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It was three hours long, gentle readers, three hours—the horror–and once again, I failed you.  I managed only about two hours, and not at a single stretch.  I couldn’t handle that.  Sorry.

Initial Observations: 

CNN lived up to its reputation as not only being in the tank for Democrats, but maintaining the tank at a comfortable, hot tub temperature and later, giving massages and facials.  They, like the ditzy dozen onstage, were all hate Trump, all the time.  The three moderators—who cares who they were; there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between any of them at CNN—did everything they could to help the candidates, beginning with no questions on climate change, immigration or the economy.  They began with impeachment, allowing a long, universal “get Trump” fest.  They gave them plenty of time to pontificate on abortion as the ultimate sacrament, and packing the Supreme Court.  They also gave the candidates an opportunity to appear to be normal Americans, a chance most muffed badly, but we’ll get to that later.

Besides being put-anyone-to-sleep-within-15-minutes dull, the debate repeated the themes that have, by now, become as predictable as they are deranged:  free stuff, lots of free stuff, free college, free health care, free abortion for illegals and everybody else, orange man bad, orange man very, very bad, orange man traitor, orange man destroying national security, orange man jailing children, orange man killing Kurds, orange man betraying allies, and American values, values like freeing all felons, doing away with jails, jailing drug and insurance company executives, taking everybody’s guns and killing them if they won’t give them up, taxing all millionaires and billionaires  (which really means taxing the hell out of the middle class), and above all, Kurds are dying!  Dying I tell you!  Dyyyyyyying!  And did I mention Trump is putting children in cages?  Cages I tell you!  Caaaaaaages!

The overall messaging was consistent:  far more governmental power centralized in DC, far higher taxes, individual Americans allowed to keep far less of their money, which rightfully belongs to the federal government who know much better how to spend it, complete governmental control over every aspect of American’s lives, far less liberty, and socialism, inevitably leading to communism.

The candidates, in sort of order of importance/nomination chances:

Elizabeth “I got Fired Cuz I’se Pregnant” Warren:  The front runner, she had, by far, the most speaking time, thanks to CNN.  Her front-runner status was confirmed by the number of other candidates that attacked her, particularly on her refusal to admit her “Medicare for all” scheme will absolutely require fleecing the middle class.  She was practiced and angry, like virtually every other candidate, and while spending quite a bit of time dodging answers, didn’t make any glaring mistakes.  She wants to establish “an agency that will make a structural change in our economy.”  I believe that’s called “socialism?”  She castigated the other candidates, saying they “think it is more important to protect billionaires than to invest in Americans.”  Envy is never attractive.  Visit this classic Bill Whittle video on fleecing the rich to see just how far from reality Warren—and most of the rest—are economically.  No one took her to task for her most recently exposed lies.

Bernie “Comrade Chairman” Sanders:  It may have been the stage lighting, but he appeared, at various times, really red in the face.  I was afraid he was going to have a MI and be dead right there.  He was his usual self: wild-eyed, actually screaming and angry, really, really angry, while wildly gesturing.  It’s not at all hard to imagine him in neatly pressed fatigues haranguing a crowd forced to show up, wilting in the hot, equatorial sun, for five hours.  He continues to tell us how we’ve failed him, and to show us the bold, revolutionary path forward, which will bankrupt the nation, and probably, much of the world, within his first term.  He really does seem to think money grows on trees on collective farms.  He claimed he’s going to have a vigorous campaign schedule, but even crazed revolutionaries are going to have difficulty believing his health isn’t a serous issue, apart from being 78.  He’s not going to get the nomination.  The D/S/Cs made that abundantly clear in 2016, but Bernie’s a revolutionary true believer.

Pete “I’m Gay” Buttigieg: He’s gay, you know, really, really gay, and he knows better than God how Christianity ought to be done.  Just ask him.  He’s our ultimate moral arbiter.  He wants a 15 member supreme court to protect Roe v Wade.  Like the rest, he sees the judiciary as merely a super legislature that will allow D/S/Cs to get what they can’t get though the Democratic process quaintly known as “voting.”  He, like everyone else, attacked President Trump: “The slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence, it’s a consequence of a withdrawal and betrayal by this president of American allies and American values.”  Buttigieg also successfully attacked fake Hispanic Beto, particularly on seizing guns, and almost sounded sane for a moment or two.  Unlike most others, he did not resort to wild-eyed screaming and gesticulating and appeared, again, almost sane.

Trying to keep up with the O’Rourkes, Pete said we can’t wait to begin gun grabbing.  It has to be done now!  We have to start seizing people’s guns!  Various pundits claim the debate may have done him some good, but that’s only in comparison to the rest of the lunatic asylum.  He’s not going to be the nominee.

Gropin’ Joe Biden: I’ve previously noted that Biden looks every one of his years, but he looked particularly old, pale and tired.  Perhaps his makeup people don’t have much to work with.  Anderson Cooper helped him out by bringing up the Ukrainian scandal saying Trump “falsely accused” him, and Biden took it from there, mostly by saying everybody ought to be looking at Trump and impeaching him.  “Look!  A Squirrel!”  Biden, before the debate, warned the rest of the candidates not to bring the issue up, and they didn’t.  Biden’s attack on Trump was the end of it for the night, thanks to CNN.

Biden said he wouldn’t pack the Supreme Court, but went on to explain how he’d get the same results the old-fashioned way.  He’d establish a permanent Democrat majority and make sure there were enough of “our justices” to get the results D/S/Cs demand.

