Washington Post called it a “fiery…two-hour free-for-all that sizzled with animosity.” New York Times reported “candidates turned on one another in scorching and personal terms”. Associated Press declared it a “debate night brawl” that “threatened to further muddy the party’s urgent quest to defeat Presidential Donald Trump”.
On today’s BradCast [audio link posted below], we dive in to those murky and troubled waters to make sense — where there is room to make it — of the raucous Democratic Debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday night in advance of Saturday’s Nevada Caucuses, next Saturday’s South Carolina Primary and March 3rd’s Super Tuesday Primaries in more than a dozen states just three days later.
The melee at the Paris Hotel and Casino featured VT Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Veep Joe Biden, MA Sen. Elizabeth Warren, MN Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg and, in his first-ever appearance in a 2020 Presidential debate (despite not even being on any ballot until March 3rd), former Republican NYC Mayor turned Democratic billionaire candidate Michael Bloomberg — who did not, I think its fair to say, receive a very warm welcome from his fellow contenders.
We’re joined today for special coverage of as much of the wild evening as we can fit in, by former Editor-in-Chief of Rewire.news, JODI JACOBSON and longtime activist, reporter, author and documentarian DAVID BENDER, Political Director of the Progressive Voices Network. While slightly more collegial, suffice to say our coverage of Wednesday night’s forum was no less challenging at times than the debate itself on several different levels.
Jacobson: “I’m a little shocked at everybody having vapors over this. I think it’s past time. For crying out loud, we’re facing existential crises of so many kinds. We’re facing a true threat to our democracy, which is being dismantled daily…We’ve got climate crises bearing down on us…And I am not clear why people don’t think we should be angry and we should be fighting hard.”
Bender: “What I saw last night in this debate is a very, very happy Donald Trump…As Jodi said, we’re facing an existential threat to the country, and what we’ve got to deal with it is a circular firing squad. I’ve been to every convention since 1968, and let me say, this is absolutely par for the course when Democrats get to a place when they’re trying to take one another out and forget that there is something much larger.”
That’s just the tip of our special coverage iceberg today. Hopefully, it is at least as interesting and perhaps even more enlightening than the Dems’ 9th 2020 Presidential Debate last night in Vegas. We’ll let you decide. Please tune in for some fascinating insight, occasionally frustrating confrontation, and a whole lot of well-informed opinion…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://BradBlog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_DavidBender-JodiJacobson-DemDebateVegas_022020mp3]
After all the horses left the barn, they closed the door and expressed regret. The supposedly “experienced” candidates spent the night attacking each other. They blew an opportunity to make the case against the gentleman from New York before an audience of twenty million. Meanwhile, a nobody has been calling him the Chief Traitor from the beginning.