- At the recent Democratic debate in Houston, Julian (“Areyou forgetting what you saidtwo minutes ago?”) Castro picked up where Kamala Harris left off in the first debate with a pre-planned skewering of Biden. The self-serving cheap shot was a snarky ageism insult—one that had to please Fox and the Trump base. It may have done in his long-shot candidacy and pleased certain South Floridians who cringed at the very thought of an American “President Castro.” No surprise that the Castro “spin room” was later referenced as a “field hospital.”
- “Houston, we have a problem.”—That was Amy Klobuchar’s all-too-apt, opening line.
- Thrust-and-parry health care exchanges were not in short supply. Castro: “I’m fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama, and you’re not.” Biden: “That’ll be a surprise to him.”
- Biden: “I know that the senator (Elizabeth Warren) says she’s for Bernie. Well, I’m for Barack. I think Obamacare worked.”
- Warren: “We all owe a huge debt to President Obama who fundamentally transformed healthcare in America. Now the question is how best to improve it.”
- Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren looked good and likely enhanced their appeal. Beto O’Rourke spoke well, especially on guns. “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” His El Paso hometown was more than enough context. When it comes to confiscation, O’Rourke makes sense by actually using the “C” word.
But this was more than a calculated soundbite. This was the truth. Nobody’s coming after the Second Amendment, per se, but to not come after assault weapons would be shameful, negligent and, frankly, un-American. Unless, of course, perversely prescient Founding Fathers actually envisioned weapons of mass murder being available to ordinary citizens.
- “(Although) he didn’t pull the trigger, he’s certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.” That was Kamala Harris on Trump’s role in the El Paso mass shooting.
- Protestors loudly and rudely interrupted Biden as he began his closing remarks, which addressed the candidates’ most significant personal setback. You knew where Biden was going with his tragic back story. Then the loud, clamorous protests. It wasn’t fair to the candidates, especially Biden, but it also wasn’t fair to the protestors’ DACA cause.
- “THIS IS F**KED UP.” That’s what some Beto O’Rourke campaign T-shirts say. Not good to respond—even in frustration over continued mass shootings–in kind. In short, don’t sound worse than those you’re criticizing.