Who were the winners, losers of the second Democratic debate?
Reaction from former Sanders 2016 campaign staffer Tezlyn Figaro.
Will Smith made Miami known as the place where you can “party in the city where the heat is on.” But after two nights of Democrat debate that featured some memorably strange comments, you have to wonder if some people got heat stroke in the debate hall.
Forget the endless giveaways. America wants more surreal Marianne Williamson quotes. She single-handedly generated enough what-the-hellish (I could have typed ducking!) moments in two hours to make a comedy special. She delivered a string of memorable lines, from vowing to call New Zealand and taunt them to arguing that “plans” are bad and vowing to “harness love.”
Williamson became the most entertainingly ridiculous would-be president since comedian Pat Paulsen’s mock candidacy 50 years ago. Her spacy delivery was even reminiscent of the “Smothers Brothers” star. In the words of fellow candidate and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, she’s, “all foam and no beer.” But we’d all belly up to that bar anyhow.
DAN GAINOR: MEDIA, LEFT SWOON OVER HARRIS GUTTING BIDEN LIKE A FISH AT SECOND DEM DEBATE
She deserves her own TV show. Here are just a few highlights:
- “I’ll tell you one thing, it’s really nice if we’ve got all these plans, but if you think we’re going to beat Donald Trump by just having all these plans, you’ve got another thing coming, because he didn’t win by saying he had a plan. He won by simply saying make America great again.” Then she added: “We’ve got to get deeper than just these superficial fixes…” Make America Bizarre Again?
- “My first call is to the prime minister of New Zealand, who said that her goal is to make New Zealand the place where it's the best place in the world for a child to grow up, and I would tell her, girlfriend, you are so wrong, because the United States of America is going to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up.” In your face, New Zealand!
- “So, Mr. President, if you're listening, I want you to hear me, please. You have harnessed fear for political purposes and only love can cast that out. So I, sir, I have a feeling you know what you're doing. I'm going to harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field. And, sir, love will win.” A love harness sounds like something you won’t find on QVC, but cue the Celine Dion soundtrack.
Seriously, these all really happened.
Williamson was hardly the only candidate for Space Cadet Academy. Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro drew applause saying he believed in “reproductive justice.” Then he quickly followed that up talking about abortions for trans people — making millions of Americans likely replay that line on their DVRs asking, “Huh?”
Former Vice President Joe Biden came into the night leading and left shell shocked on Thursday. Naturally, he also contributed two humorous moments. At one point, he tried to defend his record and concluded with the words, “my time is up.” Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia snarked that was a “Metaphor alert.” And I have nothing that can top that.
Then after Biden had been beaten silly by California Sen. Kamala Harris, he looked shaken. When asked what “first issue” he would tackle if he took office, he delivered a curious response. “But the first thing I would do is make sure that we defeat Donald Trump, period.”
One would presume if he took office, he would have beaten Trump. But that concept was a fantasy by the end of the debate and I’m betting even Biden knew it. Watching him was like watching the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.
While there’s nothing strange about speaking Spanish, Sen. Cory Booker certainly turned that first moment into a memorable one. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke started the pander-thon by speaking in Spanish during an economy question. (Without subtitles. Thanks, NBC!) Booker threw him a Medusa-esque look that will be memed for years. It’s amazing that O’Rourke didn’t turn to stone right then and there.
How dare Beto out-pander me!
That wasn’t the only death stare. California Rep. Eric Swalwell, known to critics as the guy who wants to nuke gun owners, nuked an opponent. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg was trying to explain how a police officer had killed an African-American man in his city despite efforts to improve policing.
Buttigieg admitted the officer wasn’t using his bodycam at the time. The mayor said of improvements to the police force that he “couldn't get it done.” Swalwell jumped in and said, "If the camera wasn't on and that was the policy, you should fire the chief.”
Once more Buttigieg tried to elaborate and once more Swalwell interrupted, saying: "You're the mayor. You should fire the chief, if that's the policy and someone died."
All Buttigieg did was stare. If looks could kill, Buttigieg would be getting a lot of NRA support right now.
No collection of unusual moments would be complete without tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
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Yang showed up at the debate with no tie and ended the evening complaining he had no mic -- that his mic had been cut off. (A very serious allegation, if true.) But he still found time to advocate for giving every American $1,000 a month “freedom dividend” and paying off that $3.2 TRILLION burden with … new taxes, specifically a value-added tax or VAT.
He’s like a modern-day Robin Hood combined with Prince John. He’ll tax you and then give it right back. I wonder if we get the rack if we don’t pay ourselves. Or maybe we just have to watch these debates on an endless loop.
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