The Second Democratic Debate Proved That Bernie Really Has Transformed the Party

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Kamala Harris silenced the stage early in the second night’s debate, saying: “America does not want to witness a food fight, they want to know how we are going to put food on their table.” That pre-packaged line is of course wrong. Debate audiences tend to be more engaged voters. Most watch the debates like NASCAR fans watch the speedway: They may enjoy the jockeying of the cars, but they are waiting for the collision. What’s actually said in a debate—particularly about policy—has less import than the legend that gets formed about it in the days following in social and mass media. The put downs and bust ups are more memorable than the policy positions. Here are five takeaways from the debate this week.

(snip)

Yet Sanders’ ideas now frame the debate in the Democratic Party—an extraordinary victory for progressives. Even Joe Biden now endorses a $15.00 minimum wage, tuition free college, a Green New Deal, and—in reaction to Sanders’ call for Medicare for All—a public option in Obamacare. With Sanders and Warren leading the way, the Democratic candidates are forced to address the glaring, structural inequities and failures of our current system. Biden would prefer a campaign focused on a restoration to normalcy after Trump. But even the moderate Democrats agree there is no going back. Trump is a symptom not a cause, beating him is necessary but not sufficient. As Warren put it, “When you’ve got a government, when you’ve got an economy that does great for those with money and isn’t doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple. We need to call it out. We need to attack it head on. And we need to make structural change in our government, in our economy, and in our country. Conservative pundits like David Brooks fret that Democratic populism will leave “moderates homeless.” In fact, the populist energy driving the debate gives whomever emerges with the nomination a far greater chance against Trump.

Biden is particularly ill equipped to deal with the progressive ideas and movements that are driving the debate. The new populist surge – on right and left – arises because of the catastrophic failures of the center that Biden personifies. Biden, a Democratic stalwart in the Senate and the Obama White House, is burdened with a record now exposed as continually getting it wrong. Harris defenestrated him on busing and on the harsh reality of the Obama deportation policy. Sanders took him on for supporting the war in Iraq, surely the greatest foreign policy debacle since Vietnam. Bennett challenged his boast about the Obama budget deal that kept most of the Bush tax cuts in place and put harsh lids on domestic spending. No one pressed him on his support for NAFTA, China in the WTO and the TPP or his contribution to mass incarceration but they will in the future. The list goes on. Experience is a wonderful asset except when the record consists of one of one bad call after another. Biden had a bad night last night, but it could easily get worse.

(snip)

On the second night, in his remorseless fashion, Sanders used his closing to lay down the marker for every candidate: “Nothing will change unless we have the guts to take on Wall Street, the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the military-industrial complex and the fossil fuel industry. If we don’t have the guts to take them on, we’ll continue to have plans, we’ll continue to have talk and the rich will get richer and everybody else will be struggling.” As voters try to sort through the Democratic contenders, that is a pretty good standard to measure them by.


https://www.thenation.com/article/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-kamala-harris-biden/

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Reading this while drinking coffee from my Bernie (2016) mug...

He's not my primary pick this time, but I really liked him last night.

[Uncle Joe]

2. ....

[lostnfound]

10. LOL. Same boat. Well, that comment was a very good and honest one...

But there was way too much unfocused stress coming from most of the candidates last night. In my opinion the debate on Wednesday night showed the nation who the Democratic Party is, in a better light.

[jalan48]

3. He's generated a lot of animosity on the part of the big financial interests. Look for the continued

negative articles and press. It's clear who he poses a threat to.

[Uncle Joe]

5. I couldn't agree more jalan.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. Reminded of that saying about taking flak.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

4. Right as usual Uncle Joe!! We will forever owe Bernie a debt of gratitude for leading our Party...

in the right direction. Go Bernie!! (BTW, great debate performance by Bernie!!)


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Uncle Joe]

9. I agree on all counts InAbLuEsTaTe,

Bernie is a visionary.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

11. So damn proud of what Bernie's ALREADY accomplished... and he's not done yet!!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[SidDithers]

7. And in the process, made himself irrelevant...nt

Sid

[CentralMass]

8. K&R

[bluewater]

12. K&R

[W_HAMILTON]

13. Article from October 22, 2015:

Vice President Joe Biden, announcing on Wednesday that he will not enter the 2016 presidential race, called for a national commitment to free public higher education that goes beyond what the Obama administration has proposed.

“While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent,” Biden said, promising to speak out on a range of issues, including access to education.

Biden suggested that it was time to go further than President Obama’s plan for tuition-free community college, which the administration has framed as an expansion of universal public education beyond high school.

“We're fighting for 14 years -- we need to commit to 16 years of free public education for all our children,” he said. “We know that 12 years of public education is not enough. As a nation, let's make the same commitment to a college education today that we made to a high school education a hundred years ago."

Taken from: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/22/biden-opting-out-2016-run-backs-four-years-free-public-college

I hope Sanders and his supporters don't strain a muscle patting themselves on the back, though.

[W_HAMILTON]

14. Article from September 10, 2015:

Vice President Biden on Thursday praised New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s push for a statewide $15 minimum wage, calling for a “decent, living wage.”

He said Cuomo's call for phasing in a statewide $15 minimum wage for all industries by 2021 was a “smart, reasonable plan.”

“You're going to make every single governor in every state in America look at themselves. It's going to have a profound impact,” Biden said to Cuomo at the Javits Center in New York City.

The vice president’s comments come as he considers entering the 2016 White House race. Calls for the $15 minimum wage could be popular with liberal voters in Democratic primaries.

Cuomo, a Democrat, announced Thursday that the state Department of Labor had accepted his state wage board's recommendation for raising fast-food workers' wages to $15 an hour.

He and Biden rallied for New York to become the first state in the country to adopt the $15 minimum wage. Several cities, such as Los Angeles and Seattle, have adopted plans to reach that level.

Taken from: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/253287-biden-signals-support-for-15-minimun-wage

Again, be sure to properly stretch before patting yourself on the back!

[msongs]

15. bernie is a huge supporter of the military industrial complex nt

[emulatorloo]

16. Bernie's absolutely great. He didn't invent progressivism though. He's a great advocate for

Progressive policy and that’s wonderful.

I think the author is trying too hard to diminish the accomplishments of the other candidates though. All of them believe in the goals and core values of progressivism. We have a lot of great candidates out there.