If you were smart, you skipped four hours of frightening DNC infomercials. Alas, I sat through four hours of so-called debates that can be summarized as thus: one night of economic denial and another of virtue signaling. Two gatherings of Democratic president wannabes revealed a 50-50 blend of ignorance and venom. And poor old Joe Biden surely deserved better.
In the first debate, ten Democrats agreed Republicans have driven the US economy back into the ditch – again! They argued Trump’s tax cuts have helped only the top 1% of Americans, countering with a socialist smorgasbord for the forgotten majority in America. Offering “free stuff” is one thing, but basing promises on false premises makes them no better than Trump in the character debate. Noisy, liberal and ignorant is no way to win the White House.
It is a fact the unemployment rate is currently 3.6 percent, and it is historically low for the identity groups Democrats claim to protect: 2.3% for veterans, 3.1% for women, 3.5% for high school graduates, 4.2% for Hispanics, 6.2% for Blacks, and 6.3% for the disabled. Further, the Federal Reserve is calling this a full employment economy that is finally helping low-income communities.
In fact, hourly wages have increased 7 percent since Trump was elected – and that increase is a staggering 11 percent for production and non-supervisory workers (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). Yet, there was Elizabeth Warren proclaiming the economy was “doing great for a thiner and thinner slice at the top” and Tim Ryan crying the bottom “hasn’t seen a raise since 1980” (the bottom 80% has actually enjoyed a 32% income rise since 1979).
If the first debate was notable for its widespread economic ignorance, then the second won the Poor Sport award. Fellow Democrats took turns dope-slapping Joe Biden, starting with California congressman Eric Swalwell, who proclaimed Biden too old: “If we are going to solve the issue, pass the torch…to a new generation of Americans.”
Not to be outdone, Kamala Harris cut into Joe Biden because he had befriended two southern senators, James Eastland (D-MS) and Herman Talmadge (D-GA), and opposed school busing in the 70s. Credit Harris for reviving her campaign, but remember she took cheap shots to do so.
Biden’s reference to working with Eastland and Talmadge were emblematic of his ability to restore civility to Washington, which is sorely in need of bipartisanship. His metamessage was clear: if I can work with Jim Crow Dixiecrats, then I can work with Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Kevin Brady (R-TX). I suspect Kamala Harris and Corey Booker understood his context, but played the race card anyway.
It is true Joe Biden spoke out against school busing as ineffective and divisive, but he consistently supported civil rights and opposed discrimination throughout his political career. As he cited in his own defense, he did preside over renewing the Voting Rights Act in 1982. With 2019 values and little regard for context, Ms. Harris tried to embarrass Mr. Biden anyway.
Nothing like a third-party testimonial to call out a racist. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school everyday. And that little girl was me.” Mind you, that “little girl” was born to an Indian oncologist and Jamaican college professor (Stanford) in 1964 and now has an annual household income of $1.9 million.
If you watched Senator Harris (D-CA) grill William Barr, Neil Gorsuch, Bret Kavanaugh, or Jeff Sessions, then you know she has an admirable mind and multiple mean bones in her body. She will never-ever become the bipartisan statesman Joe Biden has always been. She scored some points and looked mighty rude, but that was the tenor of the evening.
The first debates beg the question: whose vote were these candidates wooing? Hard to say, because they promised so much free stuff and threatened so many constituents. However, there were some definite losers:
TOO MEAN – Kamala Harris (have you been reading?). Kirsten Gillibrand and Eric Swalwell (the buttinsky twins).
TOO WEIRD – Beto O’Rourke (estupid espanish esplaining) and Marianne Williamson (dropped the “brown acid” despite the warning – seriously, dude).
TOO FORGETTABLE – John Hickenlooper (name too big for number sticker), Andrew Yang (did not pack a tie), and Michael Bennet (went with the silent treatment and it did not work).
Seriously, I’m not watching another Democrat debate until the field drops down to six – – or Chris Rock enters the race.