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I hope, gentle readers, you appreciate the fact I suffered for you that you would not have to suffer.  Yes.  I watched Democrat presidential debate #1A, featuring ten of the smarmiest, most dishonest and socialistic/communistic out-from-under-a-rock crawling shameless panderers ever assembled in one place at one time.  I also hope you’ll forgive me: I was not able to watch the complete two hour debacle, bailing out at about 15 minutes after Chuck Todd and Rachel “Mad Dog/Trump/Russia/Impeach Him” Maddow took over at the halfway point; there was no point in continuing, really.  But as you are reading this, I’ll be preparing to watch the B portion, featuring Gropin’ Joe and Crazy Bernie.  I’ll report on that on Saturday.  The things I do for science and our representative republic.

Initial Observations Of The Narrative:  Free everything and what do you mean how am I going to pay for it? Trump evil. Economy terrible. Economy only working for the very rich, like some of us.  Trump and his cabinet want war.  Iranians good guys who are following the Iran deal to the letter.  Can’t attack Iran because they might attack back and hurt people. Must reinstate the Iran deal that was never ratified by the Senate.  Global warming killing us all; the future is a green economy; green jobs will save us all. Medicare, or something like that, for all, but maybe “if you like your private insurance, you can keep your private insurance” (only a few made that Obamite lie). We must take “bold action” on guns, which means confiscate them all, but no one was willing to say that directly.  They were more than willing to trot all the usual socialist talking points: “assault weapon” bans, universal background checks, etc.  Trans, trans, TRANS!  Open borders and dead immigrants! (go here for a reliably brilliant take on the drowned father/daughter from my pal Bookworm)!  There was more, but every lunatic, utopian socialist scheme/policy was on full, unashamed display.  The audience constantly applauded, and the more communistic and unrealistic the ideas, the louder and more fervent the applause.Positioning:  The Democrat Party has blown past Socialism and is bearing down, hard, on Communism. The candidates climbed all over each other to sprint as far to the Left as possible.

The Nomination:  If the media have anything to say about it, Elizabeth Warren will be the nominee.  Yeah, she’s white and not Lesbian, but she’s a woman, damn it, and it’s a woman’s turn!  The moderators ignored most of the others–they did give more time to Spartaclutz, who wildly exceeded time limits,  than to the others–and constantly gave Warren the opportunity not only to answer questions, but allowed her to respond to others.  They didn’t so much as pretend to fairly apportion the time.  The field must be winnowed down, and NBC was doing their part even before anyone spoke.

Most Pathetic Figure:  Beto.  He of the bad makeup and five o’clock shadow is walking toast.  His five minutes of fame came only because he was running against Ted Cruz.

Whodat?  John Delaney, Jay Inslee, Tim Ryan.  Most Americans don’t know most of these people, but these three, and probably Julian Castro, might as well have been from the planet Mongo.

Potted Plants: John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard

Most Aggressively Annoying:  Bill De Blasio

Most Generally Annoying:  Julian Castro

Least Indian:  Elizabeth Warren

Least American:  Elizabeth Warren, and moderator Jose Diaz-Balart.  Asking the first immigration question, he brought up the photo of the Hispanic man and his daughter that drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande in the wrong place, and was virtually exploding with righteous indignation and rage.

Most Telling Moment:  As soon as Maddow and Todd took over, the wireless mics of the three previous Democrat talking heads remained on, and everyone in the hall was treated to their inane, self-congratulatory comments.  Todd tried to tell the techies to turn off their mics, but they had to take an unscheduled break, costing five minutes or more.  As a result, Todd asked Warren the same gun control question–mentioning Parkland and “student activism” three times.

The format was a minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups.  That quickly fell apart.  Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Jose Diaz-Balart began the questioning. Diaz-Balart, at one point, tried to help the hapless Beto, asking him a question in Spanish.  It was to no avail.

Trump:  The candidates mostly avoided mentioning President Trump by name, but it was more than clear every criticism was aimed at him, whether he was responsible for the policy or not.  They actually, by implication,  blamed a great many of Obama’s failures on Trump.  His daring to honor his oath of office and faithfully enforce our weak immigration laws was constantly under attack.

The Winner:  Donald Trump.

THE CANDIDATES IN ORDER OF ORIGINAL QUESTIONS:

Always good to hear from such a noted political philosopher, but couldn’t she have praised Elizabeth Warren more fulsomely?

