Although I agree with a number of your assessments, I don't know, I think it's too early to be so dispirited while there are too many people on stage. 

I have this thing against early pronouncements based on very early debates.  One of Obama's earliest debate performances had people pronouncing him basically out of the race and none of the major network debate moderators took Trump seriously as a candidate and therefore, very few asked him any seriously probing questions.

Elizabeth Warren has given the most consistently strongest debate performances overall so far, but again, while there are a dozens of other candidates, many candidates are not even being asked probing questions about their background and history.  Although I suspect no one really takes Williamson seriously (at least, I hope not since her ideas on vaccinations and HIV are downright dangerous), Gabbard has the potential to be another Jill Stein, and her second debate on the stage, they keep asking her the same questions, no different from her first time on the debate stage. While Gabbard is up there, why not ask her some serious questions about her record, her known associations and statements that she has made. 

Until the herd is thinned, I can't truly gain much insight from these debates, other than that Warren has a "plan for that".

The British pound has lost 3% of its value since Boris Johnson took over as PM. Whoa!

The debates are not worth watching at this point. They're just romper room at this size. And no, I don't think we're screwed at all. I'm just screening out a lot of the noise.

 

As for Gabbard, she is part of a Russian op. They astroturfed a Harris hashtag overnight. Now she's getting roasted for this. Gabbard will never work the way they want - her rep is much deeper and more virulent and well-known than Stein's.

 

 

Mueller reported Trump did not collude with Russia to influence our elections. Now we must put aside partisan interests, move forward, and work to unite our country to deal with the serious challenges we face. pic.twitter.com/xTkHkyrAxp

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) March 28, 2019

The unfortunate thumbnail is not doing her case any favors!

Edited August 1, 20196 yr by Vee

This is interesting.

 

They said “send her back” but Speaker @SpeakerPelosi didn’t just make arrangements to send me back, she went back with me ✊🏽

So grateful for the honor to return to Mother Africa with the @TheBlackCaucus and commemorate The Year of Return! #Doorofreturn #Ghana pic.twitter.com/0yVBLcAEs5

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) August 1, 2019

I expected them to keep up this reunification initiative after Trump singled the four out, and it's smart for each side of the inter-party divide. Ultimately we need each other (and Omar needs Pelosi more than vice versa).

Ghana is quite a long trip to make, especially for Pelosi.

Guys... https://t.co/FBSykM61Uv

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 1, 2019

Another one bites the dust. Will we ever hear how republicans are in disarray. This is the 5th or 6th that has announced on the GOP side.

 

Tim Scott will be the sole black GOPer in all of Congress. 

 

Rep. Will Hurd on Trump's racist tweets: "When you imply that because someone doesn't look like you, in telling them to go back to Africa or wherever, you're implying that they're not an American and you're implying that they have less worth than you." https://t.co/BpmnVT3fHt

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 2, 2019

That will leave Republicans with zero black members in the House (which is pretty much where they usually are). Hurd would have had a challenging campaign at re-election, so it's understandable why he is retiring.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/455702-michael-moore-urges-michelle-obama-to-run-against-trump

 

I've never liked or trusted Michael Moore to do anything beyond get his name in the press. I hope that nonsense like the above can help everyone finally stop seeing him as having any valid opinion.

39 minutes ago, ReddFoxx said:

That will leave Republicans with zero black members in the House (which is pretty much where they usually are). Hurd would have had a challenging campaign at re-election, so it's understandable why he is retiring.

 

Yet we will still hear all about how diverse the GOP is and how Democrats are the ones shutting people out. 

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Tim Scott will be the sole black GOPer in all of Congress.

 

I shouldn't be laughing about that, but I just can't help myself, lol.

 

38 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Yet we will still hear all about how diverse the GOP is and how Democrats are the ones shutting people out. 

 

Yup!

Edited August 2, 20196 yr by Khan

Hurd is a major blow for the GOP - it was a difficult seat to take. The rank and file and power structure are freaking out tonight.

 

 

My phone is absolutely exploding with texts from Republican operatives reacting to the retirement. ALL have a word I don't normally use on this forum and my mother highly disapproves of...but it rhymes with duck.

— Abby Livingston (@TexasTribAbby) August 2, 2019

.@GinaOrtizJones, the Democrat who narrowly lost to Will Hurd in 2018 and is running again for the seat, comments on his decision to retire from Congress. pic.twitter.com/QAx1Uvjj2T

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 2, 2019

Huge news for Dems: Rep. Will Hurd (R) to retire in 2020. He's probably the only R capable of holding the seat. #TX23 moves from Toss Up to Lean D at @CookPolitical.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 2, 2019

Congressman Hurd is the only House Republican from a district that touches the southern border. https://t.co/voPQPWh2Wg

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 2, 2019

Meanwhile, whether you're too scared to believe it or not, it's true:

 

Joe Biden just pointed out that Trump won a fluke-like victory by a handful of votes in a few states, while losing the popular vote by 3 million.

Dems should point this out constantly. They should regularly talk about how deeply unpopular Trump is.

New:https://t.co/SXZhn7njO6

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 1, 2019

In the last two sets of debates, I was so appalled with the way CNN produced and moderated the debates that I'm giving all the frontrunners a pass. It was so hard for me to navigate watching it, that it's a miracle they survived participating in it. I side eyed Chuck Todd when NBC did the debates, but overall I thought their format and choice of anchors was balanced. There was a very short 15-30 second intro, setting of the rules and then the debate started. Questions flowed and while they did interrupt for time, I felt it flowed much better. CNN by contrast had the ultra long fight night intros and it was 10-15 minutes until the first question was asked both nights. Then instead of picking topics and delving into them, everything was basically "This person said this about you, please attack them so we can get a good soundbyte." All three moderators should be ashamed of themselves and so should the network. This debate was a complete waste of time.

 

With that said, I do think Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker did the best of staying on message both nights. Bernie I feel felt more energized and did well despite me not liking him. Joe Biden continues to disappoint me. When he isn't stuttering and stumbling he just doesn't articulate what HE wants to do. By now he should know he'll be taken to task as frontrunner and he isn't prepared for those attacks or to explain his policies. Kamala Harris I felt did good against a large amount of expected attacks. I think her major stumble wasn't addressing the specific points Tulsi raised. All have been debunked, but she was at a disadvantage because it was too much to explain in the amount of time she had. She needs to expand on those things in interviews to clarify as she has in the past.

 

Also, the biggest takeaway from this debate was what a problem Tulsi is going to be. I see her doing a third party run to screw things up. Her support from russia is so strong and it was out in full force last night on Twitter. She's ranking so low in the polls, yet is getting so much press. She'll never be the nominee, but it's scary to think of her running third party and screwing things up.

The other thing I'll say about Kamala Harris is the attacks about Willie Brown are coming, and coming soon. I hope her team has a surefire way of dealing with them. 

 

I do wonder how many Republicans are secretly relieved to have Hurd go. It's just one seat, and most of the people in big roles in the party don't care about "diversity" or "the way of the future" or other jargon. They are happy to lock down the white vote and white male voices - and they have been very successful in maintaining power that way. More successful than they were when they pretended to care about diversity.