I think tonight's debate was bad for us.

[boston bean]

it Was not something to be proud of for sure.

I am sure many of the non politicos tuning in said WTF!

We,do not have our act together. Eating each other alive while the dicktater is is laughing his ass off.

Not impressed by the spectacle.

[Skittles]

1. it is a reflection of who is left in the race

[Quixote1818]

2. True but people have short memories. It will be a footnote by next week. nt

[wellst0nev0ter]

3. No, we need more of these debates

The get-along-to-go-along attitude is how we got trump. We need people who can bring a gun to a knifefight.

[samnsara]

57. ..but not use it on each other... town halls are much better.

[wellst0nev0ter]

75. Then what's the point of a primary?

If you don't want conflict, then pick a name out of a hat.

[NoDakLinda]

83. We need people who can bring a gun to a knifefight.

So we will look like “The Beans of Egypt, Maine.”

[Frasier Balzov]

4. It's messy, but wouldn't you say

that whoever emerges from it will be ready to do battle?

[brooklynite]

5. I don't think the "non politicos" turned in...

[fleabiscuit]

8. jinx...

[totodeinhere]

88. It had a record audience of 15 to 16 million. n/t

[fleabiscuit]

6. I doubt that "non politicos" tuned in to the debate.

[customerserviceguy]

81. Bits and pieces of it

will turn up on late-night comedy TV.

[CentralMass]

7. Ya it was pretty ugly

[GanjaGrower]

9. I was disheartened

Was really hoping for more positive message of friendly competition.

Instead, the knives were out

[VarryOn]

10. Yes, it was bad...

I'm just hoping the ratings were low.

[cilla4progress]

11. I thought it was great!

Lots of substance, passion. Some unity.

Made me admire many of them more.

I was disappointed in Buttegieg and Klobuchar a little. But any one of them - yes, even "him" - would be a damn site better than current one!

[Raine]

12. Politics "ain't beanbag"

Last edited Thu Feb 20, 2020, 01:30 AM - Edit history (1)

it's rough and tumble, playing nice isn't going to cut it.

[BlueTsunami2018]

13. Look at what Тяцмр did in the Republican primary debates.

It was far worse than this. Talking about his dick and insulting everyone in the worst way. This was ok for us, people like a little rough and tumble. Especially when having to eventually go up against the worst troll there is. People like a little steel. Being nice all the time looks weak.

[crimycarny]

30. Was thinking the same

The Republican primary debates were 10x worse and look who won the Presidency. Fortunately or unfortunately, the average American has the attention span of a gnat. A week from now no one will care or even remember. We’ve become the society of viral videos, Netflix binge watching, and communication limited to 255 character tweets. For me the debates were distressing because I wanted to hear POLICY, not who got in the best zinger.

[Mersky]

14. I see it differently

tRump oughta be worried

All of them can turn and burn on questions with real points. Bloomberg just got schooled on the importance of practice.

Dumbass in Chief will be out of his depth with any of them.

[sdfernando]

76. I agree with you 100% but the only problem is

that orange lardass is NOT going to debate....take that to the bank!

He has already said the committee managing the debates was unfair to him the last round and he wants changes or he just might create his own debate committee.

[Mersky]

80. I've been thinking about such

I reckon he needs to show up for at least one debate, otherwise he’ll look weak. Only one debate won’t give him the chance for a do-over if he goes down with “you’re the puppet” type garbage. I’m not certain he’ll refuse to debate.

As he surveys the field, each candidate must make him sweat for one reason or another. Is he gonna go after every one of them with his mafia like abuses of power? I thought last night was pretty strong across the board.

[Jarqui]

15. Passion and fighting for their political lives

I'm not sure it was all bad.

[hay rick]

16. It was ugly. My current candidate (Steyer) may have won by not being on the stage.

The clear loser was Bloomberg who had no satisfactory answer for the NDAs. I also think Buttigieg had a bad night. He came across as petty when he kept going after Klobuchar with gotchas on Obrador, ICE, and judges. The other clear losers were the moderators, who didn't ask a single question on Trump's behavior.