Biden had a hell of a time finishing sentences:

“No, look, demonizing wealth — what I talked about is how you get things done. And the way to get things done is take a look at the tax code right now. The idea — we have to start rewarding work, not just wealth. I would eliminate the capital gains tax — I would raise the capital gains tax to the highest rate, of 39.5 percent. I would double it, because guess what? Why in God’s name should someone who’s clipping coupons in the stock market make — in fact, pay a lower tax rate than someone who, in fact, is — like I said — the — a schoolteacher and a firefighter? It’s ridiculous. And they pay a lower tax.”

“Clipping coupons in the stock market”?  This is, in the world of normal Americans, known as “making no sense.”

Gropin’ Joe said he doesn’t want to seize guns, but he wants to register every semiauto in the nation.  Yeah.  Everybody would be glad to do that.  Biden, whose gun control credentials are as solid as anyone’s, just wanted to distance himself from Beto and try to look marginally rational. It’s a stretch.

He noted that even though he’d be 80 when he took office, he was very wise, and the world would universally respect him.  He looked relatively good because the others pretty much ignored him and attacked Warren.  At least he didn’t suffer from movie vampire eyeball this time.  Biden is done.  He’s not getting the nomination.

Cory “Spartacus” Booker: Booker tried to present a sort of optimistic, rational message, but even doing that he looked consistently angry, on the verge of attacking someone.  He hasn’t a chance of getting the nomination.  His candidacy is about vanity, and trying to build his brand for future electoral contests.

Julián “Poor Me” Castro:  Trump is the focus of all evil in the world, and poor Julian grew up poor with a single mother in San Antonio.  He remains a nasty little man, and not in only in stature.

Tulsi “Why Isn’t Everyone Paying More Attention To Me?” Gabbard: On a stage of the insane, Gabbard was the most rational and grounded.  She took CNN to task, and they deserved it.  They pretty much ignored her, and actually cut her off at one point before she could finish an answer.  She’s the youngest in the race, and certainly the most appealing, but she’s going nowhere fast.  Appearing to be a moderate in the 2020 D/S/C race is no virtue.

Kamala “Look At Me! Look At Me!” Harris:  She was barely there.  Her biggest contribution was suggesting Trump should be banned from Twitter, this from a former CA AG.  Actually, considering she was CA’s AG, it’s not surprising she cares nothing for the Constitution, a sentiment shared by her stage mates.  It’s also an injustice when some people make more money than others.  She needed to be very, very good, and she wasn’t even close.  She initially looked like a contender, but she was gone before she stepped on this particular stage.

Amy “Mean Girl” Klobuchar: She’s working hard to perfect her “Minnesota nice” public persona, the better to revert to Cruella DeVille in private.  She did somewhat better than in past debates, which means she might someday reach as high as 4-5% in the polls.   Like the rest, “At least Bernie’s being honest here and saying how he’s gonna pay for this and that taxes are going to go up,” she [Klobuchar] said. “I’m sorry Elizabeth, but you’ve not said that, and I think we owe it to the American people to tell them where we’re gonna send the invoice.”

Beto “Hell Yes We’re Going To Take Your Guns” O’Rourke:  Poor fake Hispanic Beto; everybody’s mad at him.  He keeps saying—out loud—what the rest of them really want to do, but he won’t stop.  Some of them have to go along with him just to keep up in the sprint to the Left.  Gay Pete beat up on him, and Beto went even further on seizing guns, saying he expected Americans to just voluntarily turn them in.  One wonders what country he’s living in.  And when asked what he’d do when they didn’t, said the police would make them.  The CNN automatons pursued this because they want to sink him even further.  They needn’t have bothered; he’s already underwater and sinking fast.

And in a spectacular display of a lack of self-awareness and irony, he attacked Warren saying she didn’t seem interested in “lifting people up,” but is “more interested in being punitive and pitting one part of the country against another.”  Beto is exactly right.  Warren is promising to punish everyone she doesn’t like, and she doesn’t like much of anyone, particularly not normal Americans.  But Beto’s also promising to infringe on a fundamental, express, unalienable liberty and kill law-abiding normal Americans in the process.  Gee whiz, but that sounds kind of divisive—and blood-thirsty—to me…

Tom “My Face Is Frozen” Steyer: It’s nice to have enough money to buy your way onstage without having to bother with trifles like public support. Steyer looks and sounds like a Freshman college Speech 101 dropout.  He kept rattling on about the climate, and made one of the memorable quips of the night:  “90% of Americans haven’t had a raise in 40 years.”  He’s mostly, all the way, 110% right, except he’s 220% wrong.  If there’s ever another remake of The Addams Family, he’s a shoe-in for Lurch.  POTUS, not so much.

Andrew “I Got An Idea!” Yang: He’s an amiable sort whose ideas don’t sound nearly as crazy as the rest, but he’s not nearly the socialist true believer as whoever gets the nomination, which won’t be him.

Final Thoughts:

They’re all, to one degree or another, into gun seizures.  The more honest have gone all in for law enforcement busting down people’s doors to get them.  The rest want that, but are smart enough—barely—not to say it outright.  CNN’s final wet, sloppy kiss cited the Ellen DeGeneris/George W. Bush friendship and asked the candidates to tell a story about how they have had a relationship with an infidel, a non-believer, you know, a normal American.  Castro, bless his poor, deprived heart, actually admitted he’s never had a Republican friend.  I wonder why that is?  The rest told a variety of bizarre stories, none of which amounted to actually having a friendship with anyone not of the one, true faith.  CNN gave them an opportunity to try to appeal to the Deplorables, and one and all muffed it.  This is, apparently, what bringing the nation together looks like, that and disarming them all and forcing them to feign togetherness.

The trek to November, 2020 is going to be long and ugly.

The next one isn’t until November.  I hope to be recovered by then.