Sunday School 9/15/19

Several of the 2020 Dems made the rounds this morning,  including Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg (This Week), Beto O'Rourke and Cory Booker (MTP), and Buttigieg and Andrew Yang (CNN's SOTU). Since Klobuchar was the focus of last week's post, I'm skipping her today.

Let's start with George Stephanopoulos and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was considered by some (me included) to be one of the winners of Thursday's debate.

They discussed Buttigieg's widely misinterpreted comment Thursday night about the war in Afghanistan; he said, in part, that "the best way not to be caught up on endless wars is to avoid starting one in the first place." Stephanopoulos asked if he "misspoke" when he said we started it.  Buttigieg (who left Afghanistan five years ago today) said

I did not say that the US started the war; what I'm saying is the lesson is that wars are difficult to end... we went to war in Afghanistan because the United States was attacked. And right now our mission in Afghanistan should be to ensure that we are never attacked as a consequence of something happening in that country, something that I believe we can achieve without an open-ended commitment of ground troops. 

Moving to the debate, Buttigieg talked about needing "ideas that are bold enough to actually meet the challenge of the moment we're in and also capable of unifying the country" and he spoke about unifying the majority of Americans on  "pretty much everything" the Dems are putting out there.

Shame on us if we can't gather a majority of American who already agree with us on a majority of issues, and use that not only to win an election, but to govern well. 

He was asked very similar questions on CNN, and gave consistent answers.

Now, entrepreneur Andrew Yang's turn; he was asked about reaction to his Freedom Dividend contest, launched during the debate. I suspect I'm not the only one surprised to learn that Yang has been giving people the Dividend for months now. He said the idea is gaining traction, and

...Americans are waking up to the fact that we can solve our own problems if we have a dividend that gives us some extra resources to do so. 

He also said 'an army of lawyers" have signed off on him giving campaign money to people, and then said he wanted to reflect on the fact that if he

gave a million dollars to a media company or consultants or hired a small army of canvassers, no one would blink an eye, but if we give the money directly to the American people, somehow that's problematic. So, it just speaks directly to how messed up our system is...

They also talked about racism towards Asian-Americans. Yang forgave new SNL comic Shane Gillis, who apparently has used Asian-American slurs generally, as well as specifically directed towards Yang, in his act. Yang said that anti-Asian epithets are "not taken as seriously" as slurs against others.

But at the same time, bigger picture, I believe that our country has become excessively punitive and vindictive about remarks that people find offensive or racist and that we need to try and move beyond that if we can...

On his own comments, such as joking, that he likes math, or knows a lot of doctors,

...I think Americans are very smart. And that they can actually see right through that kind of myth and if anything, by poking fun at it I'm making Americans reflect a little bit more on them.

He also agrees with proposed legislation that would pay NCAA student-athletes, saying he would push for similar legislation as president. He said he would - 100% - and complimented California's Gavin Newsom for pushing the legislation.

To me it is immoral that you have institutions that are profiting to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases and then they are saying these athletes are amateurs and they can't receive a dime. 

Tuning to MTP, where former Congressman Beto O'Rourke was up first talking about reaction to his "hell yeah, we're taking away your AR-15s and AK-47s" which has drawn consternation both on the record and off.

I think this just shows you how screwed up the priorities in Washington DC are...Talking to those doctors and trauma surgeons who treated those victims in El Paso, they said "these are wounds of war..." I refuse to accept that. 

Todd asked what O'Rourke's interpretation of the Second Amendment allows and doesn't allow; O'Rourke said getting the forced buyback could be done via the Commerce Clause, without harm to the Second Amendment, and that

...this is constitutionally sound. This is absolutely necessary, if we care about the lives of our fellow Americans. 

Todd also asked, referencing O'Rourke's propensity for profanity, if he was frustrated that sometimes it takes that kind of theatrics to get the media's attention. O'Rourke said he's just trying to speak honestly, without worrying about the polls or focus groups.

And then, as the rest of the hosts did, Todd asked about Joe Biden, his fitness for the race, whether that's a legitimate question to be debating, and if O'Rourke had any concerns himself.

Oh, no. I couldn't care less about that, to be honest with you. I was listening to you opening package. I mean, who the hell cares, right? 

Basically, he said there's more important stuff to be talking about than each other.

And finally, let's close with Senator Cory Booker, whose interview started with a question about this statement made by NY Times writer Maureen Dowd about the crowded field of Dems:

It's a paradox wrapped in an oxymoron about a moron. Trump's faux authenticity somehow makes the Democratic candidates seem more packaged, more stuck in politician speak.

Chuck Todd wondered if Booker was concerned about how the country sees the Dems.

No, not at all. … you're seeing a natural competition of ideas. So I'm not worried. We have to go through this. It's part of the process. It's a good thing. 

When Todd said Booker appeared to be trying to bridge the divide between the progressive and moderate candidates, Booker agreed; he talked about the 'bright lanes' that people are put in (and expected to stay in) and he hates that. We're the good guys, basically, and

We can put the idea out there but walk and chew gum at the same time. In other words, not sacrifice progress for purity.

And, wrapping things up with a question on his seeming inability to move up in the polls, Booker offered this

The polls have never been predictive this far out. In fact, if you're polling ahead right now, you should worry because we've never in my lifetime and yours had somebody who was polling ahead this far out that went on to the presidency...We're going to win this the same way I beat a machine in Newark, New Jersey: through organizing, through building a team that's going to win.

Build your ground game, everyone - build your ground game.

I'll see you around campus.