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I missed some of the 'Commander in Chief' section, but I did catch that too many of these candidates have been around too long, in that they're able to tell us how they voted 15 or 20-odd years ago, and they're able to argue about it with each other, as did Papa Joe Biden and TGFV.
Mayor Pete was able to get in a bit of a dig at that, noting that he served with people too young to remember the votes those two, and Warren too, I think, were talking about -- and that the people who are enlisting today might not even have been alive on 9/11, so the fact that we're using really old Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) to justify actions that are being taken now is kind of odd. Klobuchar pointed to bipartisan support for a Senate bill to require a new AUMF for anything related to Iraq.
Warren and Steyer pointed to their judgment; the former is from a military family, sits on the Armed Services Committee, spends time with the troops, fights for their benefits and says that corruption in DC (defense contractors, lobbyists, DOD, members of Congress, and whatever administration is in office) puts them at risk. The latter focused on his experience dealing with international leaders in business and government, and says we need an outside perspective. He and Warren also agree that we're spending way too much money on defense.
Moving to trade, TGFV will not vote for the USMCA, basically saying that the incremental changes it will make are not enough, that it doesn't do anything about climate change, and even though the AFL-CIO supports is, the Machinists don't - and they support him. He also said he's sick and tired of trade deals being negotiated by corrupt CEOs, corrupt politicians, and corrupt everything and everyone else, and that trade deals are done to enrich multinational corporations, and he's sick of that too.
Warren, Klobuchar, and Buttigieg all support the new deal, even though it's only giving incremental benefit to workers and farmers - but incremental is better than nothing. Klobuchar pointed out that this is about real people and we should be talking about them, not ideological concepts - and if we don't do this, we can't take on China. They all also want to see climate and worker rights incorporated but again, take the win, now, for the people who desperately need the help, Skippy.
Warren also touched on how corporations and lobbyists are whispering in the ears of government negotiators, that needs to change, we need to call out the corruption of the trade deals and fix that. And we need climate people, we need farmers, we need workers, we need everyone else at the table during the negotiations and all of those things need to be included if we're going to let people do business with America - which is what everyone wants to do.
Biden says he's the best one to take this on, and that we need corporate responsibility and that no trade deal under a
Steyer on day one will eliminate Trump tariffs, eliminate special waivers, focus on farmers and workers and climate, because he four kids need us to fix it (and oh, by the way, Mayor Pete - you're the same age as Steyer's kids...jab, jab), to which Mayor Pete basically said talk is cheap, everyone's saying the right things about climate but it's time to start actually doing something about it.
The whole "a woman can't be elected president" turned out to be a nothingburger - it wasn't even an all-out 'he said, she said' because, while TGFV denied making the comment and pointed to all the wonderful things he's done for women, as well as to Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, as well as to kicking off a 'draft Warren push at some point in his really long career, for her part Warren didn't engage on her accusation, she was allowed to deflect to the larger question of who can win.
She and Klobuchar, Warren said, are the only people on the stage who have never lost an election. She herself if the only person up there to have beaten a Republican incumbent in 30 years, which lead to an eye-rolling conversation between her and TGFV about whether 1990 was "in 30 years" or not. Klobuchar has won all over the place (red, blue, purple, urban, rural, etc.), and that - along with competency - is what the Dems need to beat Trump, she said.
TGFV pointed out his grass's roots are deeper than the Warren's or anyone else's, and although he didn't come right out and say it, he's a better Larry David impersonator than the rest of them combined. Meanwhile, Papa Joe? He campaigned for 27 great women in 2018, he's got the broad-est (get it?) coalition, and I think he thinks it's cool that two women are on the stage with him.
On healthcare - this one's going to be hard summarize, but here goes. TGFV says his plan will cost substantially less than what people pay now; Biden says the people deserve to know how the candidates are going to pay for their plans and TGFV's plan is NOT paid for, and it's way too expensive compared to just expanding Obamacare. His own plan, Papa Joe says, limits drug costs, allows Medicare to negotiate prescription costs, limits increases in costs to the rate of medical inflation, and oops, I'm probably out of time but you get the drift.
