Ok, this started off ok but then the “kiddie table” candidates started to butt in…desperate to be heard. Gillibrand was one of the worst.
Biden was doing ok; Buttigieg was doing well and Harris was doing very well.
Then Harris admonished the ill behaved: “America does not want to witness a food fight.”
I felt good. Then came the question to Buttigeig about the civil unrest in his city: a white police officer killed a black guy. Hickenlooper and Swalwell got into it and went after Buttigeig.
Then Harris..the only black person on the stage, interjected.
Ok…heated but…
Then she turned to Biden and went after him about race: specifically his remarks about working with segregationists in the Senate and his stance on bussing (which is more nuanced than presented in the debate). Biden was more talking about who could enforce bussing and on which types of circumstances…and how effective was it in terms of integrating schools and on how well the children learn.
But this was a 1970’s issue!
I felt sick..absolutely sick. I unsubscribed from the Harris mailing list (I had sent her money..now regret it).
No..it isn’t that I am wedded to Biden (he is 3’rd on my new list, behind Klobuchar and Booker). No, it isn’t that I think that the front runner should not be attacked.
But, despite “you aren’t a racist but…” she basically called him an out of touch racist..over a 1970’s issue! That is about a divisive of an attack as one can get; identity politics all the way.
Yes, Trump uses identity politics, but their block is bigger and more united. We need to build a coalition and these sort of attacks retard the formation of such coalitions.
And imagine her debating Trump: “oh, she will mop the floor with him” the wokes coo. Yeah…”Hey Trump, you are a racist” will be met by “LOL, you call everyone that, even Biden, who Obama picked as VP. You are just a nasty, angry woman.”
She sure got a short term bump, at least in the prediction markets, and there are LOTS of reactions like this one out there:
But there are some other types of reactions:
Well…I am dejected, just deflated. I am tempted to back Yang or Williamson just so I can have some fun.
Life of an old goat 