Democratic Debate Night Two: Optics vs Content
CNN’s framing of the two nights of debates among Democratic presidential candidates emphasized the “Dems in disarray” storyline needed to (eventually) portray the election as a sporting event.
The second debate was nastier than the first, as former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris engaged in a slugfest and various second tier candidates took potshots hoping for their breakthrough moment. I’m sure CNN’s executives and President Donald Trump were thrilled.
Night one of the forums was, by far, the more substantive of the two. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were better advocates for their vision(s) than anybody I saw last night.
***
Let me jump, just for a moment, into the optics question.
Remember when the punditry’s consensus was that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony was weak, mostly because there was not enough Perry Mason-style drama going on?
Let’s look at some other headlines this morning and reevaluate what ‘everybody knows.’
Majority of House Democrats Now Back Trump Impeachment Inquiry
The majority of the House Democratic caucus now supports an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, with Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) becoming the 118th Democrat in the chamber to support moving to such proceedings.
“[President Trump] seems to think that Mueller’s performance wasn’t enough to trigger an impeachment inquiry,” the congressman wrote in an op-ed in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Sorry, Mr. President, the question is no longer whether the House should vote to proceed with a formal impeachment inquiry. The inquiry has already begun.”
Republicans rattled after surge of retirements
With the GOP relegated to the minority for the first time in eight years, a mix of veteran and vulnerable members have decided to call it quits instead of sticking around to see whether the party wins back power in 2020.
Over the past two weeks alone, five Republicans — including a member of the Republican leadership team — said they would not seek reelection. And that comes after Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana, who leads recruitment efforts for the House GOP’s campaign arm and is one of the few Republican women left in the House, shocked her colleagues by announcing her retirement earlier this summer.
Hmmmm… Dare I say the content/consequences topped the optics here? Yes, indeedy.
While I’m on the topic of impeachment, let me call out one of Julian Castro’s better moments from night two, via Slate:
On Wednesday night, after Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet articulated the argument that the failure of impeachment in the Senate will only allow Trump to claim he’s been cleared by Congress, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro effectively demolished that case for an audience of millions:
https://youtu.be/n3_5zzF-bu0
https://twitter.com/peterdaou/status/1156735777449160704?s=20
Other moments from Night Two
That time when Direct TV Now crashed:
Fortunately, I was on multiple screens.
Sen. Cory Booker
(to Joe Biden on criminal justice)
"You want to compare records? I'm shocked that you do ... you're dippin' into Kool-Aid and you don't even know the flavor."
(and to Biden on immigration)
Via Time:
The New Jersey senator responded forcefully to Biden after the former Vice President suggested legal immigration should be expanded to automatically include seven-year green cards for PhDs.
“This really irks me, because I heard the Vice President say that if you got a PhD you can come right into this country,” Booker said. “Well, that’s playing into what the Republicans want. To pit some immigrants against other immigrants. Some are from sh-thole countries, and some are from working countries.”
Sen Kirsten Gillibrand
(quote of the night)
https://twitter.com/SenGillibrand/status/1156743873047269376?s=20
Andrew Yang
(from opening statement)
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1156723618858115072?s=20
Gov. Jay Inslee
(who did a great job of calling out climate change and sent Fox news into a tizzy with this zinger)
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1156734016407650304?s=20
Much has been made about Rep. Tulsi Gabbard blasting Sen. Kamala Harris. It was, as a debating technique, effective. And my impression is that Harris did a poor job in general on the debate stage.
But Tulsi Gabbard? 2020’s version of Jill Stein? I have no room for nihilists and/or opportunists in my vision of the future.
https://twitter.com/soledadobrien/status/1156920225528471552?s=20
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio just needs to quit. He contributed nothing to the debate.
I left out Colorado Senator Michael Bennett on purpose. zzzzz...
Finally, there’s former VP Joe Biden.
He was the king of the mountain last night, brushing away all those pesky pipsqueaks who dared challenge his status. He was well prepared, except for the moments when he bungled the script.
And Biden just doesn’t inspire me. He ain’t Trump, and he knows how to play the game. But what if “the game” is the underlying problem?
***
Perhaps I wasn’t the only one skeptical of CNN’s ability to host a substantive debate.
Democratic debate on CNN sees steep ratings drop
The TV networks that sponsored last month’s Democratic debate had the advantage of being first, broadcasting at a time when viewers were curious to see the sprawling field onstage for the first time, and of airing across broadcast, cable and Spanish-language television. Viewership can also be expected to decrease in the middle of the summer, with the final two days in July a tough slot to draw eyeballs.
Still, it’s a significant decrease and comes after the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, touted ratings last month as evidence of enthusiasm in the party. “People understand that democracy is not a spectator sport,” he told POLITICO in Miami.
https://twitter.com/gilbertjasono/status/1156958445444243457?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1156904285579485184?s=20
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