TGFV argued that 'workers' are paying 20% of their income on health care, which is insane. I worked 40 years and NEVER paid that much for health care - EVER. And, the administrative nightmare, corrupt insurance companies and drug companies need to walk the proverbial plank and do what other countries do, whether anyone likes it or not.
Klobuchar correctly points out that the majority of people are not on board with the details of M4A, even though they like the concept. That's a tough row to hoe for the M4A plans, and they don't even touch addiction, mental health and our looming long-term care crisis.
Warren wants to start ending the suffering, using presidential powers, and then eventually get to M4a but corruption and whatnot, I think. And, even though she supports incremental changes on trade deals for workers and farmers and stuff, that's not enough here. And oh, by the way, the 1%, for your Bingo cards.
Klobuchar (along with Papa Joe and Mayor Pete) says we need to build on the ACA which by the way is 10 points more popular than Trump who wants to kill it, and her plan actually pays for everything. A plan, we need a plan, not a bunch of pipe dreams. We need things that will actually pass, like one of her bills with 34 cosponsors in the Senate.
Mayor Pete's plan, which allows you to keep your plan if you want to, requires some people to have to pay something for it, and that's OK with him - and it's way cheaper than the others. We need to focus on outcomes and benefits, not how "big" it is. Warren says he's wrong, we need to get help to families and stuff. Even though, Klobuchar noted, Warren will kick 149 million people off their current insurance, even if she says it won't.
Steyer supports the ACA with a public option - but also that government is being held hostage by drug companies, hospitals, and insurance companies. Or maybe that was Warren. Or TGFV, I can't tell half the time. And we need term limits, which has nothing directly to do with health care or health insurance or jobs or anything. but I agree -- we need term limits, so we wouldn't be having Dem debates with a bunch of old white folks with 100 years of public office between them.
TGFV was asked what happens to everyone who works in health care, their jobs and livelihoods and related jobs and livelihoods. He brushed it off, pretty much -- there's a trust fund, and job training and free college or something like that, but meanwhile he talked about waste, profiteering, and all that jazz - and got away with it. None of the other candidates had to even discuss that point and how their plans would handle that. And yes, Warren said, the government should get into the generic drug manufacturing business - so maybe that's where all those displaced workers can go?
On childcare and education, my favorite line was from TGFV who complained that childcare workers make less than fast food workers. I literally laughed out loud at that, coming from Mr. Fight for $15. A few of them want to limit childcare to a set percentage of income, with Mayor Pete saying if we didn't do that, we'd continue to have a gender employment gap. Warren wants free education, free childcare and free universal pre-K, regardless of income, except for the folks subject to her wealth tax would who would pay around $19M each for the rest of us to get the free stuff. And she'll raise the pay of childcare workers and teachers.
Biden was a single parent, he knows what it means to struggle, we need a $8K tax credit for childcare and oops, I'm out of time, maybe, or maybe not, but you get the drift.
Mayor Pete says we shouldn't be paying for free college for children of millionaires and billionaires, saying we need to spend the money we get where it matters: on things that benefit everyone, which paying for these kids to go to college doesn't do. Besides, the public expectation is education through 12th grade, not forever.
Klobuchar pointed out we need to invest where we need the training, not make blanket plans - home care workers, nursing assistants, electricians and plumbers - those are where the jobs are going to be, not for MBAs... And, Steyer said he kids should not be entitled to free colleges - that's not an appropriate expenditure of tax money, no matter who the money comes from.
On impeachment they all agreed it was necessary, wouldn't make it harder to run against Trump, won't embolden him (I mean honestly, he's already a jerk of epic proportions), and the senators have to do their duty. Warren said the c-word (corruption) again, and maybe again, on this part. Klobuchar said if they can't get four Republicans to vote for witnesses, they Rs might as well give Trump a crown and scepter, and this whole thing is a decency check on Trump.
The best answer on this was Steyer's response to the question on whether his spending millions saying Trump needs to be impeached will have been worth it if Trump is acquitted. In a nutshell, he said if someone doesn't think getting 8.5 million people motivated to sign petitions, to contact their elected officials, to stand up for what's right - if you don't think that's worth it, you have a very different opinion of what's right than he does. Way too few people responded with applause on that. I was disappointed.