Elizabeth Warren:  She was loud, and affected a Hillaryesque smirk and wide-eyed, angry intensity. She got the first question, and most thereafter.  The economy is only good for the rich, drug companies private prisons(?!) and oil companies.  Climate change is “bearing down on us.”  She wants to break up big corporations and super PACs(?!)   She wants to go “ten fold on research on green energy,” apparently because that worked so well for Barack Obama (Solyndra, etc.), and there is a “23 trillion dollar market coming for green products.”  She wants Medicare for all, and did you now the drug companies made 23 billion in profits last year?  The horror. When asked directly whether she would allow any limits on abortion, she would not directly answer.  One might think the moderators were giving her a hard question, but actually, they, and the Dem. base, know she would allow none, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.  “Gun violence is a national health emergency,” and we must spend billions on anti-gun “research.”  She was asked directly if the government should seize all those guns.  She wouldn’t directly answer, but said we must have “massive real change in this country whether it’s popular or not.” Forget that silly Constitution! We must have change, and the Dem. base knew precisely about which change she spoke.

Amy Klobuchar:  She kept a forced smile throughout.  “Minnesota nice” she is not.  She has a self-admitted reputation for abusing staff and other “little people.” I could see that bubbling just below the very shallow surface.  The economy is terrible and “Trump sits in the White House and gloats.”  No doubt he chortles as well.  Community college must be free, and all but the very rich must get “help with college.”  Regarding health care, she wants a “public option”–if you like your private insurance, you can keep….  She blamed President Trump for high drug prices.  They’ve never been high before Trump.  Why doesn’t he use his super legislative powers to make everything right?  Doesn’t he have a pen and a phone?  She’s going after “big Pharma.  According to her, Immigrants are all that is making America great.  “Our economy needs immigrants,” which will somehow lower the national debt.  If the Iranians start enriching uranium to weapon grade levels, it’s all Trump’s fault, because he wants war and the Iranians are peaceful democrats struggling to uphold the Iran deal in letter and spirit.

 Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke:  He began answering in Spanish, triggering the Hispanic pandering. As he did, several of the others looked at him in surprise, and perhaps, envy.  Yet, he was ineffective, and many of the others directly attacked him, which considering he is doing very badly in the polls, is a bit odd.  Perhaps they know something we don’t?  The economy is terrible, we must do away with PACs, raise taxes, and have universal health care and abortion.  We must free the druggies from prison and prosecute big Pharma. We must not separate illegal immigrant families, and must not detain families in the first place.  We must also immediately make the “Dreamers” citizens, and spend untold trillions fixing South/Central America, you know, the “root causes” of illegal immigration.

Cory Booker:  He virtually always affects an angry, intense frown.  He was also a Spanish speaking panderer.  He wants to screw the corporations, because we all know that “dignity [is] being stripped from labor.”  The economy is terrible and is hurting small business.  Who knew fewer regulations and a booming economy would hurt small businesses? “The economy is not working for average Americans.”  He wants to break up big corporations.  Medicare for all!  Big Pharma and insurance companies are evil.  He wants to prosecute Big Pharma for the opioid problem, and stop arresting druggies.  We must “reinstate DACA” and “invest” in South/Central American countries.  The evil ICE is separating children and “causing fear.”  We must make immigration violations civil, not criminal.  Where gun control is concerned, “thoughts and prayers” are no good because “the gun lobby frames the debate.”  Well, that and that annoying Second Amendment…  Referring to total bans, he wants a “bold agenda, bold action,” including a federal license to buy or own guns.  Oh yes, he wants to “balance” the Supreme Court.  Such “balance,” of course, means socialist domination to ensure no socialist policy is left behind.

Julian Castro:  He also spoke Spanish, but began by talking about his humble beginnings, no doubt, in a log cabin.  We must pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which is so old I doubt any of the younger Democrat base have any idea what he was talking about, but it has “equal” and ”rights” in the title, and he was talking about women, so it must be good. We must have “equal pay for women.” Healthcare?  I believe in reproductive justice!”  Translation:  Abortion at any time; no restrictions.  He also boldly stated: “Trans females must have the right to have an abortion!”  He didn’t get into exactly how that would work, but I’m sure he has the trans female/biological male pro-abortion vote locked up. Kurt Schlichter explains how Castro came to champion this particularly narrow lane to the nomination here.  He brought up the drowned father/daughter and implied we must throw open the borders and have “a Marshall Plan” for South/Central America and eliminate illegal status.  Trump, you see, is guilty of enforcing the law to “detain and separate” families.

