If you thought the first hour of the Democrat Vegas debate was fun, the second did not disappoint. All of the contestants had attacked and been attacked. Now they were all out for payback.
The final hour started with the usual Democrat Chicken Little scare tactics on the environment they have been using since 1970. They all sounded like good little robots and took a temporary breather from going after each other. But Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Liz Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg would soon return to first hour form.
And, as in the first segment, though covered in the rhetorical muck and slime of his opponents, at the end Buttigieg came out on top by homing in on the unelectability of Sanders and the Trump-like mogul image of Bloomberg. The audience liked his message.
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On that first question Liz Warren decided to make environmental topics about, of course, race. She claimed climate change, etc. was hitting “people of color” at a more tragic rate than evil whitey. Her logic is reminiscent of the old joke headline, “Earth to ram into Mars at noon tomorrow. Women and minorities affected worst.”
The NBC media panel, who did a surprisingly good job, then went after Bernie Sanders on socialism. Yeah, they really did. Sanders tried to dodge it but Bloomberg, in his best moment of the night, nails his hide to the wall. He implies Sanders is a communist and chides him as a wealthy socialist with three houses. Point scored. During that part both Warren and Klobuchar admitting to being capitalists. Their admission got scant applause from the audience. Bernie’s socialism got way more. Not a great surprise.
Liz Warren then goes on another frenzied attack bender, just shooting haphazardly in the air as if she was at a Hezbollah wedding. When Amy Klobuchar says Joe Biden wanted Mitch McConnell to get reelected, Joe responds with “McConnell has been a pain in my neck for a long long time.” That had to make McConnell smile and take another sip of fine bourbon.
Pete Buttigieg goes after Amy Klobuchar on an immigration question, calling her out on some Senate votes. This time she hits back. She tells him, “Wish everyone was as perfect as you Pete,” and calls his slam on her “memorized talking points.” She was right. Sometimes Buttigieg’s smooth delivery just sounds slick.
When they were all asked if the candidate who has the most delegates going into the convention should be the nominee, all say no except Bernie. Thus all except him are getting ready for the political switchblade fight in a dark alley that is a brokered convention. Bernie is getting ready to get robbed, again.
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The night ended with candidate closing statements. They were boring. Though Joe Biden got heckled, Pete reiterated that Sanders would get demolished by Trump, and Amy Klobuchar’s closing was so infantile, so bereft of adult thought of any kind, that preschoolers would have turned away in intellectual mortification.
The skinny on the night?
Biden did alright, Klobuchar tanked, Bloomberg tanked worse. Warren was a dark delight to watch, but gained nothing. Bernie took some hits but lost nothing and Buttigieg won and gained a bit.
On to the Nevada caucuses and then next week’s South Carolina primary.
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