We entered Friday night’s Democratic presidential debate in an interesting place. Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders emerged from Iowa as winners as the results finally dripped out. Joe Biden on the other hand has a candidacy that seems to be on life support. Four years ago, this debate night sunk Robot Marco Rubio as Chris Christie KOed him. Would there be any death blows Friday night?
Buttigieg came in very much the man in form, having bested Iowa expectations. The murmurs are already murmuring about him, not Joe Biden, being the moderate Democrats’ antidote to socialist Bernie Sanders and socialism. Would Uncle Joe pick a fight to get back in it?
Biden came up swinging. He kind of tried to jibe at Sanders and Buttigieg, but it didn’t land. Bernie took offense and used a minute or so to make a pretty effective argument for old-school neoliberalism. Then Andrew Yang promised us all $1,000.
Mayor Pete sees himself as the moderate main man. He took on Sanders early. And Sanders came right back. Linking Mayor Pete to crony capitalism. Boom. Pete got his chance to reply. He offered a dull laundry list of this, that, and the other.
Now Biden wants to fight. He goes after Sanders on the cost of his plans. Biden busted his neck getting Obamacare passed, apparently, so he’s gonna fight this. But this was fantastic television — old, white men yelling at each other.
This debate was the Thanksgiving dinner where you and your cousins “take a walk” and smoke a special cigarette. It is dull as donuts. Even Mayor Pete admits he has no experience and no business being president. So what are we even doing?
Joe Biden did not do well. Set one on one against Buttigieg, Biden kind of crumbled. It was not a good look. Somewhere a smile was growing on Mike Bloomberg’s face, as his window got wider.
Sanders has his mojo. He lectured the drug companies with aplomb and fury, and it was magic. Then Tom Steyer took the microphone, and everything went downhill. His Scottish kilt tie didn’t help.
Mayor Pete thinks we are exhausted as voters. We are ready to walk away from civic life. But now we are the answer. Yang shoots back, saying Trump is a symptom not a cause. The hockey pucks are flying fast and hard.
Elizabeth Warren says nobody in the United States is above the law, including the president. After waiting for a minimal laugh, Warren went on to schoolmarm her first big moment of the debate.
The winner of the debate? Meh…
But somehow Bernie Sanders took over the night. The angry, old man is in fighting form. Nobody really seems to be on his level. Though maybe Buttigieg just has a different angle.
Mayor Pete got a super softball question about Hunter Biden, and he hit the predictable home run. Good job? Biden turned it around into a pro-Vindman moment. Crazy times.
Pete Buttigieg should scare the GOP. He won this debate; it wasn’t close. He is a powerful speaker who can take his party to the top. Forget the noise about Trump being afraid of Biden or Bloomberg; the one he never mentions is the most dangerous. And he knows it.
On Tuesday, we will find out. If Pete Buttigieg wins the nomination, it will be one hell of a race. On Friday night, he brought himself closer to his goal. It’s kind of amazing; he’s close to the most boring guy in the world. But here we go. It’s time to vote. Let’s get after it, people.
Also, everything is racist.
