I’m frustrated by the terrible moderation in the January Democratic debate, but I’m most disappointed in Elizabeth Warren. As mentioned in my previous post, the moderator asked Bernie why (not if) he said that a woman could not win the election, Bernie refuted, the moderator ignored him and then asked Senator Warren what she thought when Bernie said that a woman could not win the election. Here was her response:
Elizabeth Warren: I disagreed. Bernie is my friend, and I am not here to try to fight with Bernie. But, look, this question about whether or not a woman can be president has been raised, and it’s time for us to attack it head-on. And I think the best way to talk about who can win is by looking at people’s winning record. So, can a woman beat Donald Trump? Look at the men on this stage. Collectively, they have lost 10 elections. The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women… Amy and me.
Elizabeth Warren: And the only person on this stage who has beaten an incumbent Republican any time in the past 30 years is me. And here’s what I know. The real danger that we face as Democrats is picking a candidate who can’t pull our party together or someone who takes for granted big parts of the Democratic constituency. We need a candidate who will excite all parts of the Democratic Party, bring everyone in and give everyone a Democrat to believe in. That’s my plan and that is why I’m going to win.
That sure wasn’t a rehearsed response. </sarcasm>
First of all, her claim is not really even true. As Bernie pointed out as soon as he was allowed to speak again, he defeated an incumbent Republican in 1990, which was 30 years ago. Second, she had to specify ‘incumbent’ just to create a situation that made her look especially unique. Bernie Sanders, in 2006, defeated a Republican for a seat that had been held by Republicans for almost 150 years. Arguably more impressive than beating an incumbent. I think a more interesting fact is that Liz is probably the only candidate on that stage that was a Republican herself in the past 30 years.
I believe the initial scoop to CNN was made by the Warren campaign, possibly as retaliation for Bernie’s staffers peddling a talking points script that questioned Warren’s electability, arguing that she would bring no new bases out to vote. Warren characterized this as trash-talking her. I disagree with her assessment. I think the claims are reasonable and thoughtful analyses of her support, and importantly, they were not attacks against her character. This Bernie rumor is an attack of character.
And it comes across as suspiciously opportunistic that the event allegedly took place before this election cycle even began but the Warren campaign waited all the way until the final debate before the first votes to release this info. If there was meat to it and Warren was bothered by it all the way back then, why didn’t she try to resolve it sooner? And if she didn’t want to try and fight with Bernie over it, then why did she release it publicly instead of confronting Bernie out of the public eye?
Most importantly, I think this has been disastrous strategy by Warren, both for her campaign and for the interests of progressives as a whole. Actually attacking Bernie like this and causing a rift between the two campaigns does nothing but harm them both. The real enemy to defeat in this moment, for the sake of either campaign, is not each other, but the establishment!
The Bernie team was intending on using this debate to be the one to knockout Joe Biden over his record, his supposed wisdom, and his political experience, all of which he touts as his strengths over the other candidates. This strategy was telegraphed in advance by Nina Turner, Bernie’s campaign co-chair, who wrote a scathing article against Biden just days before the debate titled, “While Bernie Sanders has always stood up for African Americans, Joe Biden has repeatedly let us down.” In it, she counts the ways that a significant part of Biden’s political career has been antagonistic to Black Americans:
- His attempts alongside pro-segregation senators to enact legislation to prevent Black students from accessing White schools (hence Kamala Harris’s “that little girl was me” moment)
- His role in the public shaming of Anita Hill in 1991 (only apologizing for it at the start of this campaign)
- His work with Republicans to enact right-wing welfare reform that hurt disadvantaged families by reducing their financial support.
- His opinion piece using the “welfare queen” dog whistle, claiming these abusers of the system were driving luxury cars and living extravagantly
- His several ‘tough on crime’ bills that disproportionately targeted the Black community
- His numerous attempts to slash Social Security and Medicare
- His numerous successful actions to reduce Americans’ protections against bankruptcy and medical debts
- His continued opposition to marijuana legalization
- His opposition to Medicare for All, free college tuition, and student loan debt forgiveness, all of which would make significant strides in reducing the wealth gap chasm between White and Black people
Bernie and Liz could have teamed up and battered Joe from both sides! Instead, that opportunity was squandered with a “he said, she said” nontroversy that has no hard evidence supporting either of them, except that the claim doesn’t make sense given Bernie’s record. No kidding people think you’re a liar, Liz. 🐍
The funny thing is that Warren’s scheme didn’t even work! Bernie had his greatest campaign contribution night during a debate despite the attack from Liz and CNN. And many progressives on the fence between Warren and Bernie solidified their stance, deciding Elizabeth Warren leaves a bad taste in their mouths. That includes me.
What I wished happened was that the Warren campaign realized they made a mistake with the leak, which seemed like the case since they started asking prominent pro-Warren voices to quiet down on the controversy leading up to the debate. Then, right before the debate, Liz and Bernie met backstage and made amends, and then when CNN asked the question about it, Liz just said something along the lines of, “We talked about this just before the debate. It was all just a big misunderstanding that turned into something much bigger than it should have” and she and Bernie hugged on stage to show that the whole thing was over, and then they got on to Joe’s much deserved pummeling.
Oh well. In any case, I haven’t written her off. She’s just no longer a competing toss-up for my number one choice. She’s still a solid number two though; no one else polling well comes close. I’m just really disappointed by the whole thing.