

Bernie and Harris only ones far left enough to actually support such an idea. 

Im surprised at how many Dems dont realize that if Universal Healthcare gets passed, they think the GOP will just not try to fight it and not try to undermine it at every chance they get. Thats just not realistic. Obamacare was fought every step of the way by the GOP and it wasnt 1/4th as radical as some of these newer proposals, any candidate who thinks they can just make Universal Healthcare a reality and a done deal are delusional. 

There's no forseeable future where Dems get enough people in Congress to impose their will over the GOP. You're going to have to work with them, and an increasing number of candidates are showing that they dont understand that

"Pass the torch" Shot at Biden by whats-his-name, but Biden seems eager on showing his liberal swing in an attempt to show he is still 'with it', whether people will buy it is anyones guess. 

Sanders and Gillibrand talking over each other looks pretty bad on both of them but Bernie has already adopted the 'crazy' label fairly hard so he can probably get away with it better. 

Harris solid bounce back 'Voters dont want a food fight they want to know how we will put food on the table', was worried she would fall into the hole Gillibrand is digging herself into by trying to just yell over everyone else. 

Deadass didnt even know that Michael Bennet was running for president nor that he even existed in the first place, but he is off to a good start for aiming for a public option rather than go straight for the Universal Healthcare option, taking a shot at Bernie in the process. 

Gillibrand chiming in again claiming she authored that transition aaaaaand everyone has already forgot. 

Pete Buttigieg also wise to take a shot at the whole 'free college' thing by arguing that ppl shouldnt need a college education to be successful and live well in the US. 

Yang is up on universal basic income, asking how will he do that. His labeling it the 'trickle up economy' is a nice spin but hes avoiding the technical part of the question of how he would actually pay for the program, which would come from US tax dollars taken today.... Mods also pointing out the 'value added tax' to fund the program would eat up some of the $1k a month given out to everyone, but he navigates around that one pretty decently. 

Never realized how thick Yang's neck is he looks like he used to be a fuckin linebacker not a tech executive. 

Hickenlooper talking about why its necessary to keep private insurance is a ballsy move to make in a primary debate but it is the correct position on the issue, but his bragging about being super progressive in Colorado = he can do progressive things as president is nuts. Colorado isnt nearly as close to the middle as the US as a whole despite its status as a swing state when it is clearly a solid blue state. 

Sanders: "We can beat him by exposing him for the fraud he is"... Unfortunately a large chunk of society are too stupid to realize they are being duped, might need a different strategy for this one. 

Gillibrand barely able to get a word in before being cut off goddamn.  

Fucking Florida drivers dont know how to do shit when it rains in the afternoon but screw it. Tuned in earlier to see Kamala Harris talk about the Tax Code. 

Hoping this goes better than the previous debate where generic ass questions get asked for the entire first half of the debate, but I have a feeling it actually will now that the more interesting candidates are in this one (Sanders, Biden, Yang, Harris, Buttigegg or however you spell his name) 

 

There's no way in hell Obama will try to ram in his endorsement before the primaries conclude. Hell in 2016 he waited until well after the primary ended before formally endorsing Hillary. 

Biden and Sanders could be taking a lot of fire from the other candidates in the debate, but I doubt Obama will give an endorsement just as much as I doubt he would do so for Warren. 

There's no way in hell Obama will try to ram in his endorsement before the primaries conclude. Hell in 2016 he waited until well after the primary ended before formally endorsing Hillary. 

Biden and Sanders could be taking a lot of fire from the other candidates in the debate, but I doubt Obama will give an endorsement just as much as I doubt he would do so for Warren. 

Hell I dont think any of them outside of Warren has a chance despite how much I liked Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard.... Im just saying that in terms of tonight when the three options are standing out in a notable fashion, not doing anything really noteworthy, or getting your throat punched, Castro was fortunate enough to stand out amongst the others by turning Beto into his own punching bag 

I think otherwise tbh. De Blasio was at the end of the stage trying at least three times to butt in on the conversation to try to get words in, and every time he did so it just looked like desperation and whining.... He reminded me a lot of Jim Webb in the 2016 Dem Primary who did similar things and went nowhere in the first debate even though there were only just 4 other people on the stage with him. 

You have to be calculated to earn points in Dem debates, you cant just go AWOL and try to be trending on twitter and have that translate to support. 

By making one of the highlights of the debate a throwdown between himself and Beto, and then winning that subsequent throwdown, Castro did do pretty well and didn't have any substantial gaffes that would really undermine him in the ways that the American public on average would notice. He also did his homework on immigration issues which in states like Florida, Texas, California, and New Mex will go a long way in helping his poll numbers.