Watching now..

A good forum to thin the herd.and at the same time consolidate the platform.

Some of the lower level candidates were pretty good...upper...there are some who are not performing as expected..And moderation is a bit skewed in my view..

What is your take?

Overall I did not find it all that helpful. But it was good to hear some sanity.

I think Warren is very strong. I'm afraid the others just don't stand out much for me; I'd rather see them in Congress.

So difficult with so many people on the stage without any real chance to respond to other candidates.

These shouldn't be called debates at all. Perhaps just "tell us your views"...

It's the Bernie problem.

Last time, the DNC was accused of anointing Clinton. So, this time, they're going overboard to give everyone a shot.

Early prediction: Warren and Sanders are going to cancel each other out, like Oscar voting where two people from the same film are nominated in the same category. It's Biden if he doesn't go off the rails, Buttigieg if he does.

And, either way, Bernie will have another hissy fit, and Trump will get re-elected because all the Bernie supporters who were #neverHillary are really #neveranybodywhoisn'tBernie.

They are all sounding off...like politicians...ugh.

Hate the constant interruptions of the moderators talking over the last point one is trying to make.

In 30 seconds.

Xxx your 30 seconds is up, over and over and I can't hear the conclusion point.

Ugh. So I stopped watching.

Now watching the repeat for the second half.

Just as bad.

Well their last 45 sec speeches were much better.

Lucky are we that we have these fellow citizens to want to make improvements. They might not become president, but offer what they can to make our country better.

I did not like any of them speaking in Spanish at any time.

I did not like the lack of going after the current pres.

quote:

Originally posted by LL:
In 30 seconds.

This should hopefully get better in subsequent debates as fewer candidates qualify and those on stage will each get more time.

Booker - not ready for prime time, bad advisors. He had that deer in the headlights look every time it came to him. Speaking Spanish? Offensive and cheap.

Castro - articulate and knowledgeable, pretty well poised. Much better than I expected.

Warren - prepared, by far the most presidential of the evening. IMO the winner. Interestingly enough USA Today declares her the big loser.

Inslee - Aptly named. I did this. I did that.

Gabbard - likeable but NRFPT.

Klobuchard - Hillary as a brunette. Please, God, no.

deBlasio - Also please God no

Delaney who?

Ryan - I should like him but I can't remember a thing he said.

O'Rourke - NRFPT. Featherweight.

Moderation? We don' need no steenking moderation. Didn't have any anyway.

I watched the first 90m, will find the last 30 sometime today.


My first reaction was 'they must all have the same focus group'. Everybody's practiced opening response had the same message - something to the effect of the economy is working for them not us. It was almost humorous hearing them totally sideline the moderator's question in order to get out their opening blurb.


I agree the moderation was skewed. Warren got her second chance before 4 or 5 of the others had gone at all. It was clear the moderators much preferred interacting with the higher status folks. Many of the lower tier candidates muscled their way in anyway, which the moderators seemed to eventually reward. Poor Gabbard was almost never called on, and didn't force her way in like so many others.

I actually thought de Blasio did well for himself. (Please understand that's mot me saying he impressed me personally) I just think he was assertive in the beginning, when more people are watching, and hit messages that will resonate with many.

I thought Booker did a good job bringing low-SES minorities back into the discussion. Few others spent much time there, though I missed the last 30m and I suspect they talked about reparations.

I couldn't have picked Ryan out of a crowd of three dudes before last night. He doesn't have a prayer, but his message that the democratic party has to return to its roots as a working class party and not a cultural elitist party is spot on. It will fall on deaf ears, though.


I think Warren came off well for her audience, who is likely to judge her plans by their stated goals and the fawning reviews in Vox rather than read them for themselves with a critical eye. Of course it makes me sad to see her stock rising.

Delaney was really crisp and logical about how asinine the views of deBlasio and Warren are regarding outlawing private insurance. Glad to see those views were in such a small minority on the stage.

I've only ever read about Beto before, I've not actually seen him in front of a camera. I struggled to see why people were so excited about him 2 years ago, other than the fact that he gave Cruz a run for his money in Texas (and, God love him for it).

Julian Castro handled himself better than I expected. I shudder over his euphemism for de facto open borders - he makes it sound like a technical adjustment in the bowels of some old legislation somewhere. Apparently Warren has signed on.

Tulsi's a hottie. There. I said it. Sorry not sorry. Shame they didn't let her speak. I don't know much about her.


Klobuchar has a heavy lift. I think she makes perfect sense but its not clear how many of us are left in the party. Certainly we're not the ones making the noise these days.


Did I miss anyone? Oh yeah, the WA guy. I didn't form too much of an impression. Seemed to be assertive without being obnoxious, at least in terms of getting heard last night.



I wish they hadn't given McConnell so much airtime. They may well have mentioned his name more than Trump. I'm sure he liked that.

Tomorrow strikes me as the more interesting night, but I won't be able to catch it live.

I do not recall them bringing up reparations at the end, and I missed the first 20 minutes or so. So I guess O'Rourke spoke Spanish too?

I remember thinking: "This is the horrible process that brought us Trump"...

I respected that a few tried to explain a tiny bit of background or cause and effect rather, but to keep it short means that there can't be any depth.

It had a game show quality, or sports event - especially with the follow-up things appearing today. Ugh.

What's the answer? I dunno. Maybe go full gameshow first, and have a question and answer ala Jeapardy - I'd watch to hear a moderator say "sorry, that is incorrect"!

America needs a way to weed out those without the knowledge base to properly do the job!

quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Booker - not ready for prime time, bad advisors. He had that deer in the headlights look every time it came to him. Speaking Spanish? Offensive and cheap.

Castro - articulate and knowledgeable, pretty well poised. Much better than I expected.

Warren - prepared, by far the most presidential of the evening. IMO the winner. Interestingly enough USA Today declares her the big loser.

Inslee - Aptly named. I did this. I did that.

Gabbard - likeable but NRFPT.

Klobuchard - Hillary as a brunette. Please, God, no.

deBlasio - Also please God no

Delaney who?

Ryan - I should like him but I can't remember a thing he said.

O'Rourke - NRFPT. Featherweight.

Moderation? We don' need no steenking moderation. Didn't have any anyway.

Warren was both the big winner and the big loser. She was the most prepared, the most ready for prime time. But she went all in on single payer, and that's a third rail.

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
Did I miss anyone? Oh yeah, the WA guy. I didn't form too much of an impression. Seemed to be assertive without being obnoxious, at least in terms of getting heard last night.

If you look at a chart of the speaking times, I think he spoke the least ... half the time of Booker.

Klobuchar destroyed him on the abortion rights issue. He tried to say he was the only one on the stage who'd passed a law protecting abortion rights, and she responded that there were three women on the stage who'd worked pretty hard on reproductive rights issues.

My overall impression of Klobuchar is not that she's Hillary redux, but more like Hillary with some charisma and personality. But she has no shot, as far as I am concerned.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
Warren was both the big winner and the big loser. She was the most prepared, the most ready for prime time. But she went all in on single payer, and that's a third rail.

And it just seems so unnecessary. The important thing is medical care for those who don't have it or for whom it's insufficient. That's a fight worth having. But bundling it with a second fight to take away current care from people who might be happy with it? Why would you combine those fights?


Why wouldn't it be obvious to her that doing so puts a severe handicap on the more important fight? The one with real live human beneficiaries? She has Senate experience now, ferchrissakes.

As I have long said, she has the soul of an autocrat.