The First Post-Impeachment Debate!

I have to confess, my wife and I did not watch the debate last night (October 15, 2019).  I had to get the executive summary from various sources (which, of course, would have extracted different things from it than I would have).

It appears that Elizabeth Warren has become the candidate to shoot at, since Joe Biden has problems dealing with the smokescreen Trump has thrown up.

The Moderators are harping on Healthcare Reform, once again, and I wish the candidates on stage would have the courage to say what I think they feel, namely that it is difficult to explain the most complicated plan ever addressed in a presidential debate on a public stage.  If any of these folks is elected president, certainly it would be good to have a plan ready, for running through Congress.  But it can wait!  We don't need to know all the details before the election.  We only need to know the broad outlines.  I want Medicare for All!  (No, no, that's terrible!)  Ok, then, Medicare only for those you think ought to have it.  What's the big deal, at this point?

I saw, with approval, Tom Styer agreeing with Bernie Sanders that billionaires should not exist in this day and age.  So far, full marks for Tom Styer's values.  But I have seen that the ultra-rich have very nuanced social values, so we have to wait and see.

Tulsi Gabbard has unexpected support from the Alt-Right, including even David (Somebody), the former Grand Wizard of the KKK.  She has gone on the record as being unhappy about this state of affairs.

She has also met with Assad, the Syrian dictator, and this makes me unhappy.  She also seems to be in support of condemning Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which makes me actually quite happy.  I do not think Israel should be permitted to expand its territory as it wishes, with or without US support.  The Israeli government has thoroughly discredited itself.

All the candidates, at least in the segments that I was able to see, spoke articulately and moderately, and reasonably.  (I felt that Kamala Harris tended to mumble, which was a problem for me personally.)  Kamala Harris was unhappy with Elizabeth Warren failing to call for Trump to be taken off Twitter.  I don't know about Warren, but I don't think it is appropriate to deny Twitter access to specific individuals, unless they have broken the Twitter rules in some clear way.  (Maybe Trump has; I don't know.)

Joe Biden has got into trouble because his son has got into international business deals that compromise Joe.  At the time that Hunter Biden involved himself in Ukrainian business, we did not know that Joe Biden II was going to run for president.  Even if he had known, I don't see how he could stop an adult son from pursuing any business he wants.  If it gets too politically messy, Joe Biden will have to take the hit, just as Trump must take the hit for his son-in-law fooling around with Israeli politics.

All these candidates are fine by me.  I can see some of them being able to more easily muster a group of advisors and specialists of whom the nation will approve than, others.  But there isn't a single one of them who is likely to be problematic.  Perhaps Joe Biden should step aside, because he would have trouble responding instantly to a pointed question.  But a president seldom has to do that.

I would like it if all these twelve candidates continued in the race (without having to spend any more money), and we could dispense with the debates.  I do not particularly enjoy watching the candidates needle each other.  It would also be good if Michael Bennett managed to get in as a 13th candidate; there was a strong following that was hoping he would make it.  Unfortunately, his poll numbers were not high enough.

There is some news that two of the young Democrat women in Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, and Ilhan Omar, have declared support for Bernie Sanders.

Finally, Tulsi Gabbard had expressed the feeling that the DNC is trying too hard to manipulate the choice of nominee, by influencing the debates and the rules.  She had threatened to boycott the October debate, and that would have been sad.  Though she seems the most conservative of the candidates, certainly as far as foreign policy is concerned, I think that she is an excellent prospect for president, if not in 2020, then in a later year.

Archimedes