[napi21]

17. I thought it was GREAT too! none of us saw any of the candidates actually fight. How do you

think each would battle DT That's why we needed something like tonight. To win against DT you have to throw flames and we needed to find out if our candidate can do that.

[randr]

18. Bloomberg said it

Trump must have been ecstatic. Not a mention of Trumps foreign failures, lawlessness, or values

[Moderateguy]

23. Why waste time mentioning eTrump's failures

I don’t thing anyone on that stage thinks Trump is anything but a national disgrace. We already know this about them

[randr]

25. Because they are there to win votes to beat Trump

[Moderateguy]

26. They first need to defeat the others on stage with them

Then they can concentrate on Trump. Unless Gabbard is the nominee— she might sing his praises instead 😂

[spooky3]

19. I'm not sure. I know people who think Dems lack backbone

and I suspect that they liked the debate.

I wonder if the candidates were thinking that Sanders seems emotional and a lot of people are attracted to that, so it was time to fire up and see what happens.

[True Blue American]

55. I enjoyed the debate.

Brilliant people on that stage. Any one better than Trump.all have great plans.

[NoDakLinda]

84. Me and My Shadow

Why not? Some people have copied Sanders like a shadow all along.

[CalFione]

20. Primaries are bloody. It wasn't bad for us completely.

If you are a Joe, Pete, or Liz fan... it was a good night.

[PatrickforO]

21. Maybe. But by contrast my whole family watched and we were

quite caught up in it. This was a rollicking kind of debate. It wasn't boring.

Just a couple of vignettes - Both my children and my wife thought Buttigieg rattled Klobuchar to the point where she was literally shaking with anger. But Buttigieg remained cool and kept his eyes on her the whole time. That coolness would do him well in conferences with foreign leaders, particularly adversaries.

And Warren! What a performance. I loved the way she totally nailed Bloomberg (I really DO think billionaires are a failure in policy). That was righteous, especially for women like my wife (who just turned 60), who can tell war stories of sexual harassment at work. She was tickled and actually cheered at one point. I also liked when Warren stuck up for Klobuchar over forgetting the Mexican president's name. That attack by Pete was a bit frivolous, because all of us were willing to give her a pass on that. You can't remember everything every time.

And Bernie? He did great, especially when Bloomberg TOTALLY HYPOCRITICALLY attacked Bernie for having three houses and being a millionaire. Geez. What BS! Bernie had a great answer and ended up asking how many houses Bloomberg had and which tax havens were they in.

Consider this, bean: This is probably the first Democratic debate that had much sheer entertainment value. And sadly, not everyone is as wonky as most of us are here on DU. Seriously, if an undecided independent family watched, they probably left feeling good about people who can stick up for themselves effectively. Because look at Trump, and think about the general election campaign, which will be utterly brutal.

Our nominee is going to have to fight tooth and nail, and not worry about getting ugly. Because Trump won't.

[BlueWI]

66. Agreed with everything except for this.

The forgotten name is not a huge issue, but it matters how you respond. More grace from Klobuchar would come across better in the answer. Just apologize and affirm the importance of the relationship with Mexico. Otherwise it comes across as whitesplaining and dismissing the journalist's question.

I love Warren, but her jumping in and Buttigieg's attempt at scoring debating points were both off point.

[PatrickforO]

68. I thought that too, about Warren, and what you say about Pete.

He was off point on a couple of those attacks, and he pursued it too much.

Klobuchar really got rattled during that debate, I think.

[BlueWI]

69. +1 eom

[NoDakLinda]

85. Re: Our nominee is going to have to fight tooth and nail, and not worry about getting ugly.

Because, our nominee will have trouble discussing the issues around Trumps insults.