Tulsi Gabbard:  She began by touting her military service, and noted that Trump is only for the rich and powerful.  National security is important–that was more or less her theme in the very few minutes she was allowed to talk–but America can never be allowed to go to war, particularly against Iran, because it would be a horrible slaughter far surpassing the war in Iraq.  She was implying Americans would be slaughtered.  As a military officer, she should know the Iranians have been fighting a declared war with us since the Carter Administration and have killed more than 800 Americans, but no Democrat can say that sort of thing.  We must have a “green economy” and protect the environment. We must have medicare for all, and Trump and his “chickenhawk cabinet” are “creating danger.”  I guess killing Americans, sponsoring terror, killing our allies, mining ships and shooting down our drones in international airspace aren’t dangerous.  Oh, and in case anyone missed the point, we must never go to war with Iran!

Bill De Blasio:  He yelled constantly, attacked poor Beto, and boy oh boy, is he angry about everyone and everything, but he has worked wonders in New York City, where he has “driven down crime,” which will be quite a surprise to the NYC Police Department, the citizens and the criminals.  He’s so proud of the $15 dollar minimum wage he enacted and wants to do it everywhere, because this is a “battle for the heart and soul of America.”  What a bold, original phrase!  He wants a 70% tax on the rich.  That question was asked of everyone. Most wouldn’t directly say they supported it, but of course, that was a wink, wink, nudge, nudge moment for the panderers and the base too. De Blasio announced that America has “plenty of money; it’s just “in the wrong hands.”  He will be more than happy to properly redistribute it.   He wants to get rid of private health care–he attacked the hapless and unhappy Beto on that one–and we learned that illegal immigrants don’t cause any problems, it’s all TRUMP! And of course, the corporation and the rich aren’t helping either.  In a moment that demonstrated why the NYPD so despises him, De Blasio told us “I’ve been raising a black son in America,” and Mr. De Blasio has had to often warn him about the evil, racist police because they’re a danger to black people.

John Delaney:  More or less the invisible man, he was the only person who actually tried to talk a more moderate game and spoke as a more or less normal human being.  He got little or no applause, and the moderators ignored him. We must have “a living wage for all.” We have to create jobs!  Like everyone else on that stage, he has apparently been living in another country the last several years, a country where unemployment is not at record lows for every segment of the population.  We must raise the minimum wage, and Democrats must be the party of “keep what’s working and fix what’s broken.”  That was as rational as it got that night.

Jay Inslee:  Inslee is the Washington State Governor, and WA State is a model for the nation, where Inslee has worked socialist wonders.  Wild-eyed and angry, Inslee tried mightily, with little success–to be recognized.  He is going to stand up for unions, and “revitalize the right of collective bargaining.”  Apparently he’s been living in another reality where unions are appreciated as the saviors of mankind, or at least of the Democrat Party.  Did you know “Trump says wind turbines cause cancer (?!); we know they cause jobs!”?  He wants to force all insurance companies to pay for abortions.  He would never allow illegal immigrant children to be detained, and is proud that WA State will not cooperate with ICE.  “Diversity is strength,” and he wants Mr. Trump to send illegals to WA State, where they will be loved and cherished.  Take that, Donald Trump!  That’ll show him!

Tim Ryan:  A US Representative–who knew?  He’ll establish jobs for all!  Apparently he forgot Mr. Obama said the GDP would never again exceed 2%?  Did you know GM got a bailout?  He implied Mr. Trump did that, but of course, it was Mr. Obama.  He too was a yeller, and we must have a big, big solar power industry.  On immigration, let everybody in, but he would arrest drug dealers and traffickers–big of him.  He too dug up the drowned father and daughter.  Did you know Gitmo inmates get better treatment than detained children?  He said it, so it must be true.

Final Thoughts:

Even the media were embarrassed by the loopy Rachel Maddow:

And speaking of loopy:

But even in Hollywood, there are occasional islands of sanity and irony:

The invaluable Kurt Schlichter said: 

This election – Wokepocalypse 2020 – is going to be hilarious.

Indeed it is, and the first shots in the electoral farce were fired on 06-26-19 in Miami.