Last night, THE NEW YORK TIMES and CNN hosted the latest Democratic Party presidential debate. It was not a pretty sight.
Ugliest of all? War Hawk Joe Biden screaming at Elizabeth Warren.
- Biden yelling at Warren made me deeply uncomfortable while watching it live. Watching it a second time just made me angry. @JoeBiden needs to drop out.
Please note, you have never seen anything like that before in a debate of would-be presidential candidates or in a presidential debate. This was not just loud, this was bullying, this was let me try obliterate you.
It was conduct unbecoming.
Joe made very clear how he actually feels about women.
And everyone should be objecting to his behavior. It was outrageous.
And they should be noting that it was not even his time to talk.
As usual, Joe treated the debate as though it was THE JOE BIDEN SHOW and everyone else was a supporting player. He interrupted repeatedly.
When he started raging at Elizabeth Warren, it wasn't his turn to speak. That didn't stop him.
It was outrageous and you were left with the feeling that, if cameras hadn't been present, you would be witnessing a domestic violence incident.
There is no excuse for his behavior. It was insulting and it was outrageous.
- Here's me pitching in a handful of dirt for the grave you dug yourself tonight. Yelling at women, really? I mean the incoherent babbling was bad enough but to throw rude on top of that....#ByeByeBiden
- Arrogant old man yelling at an accomplished woman about what HE did for her. We’ve all seen this picture before. Biden, drop out. You are blatantly out of touch. I can’t think of a soul who supports you. You ruined any cute “Uncle Joe” legacy you had. #Warren2020 #DemDebate
It is time for Joe to go. That was abuse, right there on the stage. His actions should not be defended. He has no control over himself.
- OMFG Joe Biden yelling in Warren's face "I got you those votes!" wtf. Every woman knows that feeling of a fragile man's feelings getting hurt over a woman's success. gtfoh. #DemDebate
- F**k Joe Biden for yelling at Warren. #DemDebate
- Why is Joe Biden yelling at Elizabeth Warren? Not a good look #DemocraticDebate
- Wow. @JoeBiden yelling at Elizabeth Warren to be grateful for “what he did” for her. Not a great look, Joe. #DemDebate
- Joe Biden yelling at Elizabeth Warren should go over well #DemocraticDebate
- Joe Biden yelling at Senator Warren and then she sonned him with the Obama shout out #DemDebate
- Joe Biden yelling at Warren when she points out that she has done big things is not a good look #DemDebate
Some people have spent the last years worrying about Donald Trump having the nuclear codes. Now someone wants to give them to rageaholic Joe Biden?
- Lucy Flores RetweetedThis moment. This was a meltdown but nobody is questioning his decorum like they did Castro last debate. He straight up yelled at her and took credit for her work.
- Lucy Flores Retweeted
Joe needs to go. He has yet again demonstrated that he is not fit for the presidency. He did so by attempting to bully and terrorize a woman on stage. That Elizabeth Warren kept her cool is a testament to her strength and argues that she would handle an attack on stage from Donald Trump quite well.
As Ava and I noted last night "TV: Let's kill Elizabeth!" was the theme of the debate.
Let's move over to Kamala Harris who begged America to indulge her yet again as she went off on a tangent about something trivial and unimportant. Acting like the always injured Ellen on thirty-something, convinced Hope had somehow again sleighted her, Kamala wanted to make it not about America but all about her hurt feelings.
The most important issue -- and she went after Elizabeth for this -- how could Elizabeth not support Kamala's plan to get Donald Trump removed from Twitter?
How!!!!!!
Doesn't Eliabeth know that war, poverty, starvation, all of it is a distant second to getting Donald Trump off Twitter!
Until last night, Maya Rudolph did the best parody of Kamala. After last night, no one mocks Kamala more than Kamala herself.
As for the Twitter issue, it's political speech and it's Constitutionally protected. Kamala really doesn't know the law which is rather surprising since she was Attorney General for the state of California. But then, as many have noted (even Tulsi to her face at the July debate), Kamala's AG record is one of hiding evidence and wrongful convictions.