[PatrickforO]

86. Our nominee will have to find a way to do both using the resources they

have - i.e. knowing that since the media will report the 'gotcha's' to increase ratings, and the so-called twitterverse will have a bunch of meaningless posts by a bunch of probably-Russian trolls that will have to be challenged line by line, they will have to use strategic TV buys, as well as buys on social media like You Tube and others to get out the actual message. In addition to that, grass roots efforts such as phone calls to likely and independent voters, and perhaps surrogate presentations to groups.

[Codeine]

89. The last "tooth and nail" primary campaign

left your feelings so hurt that you voted for Trump, and convinced your other Sandernista friends to do so as well. I would caution others to give your analysis as little consideration as possible.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=584339

[democrattotheend]

22. Me too

They all looked like squabbling kindergartners.

[myohmy2]

24. "it Was not something to be proud of for sure."

...I beg to differ...

...this is what it's going to look like going up against trump this Fall...only worse...

...our nominee must not only SURVIVE in that environment, our nominee must THRIVE in that environment...

...tonight was good practice...

[Hoyt]

27. I'm quite worried.

[emmaverybo]

28. Vetting ourselves to winnow down.

[Skidmore]

74. That would be acceptable if

everyone were being vetted equally.

[Renew Deal]

29. I think it's the first sign of life and passion in this primary.

[CrispyQ]

79. +1

This!! I was glad to see some fight in our candidates! It's the first debate that has swayed me.

[Skya Rhen]

31. I think the world needed to know who Bloomberg is and that was accomplished. Tonight was necessary.

[Meowmee]

32. Agree

As someone else posted it was a clusterfuck and embarrassing. Bernie came off as bat shit, so did Warren, Buttigieg kept attacking Klobuchar. They all attacked Bloomberg and he said some very true and informative things imo. One being, this debate convo is gonna get dump elected. Biden was the best imo, I hope he is the nominee. This whole process has been crazy, way too many debates, stop debates, no more debates during primaries. I believe Perez has designed it, a big FAIL!

[mdelaguna]

53. Agree n/t

[BusyBeingBest]

33. Didn't watch, sounded like a clusterfuck by my family's reaction.

(I actually never watch debates, just the "lowlights" afterwards. Glad I didn't watch this one.)

[Garrett78]

34. Meh. American attention span: 3-4 minutes tops.

[frazzled]

35. Remember how ugly the Republican primary debates were?

Among a crowded field? It was like a saloon brawl. It didn’t hurt them. Curiously, but still, that’s what happened. Go figure.

[BusyBeingBest]

37. It did hurt them--Trump won. They're

now basically a dead husk full of rot--what's left of that political party.

[frazzled]

70. Well, yeah ... and that could happen to us as well

I see our party falling apart in front of our eyes right now.

[BusyBeingBest]

71. Kind of feel the same way. I feel like Democrats sometimes

shoot themselves in the foot.

[still_one]

40. Actually it did hurt them, and also because they had too many candidates in the race, they took

votes away from each other, and trump won

It also helped trump that their primaries were all or nothing, and trump's base support was static and loyal

The Democratic primaries are proportional with a base of 15% or greater

[redstatebluegirl]

44. It was not a debate it was reality tv.

[Tipperary]

38. I have to agree.

I found myself cringing several times. Warren was impressive though.

[still_one]

39. I have no idea, but I do believe that some of us live in a bubble, and believe the general

population has the same mindset as we do, and that assumption is not necessarily correct.

It will be interesting what the polls reflect in the next several days

[Laelth]

41. I saw more agreement than disagreement.

Here are the things upon which all six of our candidates agreed:

The need to defeat the Great Pumpkin is assumed.
Addressing climate change is assumed.
A significant increase in the minimum wage is assumed.
Economic justice (a much-fairer tax code and an end to unjust distribution of wealth) is assumed.
Environmental justice (not dumping our toxic waste on low-income neighborhoods) is assumed.
Universal health care is assumed.
Fair and ethical treatment of immigrants and Dreamers is assumed.

When I voted in my first Democratic primary in 1988, only Jesse Jackson would have supported all of these policy goals. I voted for Jesse that year, and he won the Georgia Democratic primary, but he was considered an outlier and, basically, a lunatic within the Democratic Party of the time. These days, Jesse would be a mainstream Democrat. I could not be prouder of my party. We are finally, once again, liberal.

