If you want one good measure of how Tuesday night’s Democratic debate went, try searching the transcript for “(CROSSTALK).” You will find it 64 times. SIXTY-FOUR.
So it’s safe to say the moderation wasn’t the best (one of the big losers of the night, in fact), even before we get to the questions. Of course there was the obligatory too-long section on health care, an issue that has been endlessly rehashed in every debate so far without new ground being broken, and yet continues to have an almost ritualistic role to the point where dedicated viewers could step in to offer the talking points of any of the candidates. Of course there was no question on reproductive freedom—in fact, the only times abortion was mentioned came during Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s smackdowns of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Of course there was no question on the climate crisis. A question on Donald Trump’s ongoing purge of government and attacks on the justice system? Of course not!
With Mother Emanuel AME Church close by, the debate did lead off with a gun violence question—a refreshing change from debates where the issue has been largely sidelined. And guns are an issue where Sen. Bernie Sanders, the current front-runner, has a history of weakness that got only partially aired amidst all the crosstalk. The gun discussion also gave an opening for Warren to bring up the filibuster, saying, “What I've seen is gun safety legislation introduced, get a majority, and then doesn't pass because of the filibuster. Understand this, the filibuster is giving a veto to the gun industry.” The filibuster is another area of weakness for Sanders, as former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg pointed out, saying, “this is not some long-ago bad vote that Bernie Sanders took, this is a current bad position that Bernie Sanders holds.”
But even though the filibuster is a major thing standing in the way of change on virtually every issue, it was up to the candidates to shoehorn it into their answers, because heaven knows the moderators weren’t asking. The candidates did bring that and other issues up unprompted, and good for them, but viewers had to be able to pick those important things out from the wreckage of crosstalk like the one you can roll your eyes at below.
Because of Bloomberg’s history with stop and frisk, there was at least some attention paid to racial justice issues—but not until after the obligatory stupid process question about how former Vice President Joe Biden’s “numbers appear to be slipping with black voters” and could he please explain why that might be. Because asking a politician questions about their polling numbers is such a great way to get a substantive answer and really tackle the major issues of the day.
It took a question from Twitter user Casey Pennington to address the issues of “affordable housing and education equity for minimum wage workers,” though, to their (too little too late) credit, the moderators did then go to a broader question about racial inequities. And one about rural health care, which, again, is an important issue that has too often been ignored in favor of the predictable Medicare for All sniping.
This was a disgrace, and a disservice to the candidates’ important ideas, to the important debates within the party, and to voters trying to make their decisions.
Seriously, though, check this out:
KING: Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.
(CROSSTALK)
KLOBUCHAR: Instead of a bunch of broken promises that sound good on bumper stickers.
KING: Mr. Steyer -- Mr. Steyer…
BUTTIGIEG: I think we're talking about math.
KING: We'll get to you, Mr. Sanders.
BUTTIGIEG: Let's talk about it.
STEYER: Can I say something?
SANDERS: First of all...
(CROSSTALK)
STEYER: No, let me go.
SANDERS: No, I think -- Tom, I think she was talking about my plan, not yours.
BUTTIGIEG: I think we were talking about math, and it doesn't take two hours to do the math.
SANDERS: No, no, well, let's talk about math.
BUTTIGIEG: Because let's talk about what it adds up to.
SANDERS: Let's talk about math.
BUTTIGIEG: Let's talk about math, indeed. Okay, so here's the math...
SANDERS: If we do nothing is what…
BUTTIGIEG: No, here's the math.
SANDERS: Excuse me, can I respond to the attack?
(CROSSTALK)
BUTTIGIEG: To do nothing is what will happen...
(CROSSTALK)