Adults whose memories go back 27 years will remember James Carville, the “Ragin’ Cajun” who managed Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. Carville exploited the economic down-turn which was eroding George Herbert Walker’s popularity by hammering home the message with a simple, forceful motto: “It’s the Economy Stupid!” I bring this up because the Gang of Ten who showed up for the third Democratic debate had nothing to say on the subject. If they have any ideas about how they would run the economy if elected, they didn’t disclose them.
This is understandable. They all want to see an economic down-turn before November 2020, since it would guarantee a Democratic win, but they can’t say as much in public. They are more than willing to tax the rich to help the suffering middle class, but if they have any ideas of how to make the rich richer so they can tax them more vigorously they did not disclose them.
So, if the debate was not about the economy, what was it about? The question is not easily answered, unless we can agree that it wasn’t about anything in particular. It was about 10 different strategies for winning the debate and the nomination. The biggest cheer from the home town (Houston, Democrat) crowd went to Robert Francis O’Rourke when he yelled “Hell, yes – we are going to take your AR-15, AK-47.” Faced with the outburst of wild cheering, Beto’s competitors kept mum. None endorsed his slogan. None contradicted. Here I can’t resist my favorite Latin quote: “Tacent clamant” – their silence cries out.
Senator Coons, the Delaware Democrat speaking at a Friday CNN interview saw danger. I quote his very words: “I frankly think that that clip will be played for years at Second Amendment rallies with organizations that try to scare people by saying that Democrats are coming for your guns … I don’t think having our presidential candidates, like Congressman O’Rourke did, say that we’re going to try to take people’s guns against their will is a wise policy or political move.”
The presidential candidate attempted a defense against charges of forceful confiscation. His words need no comment, so I will quote in full: “I don’t want to give into the hype or some of the scare tactics … we don’t go door-to-door to enforce any law in the United States … No, we expect people to follow the law. And that’s certainly what I believe will happen.”
Senator Cory Booker tweeted his qualified support: “Yeah, it’s mandatory. You have to set up a system to pull them off. But this idea, this imagery that the fear mongers and demagogues try to say of somehow armed police officers showing up and confiscating weapons, that’s the fear mongering.” You see, there the government won’t confiscate guns. It will only be mandatory; it will simply be a system to “pull them off.”
Cory did better by making fun of Biden’s suggestion that parents should mentor their children by playing music on record players. His remark that he couldn’t remember the last time he saw a record player in “my community” is yet another reminder of how dated Old Joe has become in the twenty-first century. It’s not likely to do Cory harm, but it may damage Biden. He may be damaged himself with his muddled answer to a question about Iraq: “I said something that was not meant they way I said it.” Nevertheless most commentary seem to agree that he had a good debate by avoiding spectacular pratfalls, and by playing the moderation card against Warren and Bernie with their extravagant promises.
Our Revolution.com sent me an email crowing about Bernie’s victory. In their view Biden is a tool of the corporate elites They claim that “corporate media pundits are working overtime to convince voters that our movement’s ideas — like Medicare for All and ending big money’s control of our political system — didn’t dominate last night’s debate.” They do have a point about the influence of left-lurching schemes dominating the debates. Add the poll numbers for the two far-far-far-left candidates, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, together and they run ahead of Joe Biden. If one draws ahead and coalesces the f-f-f-left, that one is likely to get their party’s nomination. That will be interesting.
Warren didn’t win. She didn’t lose. Her road to the nomination runs over the corpse of the Bernie campaign. Bashing Biden is secondary at this point and she knows it.
Andrew Yang got a lot of attention when he promised a $1,000 ”freedom dividend” every month for a year to the first 10 people who signed up on his website. Don’t bother going to Yang2020, a hundred thousand people are there before you, all within minutes.
As for the rest of them. Not interesting.
John Frary of Farmington is a former candidate for U.S. Congress, a retired history professor, an emeritus Board Member of Maine Taxpayers United, a Maine Citizen’s Coalition Board member, and publisher of FraryHomeCompanion.com. He can be reached at jfrary8070@aol.com
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