I see this as a time to rejoice, not mourn or fret.

-Laelth

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

49. Great perspective

I think it important we remember the commonalities as much or more than the differences. It once again reminded me that any of them would be better than the current president.

I am not saying the candidates are the same or that there would not be differences. But if any of them take office, at least some good things are likely to happen.

Thanks for the reminder.

[helpisontheway]

42. I think it was too. Several FB friends started posting things like

the Democratic Party can’t run anything. They said we don’t know how to debate. They also said majority of the country does not like socialism and that Trump will win again. And all of this from from Democrats. Two were African American Democrats.

[womanofthehills]

43. I liked the debate - it was the first one that wasn't boring

Warren really shined and I liked Bernie's answers.

[Blue_Adept]

45. Democrats have no fire. Democrats have too much fire. They're too nice. They're too mean.

It's whiplash in how people think a debate should be. Nobody will ever agree.

This one was definitely a welcome change from most of the collegial ones we've had so far and it was one that was needed. As we get closer to the big voting days where it will cause people to drop out, now is the time to show your political skillset.

[NurseJackie]

46. At this late stage with so many candidates dividing the vote... it's necessary.

I'll be glad when the extreme and divisive candidates have been eliminated.

[uponit7771]

47. Their first obligation is to win the primary

[Owl]

48. Same here.

[nobuddy]

50. Nonsense

Last night was awesome. Last debate I remember like that was 2008 South Carolina and it was thrilling.

[sigh144]

52. Agreed

IT was an actual debate, imagine that.

A little too hard on Bloomy, but if he cant take the heat, better to find out now when it's pre season.....

Sanders will be the nominee, unless the DNC steals it from him.

And he wioll pulverize the scumbag in the White House.

Dems just need to stop being scaredy cats........and stop thinking your way, which told us Clinton or well have a President Trump, now telling us if we dont listen to them again itll be four more.

Bernie is the stark contrast to the scumbag in the WH.......

[Kurt V.]

51. from what I've read this morning on line, some democracy broke out up in there.

[samnsara]

54. this is why i never watch the dem debates. Hell we had parties for the GOP debates..

..because it was great to watch the carnage but i havent watched a dem debate this year. I think town halls are much better and more civilized...

[Apollo Zeus]

56. Do you really want to send a candidate up against Trump who can't handle a debate?

Recipe for 4 more years of disaster IMHO

[boston bean]

58. I didn't hear much of people going after trump. Did you?

They tore each other to shreds.

[Apollo Zeus]

59. That is what primaries are for

To highlight your differences and show voters the choices they have.

The audience for a Democratic debate already knows how bad Trump is.

[frazzled]

72. Depends on what you mean by debate

If it's who can—how was it said in an earlier post?—land the punches, or pull out some canned zingers, then not really. I'm not looking to elect the best fighter or bully.

If it's who can display the most command of a broad array of issues and exude the desired presidential demeanor and temperament while explaining things clearly and compellingly to the public, then yeah.

I'm not looking for who can best win a food fight. And last night was kind of a food fight. When we need someone who can repair our relations with allies and handle our adversaries, that's exactly the opposite of what we need.

Maybe that debate was necessary, but it was pretty ugly. There must be a better way to conduct a debate than that. I blame the media and the candidates and the public. If people can't stand a boring, serious, or dignified debate, so be it. If you want excitement and a whole lot of shade being thrown, there's reality tv for that.

[doc03]

60. I rather enjoyed it. We need a person that goes after the jugular when they get

in the debate with Trump. Mister nice guy ain't gone to win against Trump. There will be plenty of time
to deal with Trump later when we have a nominee. I was going to give my opinion about some of our candidates
but I would probably get alerted on for bashing Democrats.

[Squinch]

61. I agree. We better coalesce soon or Bernie will harangue us into a 40 state loss.

And then we'll be able to say, "Democracy: fun while it lasted."