Kamala can't compete with Donald -- or doesn't think she can -- so she wants to silence him.
Now I would love to get a through a day where whatever idiotic thing Donald Tweeted didn't consumer hours of 'news' (while real issues were ignored) but his Twitter feed is a good thing. It will give historians a wealth of information that no other president has provided. It makes clear what he thinks and that's a good thing -- know your enemy. And, again, it's political speech. He is the President of the United States, whether you like it or not.
Kamala has wasted everyone's time yet again. She's a joke at this debate, she was a joke at the last one and the one before.
Fat Amy wanted to attack Elizabeth repeatedly as well. Amy Kobuchar, the candidate no one wanted, is convinced that she's enough of a sell out to woo those corporatist donors and supporters that are worried Joe is imploding. So she used last night to go after Elizabeth over and over. Fat Amy wants you to know that, when not grazing, she can defeat Trump because, well, Minnesota!
She is one of two US senators from Minnesota and, no offense, Amy, but Minnesota is part of the United States, it is not the United States.
Amy's image in the press has been the boss from hell. On stage at the debates, she's tried to counteract that with (bad) attempts at humor. Last night, she was joking about her daughter -- when not making a joke of herself.
Amy's been in the Senate for a long, long time and she has nothing to show for it.
Iraq came up briefly in the debate. Not in any serious way. No one wanted to note that over 100 protesters were killed by the Iraqi government this month. No one wanted to touch that. But in a superficial manner, Iraq did come up. (I'm using the WASHINGTON POST transcript.)
COOPER:
Congresswoman Gabbard, last week you said that American troops should
get out of Syria now. You don't agree with how the president handled the
withdrawal. What would you have done differently? How would you have
pulled out troops without the bloodshed we're seeing now?
GABBARD:
Well, first of all, we've got to understand the reality of the
situation there, which is that the slaughter of the Kurds being done by
Turkey is yet another negative consequence of the regime change war that
we've been waging in Syria.
Donald
Trump has the blood of the Kurds on his hand, but so do many of the
politicians in our country from both parties who have supported this
ongoing regime change war in Syria that started in 2011, along with many
in the mainstream media, who have been championing and cheerleading
this regime change war.
Not
only that, but the New York Times and CNN have also smeared veterans
like myself for calling for an end to this regime change war. Just two
days ago, the New York Times put out an article saying that I'm a
Russian asset and an Assad apologist and all these different smears.
This morning, a CNN commentator said on national television that I'm an
asset of Russia. Completely despicable.
As
president, I will end these regime change wars by doing two things --
ending the draconian sanctions that are really a modern-day siege the
likes of which we are seeing Saudi Arabia wage against Yemen, that have
caused tens of thousands of Syrian civilians to die and to starve, and I
would make sure that we stop supporting terrorists like Al Qaida in
Syria who have been the ground force in this ongoing regime change war.
COOPER: Thank you.
GABBARD: I'd like to ask Senator Warren if she would join me in calling for an end to this regime change war in Syria, finally.
WARREN:
So, look, I think that we ought to get out of the Middle East. I don't
think we should have troops in the Middle East. But we have to do it the
right way, the smart way.
What
this president has done is that he has sucked up to dictators, he has
made impulsive decisions that often his own team doesn't understand, he
has cut and run on our allies, and he has enriched himself at the
expense of the United States of America. In Syria, he has created a
bigger-than-ever humanitarian crisis. He has helped ISIS get another
foothold, a new lease on life.
I sit on the Armed Services Committee. I talk with our military leaders about this.
COOPER: Thank you, Senator.
WARREN: I was in Iraq and went through the neighborhoods that ISIS destroyed.
COOPER: Thank you.
WARREN: We need to get out, but we need to do this through a negotiated solution. There is no military solution in this region.
