- Bloomberg may have more money than King Canute, but as a debater he was even worse than I thought he'd be. Warren tore him to ribbons from the outset and he never really got his footing again. He took one good shot at Bernie Sanders about his three homes, but that wasn't enough. You can tell he hasn't been challenged much in his life.
- Warren was tearing down everyone in sight. While her scorched earth approach was effective on Bloomberg, after a while it got wearing. She's a deeply unpleasant personality and she still doesn't have the proper responses when others challenge her on substance. As an insult comic, she's got potential, though.
- Biden was better, but he's still a bit befuddled. He wasn't a good candidate in 1988 and 32 years on, he's worse. Bob Dole without the gravitas.
- If the trendline continues, Bernie is gonna win. He's a loon, but he has strong support from his droogs and that is likely to make the difference. No one really laid a glove on him last night.
- Buttigieg let his Eddie Haskell mask drop too many times last night. His repeated exchanges with Our Amy were sulfuric. He's the A student suckup we all hated growing up and I suspect he's already hit his high water mark for this cycle. His future as Harold Stassen beckons, although I did appreciate the Walter Mondale diss.
- Our Amy let her Karen mask drop too many times last night. She let Buttigieg get under her nerves at least twice and resorted to whiny woe-is-me responses. I don't see a way forward.
In short, Bernie has to be the favorite. Bloomberg can continue to suck up all the oxygen from the other candidates and keep them off the air, but he's never going to win the hearts and minds of the Dem base. The more interesting question is whether he'll be willing to subsidize the campaigns of the people who kicked him in the balls last night.
12 comments:
Bloomberg isn't sucking up all the oxygen, it's more like he's setting it on fire, using wads of cash as tinder. He can't get the free oxygen sucking that Trump got because the media thought it was amusing to give Trump the attention at the expense of the other Republican candidates.
It will be interesting to see if one can "buy" an election, and if so, how much it costs. It strikes me as being the same as believing one can win a war strictly through air power. If anyone has the money to buy an election, though, it would be Bloomberg. He may have to take a second mortgage on Manhattan, however, to swing it.
Good summary and analysis. I think Warren's scorched earth campaign will, in the end, destroy her as well as whoever she attacks. The thing about a scorched earth policy is it works well as long as you are retreating into a good land, but if you ever have to attack back across it you are as screwed as the guys who you fighting.
I don't see Warren having that good land to retreat into.
It's hard to plant anything where the earth has been scorched, especially coalitions.
i missed the debate, that said...
i have never seen a more pathetic stable of candidates than this years DNC has to offer.
and they are stuck with this for a while. Elections are won in the middle, but the DNC hates those people.
The Dems used to be the party of the working people. Trump "stole" them ("picked them up from where they had been abandoned") from the Democrats, and I don't think he's going to give them back any time soon. The modern Dems are the party of the aliens and the plutocrats (a problematic marriage at best), of bizarre science and hard-core abortionists.
But isn't Bernie a socialist? Aren't they for the working man? Right, because the working folks have historically fared so well under socialism.
But who is left after Trump. The GOP establishment (bushes, Romney's et Al) are gonna want their party back. And they hate the deplorables every bit as much. Remember it was Bush who said illegal workers are better than Americans because they work cheap.
I have no doubts that the Republicans will ultimately find a way to screw it up.
You know, sometimes I find myself day-dreaming about a Parliamentary system of having a bunch of minority parties trying to build coalitions.
But who is left after Trump. The GOP establishment (bushes, Romney's et Al) are gonna want their party back. And they hate the deplorables every bit as much. Remember it was Bush who said illegal workers are better than Americans because they work cheap.
I don't have any idea. I assume Trump and his team have thought of that.
Maybe Ted Cruz?
Part of Trump's agenda seems to be getting people to reveal themselves. NeverTrumpers and the GOPe establishment have definitely done so and I don't see them sliding in and just taking over again. But phony MAGA people who can say the words to get votes, but don't have the heart to fight? That's a serious possibility. Also, it's easy to imagine a nomination fight where they're saying, "I'm the legit heir!" "No, I am!" which fractures the base. Hopefully Trump actually clarifies this in the second half of his second term.
The Republicans leading up to 2016, as with the Dems now, had plenty of faces but no real candidates. Perhaps Walker, but most were platitudinous platypuses who thought it was their "turn". They got the wake up call they deserved. The Party, however, basically hit the snooze button. Where is the bench strength? I've started to see some noise for Nikki Haley, but it is early.
The Dems, feeling as if they proved they could take someone who was essentially an actor and make him president, assumed that they had the means to keep replicating that. Maybe they could have but they fell prey to the same "my-turnism" the Reps suffered with Dole, McCain and Romney when they put Hillary forward. They tried to correct that this time, but most of their lot were tissue and issue thin, and now they've got a bunch of 70-year-olds trying to be fresh.
i thought the GOP had a strong bench with experienced/respected statesmen/governors (Jeb!, Graham, Walker, Cruz, Perry)
the problem for them was they either lacked the charisma (Walker), or were so entrenched they didnt realise (or didnt care) that the base of the party no longer beleived in them anymore, for good reason (Graham, Jeb!)
Enter Trump... he has changed the GOP, but can the GOP change with him. Maybe we'll see a fresh batch of younger people with a Trumpian vision come along. I suspect there are a few waiting in the House. (i'm kinda liking Nunes.)
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