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THIS IS THE START OF MY DEM DEBATE 2, PART 2 THREAD. [My god, I can't believe I had to write it like that. In July. 2019.]
"Given that you have every candidate of color on this stage, race will come up," David Axelrod says.
SMH. GET IT TOGETHER, DAVID.
SMH. GET IT TOGETHER, DAVID.
How appalling is this CNN open?
Wow. Close. Protect your TVs tonight, all. 
me when i go to get a second coffee before noon
So, does Biden know the mic caught this?
OK, everyone agrees Biden wanted everyone to hear him call a 54-year-old US senator “kid.” It’s a choice!
What was the disruption?
Ah, this was directed to BdB then ... but was during Booker’s opening.
FIX KAMALA’S MIC, CNN.
OK, levels have been a bit adjusted. And, yes, it sounds like Dana’s mic also has some issues. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Strong Gillibrand entrance there.
CNN lost the plot here. And these candidates, for the most part, seem to be fighting the moderators as much as they are trying to get around the questions to explain what it is that they want to do.
It’s the same thing as last night, but, tonight the candidates are ready for Trump and one another — and CNN.
I have some breaking news here: It turns out that saying how you’re going to govern the country if elected takes more than 30 or 15 seconds.
Jake: I’m sorry Mr. Mayor, but you were cordial and didn’t attack anyone by name. I’d prefer that.
Harris: Let’s talk about math.
Me: Wait, she’s a prosecutor AND likes talking MATH? 😭
Me: Wait, she’s a prosecutor AND likes talking MATH? 😭
Biden: Still looking for ways to put more people in jail!
Castro v. Biden is strong.
What was that PhD line, Joe?
BdB asks if Biden fought or disagreed with Obama’s very high early deportation numbers.
Biden did not answer, deflecting by instead talking about later, good things that Obama did.
Biden did not answer, deflecting by instead talking about later, good things that Obama did.
Bill de Blasio goes back to him, and says he didn’t answer.
Biden says he won’t answer.
Booker jumps in, and it was good: Says Biden can’t use Obama for good, and ignore the bad. Also: Critiques the PhD line! Says it’s trying to pit inmigrants against immigrants.
Biden says he won’t answer.
Booker jumps in, and it was good: Says Biden can’t use Obama for good, and ignore the bad. Also: Critiques the PhD line! Says it’s trying to pit inmigrants against immigrants.
That was strong. And the moderators had next to nothing to do with it. It was the candidates pressing other candidates for answers on important questions.
BREAK!
CRIMINAL JUSTICE. Joe Biden is talking about his 2019 position, which pretty directly contradicts all of the legislation he worked on in the Senate.
Booker, on the system Biden is now seeking to pull apart: “The house was set on fire, and you claimed responsibility for those laws.” 🔥
After Biden talks about Booker’s record as mayor, Booker says that Biden is apparently wanting to compare records, adding, “And frankly, I’m shocked that you do.”
Castro discussing his policing accountability plan — highlighting a called-for end to qualified immunity.
Inslee highlights criminal justice reform laws passed in Washington.
Castro raises officer accountability, talking about Eric Garner and asking why the officer still has a job.
Bill de Blasio says something will change in 30 days — 👀 — and suggests there will “never” be a similar situation, which seems to be an absurd claim and unrealistic promise on its face.
BdB also shifts the question to Biden and DOJ, asking what Biden did to get DOJ to move.
Biden did not answer.
Gillibrand said the officer should be fired.
Biden did not answer.
Gillibrand said the officer should be fired.
Gabbard comes for Harris, raising marijuana prosecutions (despite joking about herself smoking), handling of death penalty cases, and keeping in place cash bail system.
Harris’s response is that she doesn’t just make speeches on stages (in a speech on a stage) and that she worked to improve the system and personally opposes the death penalty.
Castro, asked, effectively, about the Trump Baltimore tweets: “The president is a racist, and that was just one more example of it.”
Inslee to Biden, on global warming and the need for more immediate action: “The house is on fire.”
[This is the second reference to Biden about a house being on fire.]
[This is the second reference to Biden about a house being on fire.]
Yang said we need a plan to move to higher ground, and I’m sure he’s probably right?
Honestly, that was scary, yes? Sort of felt like he accomplished what Inslee is supposed to be the leader on.
Harris’s “Trump Trade Tax” line is almost certainly a tested — and tested well — line. She likes it, it’s good, and it’s going to be a regular line.
FYI: Two hours is my mental limit for a 10-person debate, especially ~after~ a full day of work.
I’m not alone here, am I?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. (Also, I’m sorry, but a TPP question to Gabbard at the start of the third hour was just adding insult to injury.)
TTP TPP BdB LMNOP.
me to me rn
“Now, a question about gender equity. Sir.”
Harris: “I’m done with the conversation” on gender pay disparity. Talks about her fine plan: apnews.com/252e6519aad242…
Gillibrand comes for Biden about a Biden opinion piece discussing skepticism regarding women in the workplace; Biden talks about his record and eventually says he never felt that way. Harris then asks about the Hyde Amendment; Biden says changed circumstances led to his shift.
(Gillibrand’s strongest moment of the night came in that first health care response.)
Biden just shared something that Obama said in a meeting with military leaders — but earlier said he didn’t talk about his conversations with Obama. So, which is it?
CLOSINGS!
So, de Blasio’s “socialism for the rich” line was really weird. 🤔
Note: Bennet is actually in bed asleep now.
Inslee, also asleep. But he’s having a good dream.
Oh no, they all have to give a website? Because no one has Google off the stage.
Gillibrand knows how to beat Donald Trump, whose backyard is in Michigan, and Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
The debate is too long. They’re tired. I’m tired. You’re tired. The audience is tired. The stagehands are tired.
Gabbard is lifting us up with a tale of nuclear destruction. “‘Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.’ There is no shelter. That is a lie.”
Castro, who has been up-energy all night, has even taken his NyQuil. 😞
Yang isn’t wearing a tie, and I am hear for it. Yang took a Five-Hour Energy Drink at the break, and I needed this to stay awake.
Booker, also, still awake. He’s not dreaming, but he is talking about THE AMERICAN DREAM. “Beating Donald Trump is the floor and not the ceiling.”
Harris will Prosecute The Predator. She is Very Awake and wanted another hour of debate, but likes making a closing statement.
BREAKING: Joe Biden just announced a run for president in 3030, I believe.
Seriously, though, I think that was supposed to be a “text Biden” line that he flubbed.
Here's the video, where he says, "go to Joe 3-0-3-3-0" — suggesting a website (hence the Joe 3030 jokes). / Compare that with the first debate, where he got it [mostly] right and said to text:
