Who Won the Debate? Hillary Clinton Is Given the Edge

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont faced off in a Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Mich., on Sunday night, and after finding some early agreement over the state’s mishandling of the water crisis there, the two clashed for the rest of the night on questions including campaign finance, gun control and the auto bailout.

Commentators and pundits shared the opinion that there were no campaign-altering moments, though Mr. Sanders, who was on the attack throughout, occasionally seemed to lose his cool and stumbled a bit when discussing race. Mrs. Clinton managed to stay on her game and stirred excitement by taking some shots at Donald J. Trump. In the end, Democrats were most satisfied that their candidates mustered more decorum than the Republicans.



“I think Hillary Clinton got the better of it tonight. Counterpunched better in key moments. Sanders better on God, fracking and closing statements.” — Dante Atkins, contributing editor to the liberal website Daily Kos


“Clinton came prepared to the CNN debate and more than held her own, preventing Sanders from the clear victory he needs to change the trajectory of the race ahead of Michigan’s primary on Tuesday.” — Alex Seitz-Wald, MSNBC political reporter

“Sanders had a mixed night. Excellent on the class stuff, very moving on what being Jewish meant to him. But a bit too testy at times.” — Jeet Heer, senior editor at The New Republic

“Can someone tell Bernie Sanders to be black in America isn’t limited to living in a ghetto or being poor? Racism hits middle-class blacks, too.” — Roland Martin, managing editor of NewsOne Now

“I mean, Bernie means well. But he hasn’t spent a lot of time talking with or to or about black people in about 40 years.” — Joel Anderson, BuzzFeed News reporter


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/us/politics/who-won-the-debate.html?_r=0

I thought both of our candidates acquitted themselves admirably and would be infinitely better presidents than our opponents on the other side of the aisle.

[Vattel]

1. One thing I hate about debates

is all of the silly discussion about who got in a good zinger here or a nice counterpunch there, who stumbled on this line, or who seemed pissed off or sleepy, etc.

We are not electing someone to be on a debate team. Neither Sanders nor Clinton are particularly good debaters, though both are not bad at it. (Obama is much better than either.) But Sanders' record is so far better than Clintons in so many areas that voting for Clinton would be a huge mistake even if she cleaned his clock every time they debated.

[pat_k]

2. Discussion in Detroit Free Press is a split decision.

http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/03/06/debate-coaches-grade-clinton-sanders-after-democratic-debate-flint/81416460/