I watched most of the Democratic Debate last night via TiVo Delay. I wasn't really impressed by anyone and this morning, surfing the ol' web, I see a pretty wide range of reactions to it. F'rinstance, Matt Yglesias thought Mike Bloomberg did himself a lot of damage but Kevin Drum thought Mayor Mike did OK.
A check of the fact-checking sites (like this one) shows that every single candidate up there — including yours, no matter who he or she is — said something utterly untrue about one or more of their opponents. A few of them got pretty big applause from their supporters with false charges…and one of the things those supporters hate about Trump is that he says false things to get applause.
Wrestling as I am with the challenge of marking my ballot, I was kinda hoping my opinion of one of them would soar and that didn't happen. I love Elizabeth Warren when she bests her opponents by being smarter and better-informed than they are. Last night, I thought, she was scoring her points by being more strident and outraged…and, if all the fact-checkers I've read this morning are right and I think they are, accusing Bloomberg of some things he didn't do.
And Bloomberg did not impress me with the way he dealt with the many attacks made on him. I thought one point in his favor would be that if he got the nomination and if Trump was willing to debate, he'd mop the floor with him. Based on last night, I think my cleaning lady is doing better mopping with our Swiffer WetJet®.
Did anyone remind these people that an important part of all their platforms is that Trump is such a dangerous, horrible president that Goal Numero Uno is that he must be defeated and they all think anyone — including their opponents for the nomination — would be a huge improvement? I don't think Bloomberg can get the nomination but if he did, how could Warren or even Sanders now pivot and say he'd be that much better than what we have now? They didn't need to damage the man that much. The press is doing that for them.
So who would I vote for if I had to vote right this minute? Probably Bernie but I'm still not sure.