On climate, they all agree we need to do stuff, they all agree we can't act alone, but we have to act and we have to include farmers as part of the process since they'll be part of the solution. And we have to deal with this where it hurts the most - in poor neighborhoods and in the impact to people of color who are hit by this more than others. And we can't forget taking care of farmers who won't be in business anymore, who can't be relocated to areas that are not flood prone, for example, and the same applies to factories.
Warren would put back in place the good Obama regs, roll back the bad Trump changes; stop all drilling and mining on public lands including offshore, and corruption. Klobuchar said natural gas is a 'transition' fuel to get us to carbon neutral, and we have to make people whole when we take away their livelihoods as we move where we want to be.
TGFV says the Green New Deal will solve all the world's problems, he helped write that damn bill too, or something. The arm-waving is very distracting to someone like me who has ADD. Papa Joe's been doing this for forty years, he knows what he's talking about, and he'll put back
And finally, the random questions, like
- maybe black folks have decided that they don't like Pete Buttigieg, rather than that they don't know enough about him. I thought that was a rhetorical question, but he tried to answer it, saying he continues to pick up endorsements from people of color and he'll be a president with a personal commitment to do the right thing by everyone.
- maybe it's going to be harder for TGFV because people don't want a socialist president; he seems unconcerned, saying he'll run a campaign proving that Trump is corrupt and the Democratic Socialists aren't. He's going to take the whole damn thing on and he's going to win.
They all chimed in on a question about the good economy and how to beat Trump who's already running on that issue, or how to beat him in general. Steyer built his multinational business on his own, without millions in daddy's seed money, and then he walked away and is now doing good things, not bad things like Trump. He can fight on this issue and win.
Buttigieg can win on that, because he's one of the people Trump pretends to be interested in and care about - and, by the way, he can bring faith into the picture in a real way, not the fake way Trump does. And Mayor Pete is a veteran, not a draft dodger.
Klobuchar says we want something different - we're tired of the 15,000 lies and counting Trump, and she's from flyover country - her home, her friends, her people are there. And her family trust is a very different one from his - but it's like the one most of us have.
Warren and her Republican brothers agree society that works for billionaires is bad, corporations not paying taxes is bad, and if they can agree, she's the one who can unite everyone and win.
Biden has been the object of Trump's affection longer than anyone, he laughed, and he's got support from blacks, the working class, from around the world, and he can't wait to debate Trump on the economy, because the American people are being clobbered.
And finally, closing arguments:
- Klobuchar: Trump thinks it's about him, she knows it's - the voters. They need someone like her to bring people along and who cares about the things that matter. It's easy to be a jerk like Trump or to have all kinds of ideological plans that won't ever see the light of day, but that's not going to beat him. If you're tired of all of that, she said, you've got a home with her.
- Steyer has played team sports all his live, and Americans are now his teammates. No one gets to run down the field and kick his teammates in the face, and that's what Trump does. Support him on caucus night, and you can save the world.
- Mayor Pete: join him to send not just Trump, but Trumpism, to the dust heap. End the dysfunction, join him if you can summon the courage to break from the past and change all of this nonsense. Caucus for him on the third.
- Warren: look at all this stuff we didn't talk about (a laundry list of individual bullet points that matter to individual pockets of Americans) but her heart is filled with hope that together we can build a coalition that can decide the fate of the country and when we build the movement we can make real change
- TGFV: good debate (arms waving) but we're not even talking about the important stuff (arms waving) people living paycheck to paycheck, living in the street, no guaranteed child care, only guaranteed arm waving, a broken criminal justice system, think big not small (size of arm waving matters) take on the 1% and the corporations. No mention of killing billionaires.
- Papa Joe: character is on the ballot - American character. Not hate, not xenophobia that is spewed by Trump. We can fundamentally (not literally, not even Joe Biden literally) restore decency and regain the respect of the world. We are the United States of America, dammit - there's nothing we can't do if we pull together. Oops, I'm out of time. Let's go do it!
Whew.
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