LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Joe Biden expressed his moderation at the February 7 Democratic Candidate Debate at St. Anselm College. Joe did so once by blurting out, “ How much is it going to cost?! ” in response to Bernie’s Medicare-for-All. Biden spent the rest of the debate (and the rest of his New Hampshire campaign) touting his experience in the as-progressive-as-it- could-get-away-with Obama administration. “I was part of every major initiative,” he said, and he kept repeating, “I was there!” He was there – carrying Obama’s luggage, going to get coffee, hiding Barack’s cigarettes from Michelle. (Joe’s “I was there” message won him 5th place in the New Hampshire primary and quickly turned into “I’m not here” when he made an early exit to South Carolina.) Meanwhile, at the debate, George Stephanopoulos asked the candidates, “Is anyone concerned about a Democratic Socialist at the head of the ticket?” Seven deer were frozen in the headlights. Finally, Amy Klobuchar raised a tentative hand. Then, in as close to making a joke as the man ever gets, Bernie raised his. “Is anyone concerned about a Democratic Socialist at the head of the ticket?” Seven deerwere frozen in the headlights.
Andrew Yang said, “Technological progress obliviates the capitalism/socialism dichotomy.” Elizabeth Warren went off on a tangent about corruption. Pete Buttigieg said, “The word ‘socialism’ has lost its sting. I’m not interested in labels.” Then Pete said that all the candidates were there “to galvanize, not polarize.” And the subject was dropped. Although later on in the evening, Tom Steyer (who’d get 3.6% of the vote) praised all the Democratic candidates several times, saying that each was a great improvement on Donald Trump. “Everyone on stage feels the same way,” said Tom. And Amy did not protest. But let me return to the subject of a lively, continuing liberal-conservative debate. There’s no one to debate with in this field of Democrats. They are all so far out in the left field of liberalism that they’ve leapt the ballpark fence and are on their way to the Politburo for a meeting of the Supreme Soviet. Maybe Mike Bloomberg would be the exception. But, with Mike’s stop-and-frisk comments coming to light, he’s doing a good job of shooting himself in the foot while his foot is in his mouth as far as Democratic primary voters are concerned. The winner of the New Hampshire Democratic primary wasn’t Bernie Sanders... But the loser was you.
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February 2020
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