[Taraman]

62. I think the debate was very useful. People don't vote on policy. They vote on character.

Their question is: Which one can I see as President? Which one has passion? Which one has the grit to take on Putin and these bullies? Which one will defend my family?

Character shows under a stress test. I keep seeing that picture of Obama staring down Putin. Grit. It's a tough job when done right.

[nobuddy]

87. I want more of last night

[honest.abe]

63. Democrats in a circular firing squad while Trump sits back and laughs.

I know Bloomberg has alot issues but to relentlessly attack him was not the right thing to do. He has decided to be on our side and is willing to spends his billions to help us win. With what happened last night, few will take him or his ads seriously. Trump just jumped up several notches.

[BlueWI]

73. Respectfully,

Bloomberg has an obligation to oppose Trump like every citizen does. He helped elect Republicans in the past which makes the job of good governance harder to start with.

I agree that the debating tactics got out of hand. Same case against Bloomberg could have been made with fewer fireworks.

But, Bloomberg also engaged in red-baiting and had no answers for key questions. That's on him.

[rzemanfl]

65. Bookmarking. n/t

[Midnightwalk]

67. It didn't tell us much for the general

Maybe we learned Bloomberg can get caught unprepared.

The general election won’t be won or lost on a debate stage. It wouldn’t surprise me if trump didn’t debate, but even if he does will anyone’s mind get changed?

I think a lot (too much) of the country will make up their minds by sound bites, pundits giving their opinion as facts and commercials.

Detailed explanations won’t be heard by too many people.

The debate only matters to the extent it changes primary results. It didn’t change my mind. I don’t have it written down here because I think it gets in the way of discussion.

Only my opinion. I could be wrong.

[Gothmog]

77. Some conventional wisdom on the debate we can live without

Link to tweet

For better or worse, I must listen to every word said in a presidential debate. However, in going back to review particular passages, sometimes I turn off the sound. It is exceptionally illustrative. Journalists who live by and for the written word and who are interested in policy should try watching the candidates that way. If they did, some of their conventional wisdom might need to be revised.

“Sen. Bernie Sanders won because no one attacked him.” Talking heads have repeated that chestnut endlessly, but there is reason to ignore it. First of all, several candidates (although not Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren) did bash him for extremism; for failing to be transparent on his taxes; and for lack of leadership and not corralling his rabid base and staff. Moreover, though Sanders is beloved by his base, he is not that effective in attracting those outside the Bernie Bros conclave. Indeed if you watch him with the sound off, you might come away thinking he is turning off voters he still needs to reach. You see a red-faced, snarling old man jabbing his finger in the air. Even with the sound off, you can tell he is yelling. In all the talk about former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg’s prickliness (which is real) and Warren’s likability (she’s certainly more likable than a lot of other candidates), Sanders rarely gets dinged for being angry, unsmiling, mean and too aggressive. (Just imagine if a woman showed up looking somewhat disheveled in ill-fitting clothes.) It is one of many ways in which the blatant double standard for men appears.

“Donald Trump won.” Sorry, but if you go back to both the Republican and Democratic debates in 2016 or the Clinton vs. Obama debates in 2008, you’ll see they got really heated at times. That did not prevent Barack Obama from winning in 2008, or Trump for that matter in 2016. As a candidate, George H.W. Bush railed at Ronald Reagan for “voodoo economics”; they ran together and won twice, overwhelmingly. Certainly, it would be better to use some of the time to educate viewers about the president’s manifold defects (e.g., pardoning white-collar crooks who go on Fox News, appointing blatantly unqualified people, retaliating against witnesses). But if the debates help produce the best candidate and weed out the ones who cannot take or throw a punch, that’s a good thing for Democrats.

[Awsi Dooger]

78. Sports message boards were rejoicing last night

I had to click away. Those boards are flooded with right wing loons. They were mocking everyone on stage and chortling that it was a landslide win for their side.

[BusyBeingBest]

82. That's just great. Sounded like a real shitshow for the masses.