COOPER:
Thank you, Senator. Mayor Buttigieg, Mayor Buttigieg, like many of your
fellow candidates on the stage, you've been calling for an end to
endless wars. What's your response on Syria?
BUTTIGIEG:
Well, respectfully, Congresswoman, I think that is dead wrong. The
slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence.
It's a consequence of a withdrawal and a betrayal by this president of
American allies and American values.
Look,
I didn't think we should have gone to Iraq in the first place. I think
we need to get out of Afghanistan. But it's also the case that a small
number of specialized, special operations forces and intelligence
capabilities were the only thing that stood between that part of Syria
and what we're seeing now, which is the beginning of a genocide and the
resurgence of ISIS.
Meanwhile,
soldiers in the field are reporting that for the first time they feel
ashamed -- ashamed -- of what their country has done. We saw the
spectacle, the horrifying sight of a woman with the lifeless body of her
child in her arms asking, what the hell happened to American
leadership?
And
when I was deployed, I knew one of the things keeping me safe was the
fact that the flag on my shoulder represented a country known to keep
its word. And our allies knew it and our enemies knew it.
COOPER: Thank you, Mayor.
BUTTIGIEG: You take that away, you are taking away what makes America America.
COOPER: Thank you, Mayor.
BUTTIGIEG: It makes our troops and the world a much more dangerous place.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Congresswoman Gabbard, your response?
GABBARD:
Yeah, absolutely. So, really, what you're saying, Mayor Pete, is that
you would continue to support having U.S. troops in Syria for an
indefinite period of time to continue this regime change war that has
caused so many refugees to flee Syria, that you would continue to have
our country involved in a war that has undermined our national security,
you would continue this policy of the U.S. actually providing arms in
support to terrorist groups in Syria, like Al Qaida, HTS, al-Nusra and
others, because they are the ones who have been the ground force in this
regime change war? That's really what you're saying?
COOPER: Mayor Pete -- Mayor Buttigieg?
BUTTIGIEG:
No, you can embrace -- or you can put an end to endless war without
embracing Donald Trump's policy, as you're doing.
GABBARD: Will you end the regime change war, is the question.
BUTTIGIEG: What we are doing...
GABBARD: What is an endless war if it's not a regime change war?
COOPER: Allow him to respond. Please allow him to respond.
BUTTIGIEG:
What we are doing -- or what we were doing in Syria was keeping our
word. Part of what makes it possible for the United States to get people
to put their lives on the line to back us up is the idea that we will
back them up, too.
When
I was deployed, not just the Afghan National Army forces, but the
janitors put their lives on the line just by working with U.S. forces. I
would have a hard time today looking an Afghan civilian or soldier in
the eye after what just happened over there. And it is undermining the
honor of our soldiers. You take away the honor of our soldiers, you
might as well go after their body armor next.
This president has betrayed American values. Our credibility has been tattered.
"Allow him to respond! Please allow him to respond!" Oh, Anderson, thinking with your cock again. We'll come back to the little rat that is Pete in just a moment. But it is so curious that Anderson rushed to defend the object of his affection but didn't do a damn thing when it was Elizabeth's turn to speak and Joe Biden wouldn't stop interrupting her to yell at her. We see where your loyalties are, Anderson. Keep pretending you're objective -- maybe you'll convince yourself but no one else will buy it.
Also note that, NYT's Marc Lacey, looking like Peter Lorre, insisted at the top of the debate, "Please refrain from interrupting your fellow candidates, as that will count against your time."
When, Lacey, when is that ever going to happen?
Joe interrupted everyone -- as usual. When did he lose any time for that?
Stop announcing these rules if you don't enforce them.
Back to the cheese eater, now US troops are upset?
Who died and said a little person could speak for all US troops? That's the first question. Second, we know you're young and immature but do you not remember Abu Ghraib.
Donald Trump is such an offense to you, Petey, but in the real world, the US government -- even under Saint Barack -- has done many things that have outraged. Just because you choose to ignore it does not make it go away.
We'll pick up on the debate again tomorrow.
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