I watched the Wings play instead of watching the debate (this turned out to be a great choice, that was one of the best games I've seen outside of the playoffs). I'm just reading through and watching some recaps of it in various places (mainly
WSJ and
FiveThirtyEight) and typing this up as I go.
So far, it seems like Anderson was more interested in "gotchas" than actually letting candidates discuss the issues. That irritates me. It was better than the Republican debates, but that's not a high bar.
Also, just when I thought Hillary couldn't irritate me any further, she says the most significant thing that would distinguish her from Obama is that she has a vagina (more or less). Bravo, Mrs. Clinton, what a wonderful issue to campaign on. Forget about policy, what
really matters is that you have lady parts. The rest of the candidates should have just gone home at that point, clearly there's no challenging
that, we obviously have our next POTUS. She then went on to play the woman card
again not five minutes later. If I had a gun to my head, I wouldn't vote for her. I don't
care if you're a woman. What matters is your plan to make life better for people. I didn't vote for Obama first term because he was black, I voted for him because I thought his ideas made the most sense. There's a reason I
didn't vote Hillary in 2007/2008 and there's certainly a reason I won't be voting for her in 2015/2016. That reason is that her platform is
abysmal; there are
Republicans I would rather vote for, and of all the parties, I tend to disagree with them most frequently.
On Carly Fiorina's comment about paid leave being a burden on companies: "This is a typical Republican smear tactic," she says. Republicans don't like big government, she says, until they're demanding that the Congress defund Planned Parenthood and restrict abortion rights.
Uh, what? As someone who SUPPORTS Planned Parenthood, this makes no sense to me. The government providing funding for Planned Parenthood is, by definition, bigger government: it's the government involving themselves in affairs that aren't necessarily related to governance. I don't think it's a bad thing in this particular case, but her argument makes no sense.
"Hillary Clinton, citing her late mother, said her goal as president will be to help Americans who have been "knocked down" get back up again." Yeah, right. Only the ones that make a good photo-op.
I'm further irritated by the fact that she won't endorse the legalization of marijuana and hasn't taken a hard stance against foreign entanglements, especially the ones that have gone wrong that she voted for.
On the other hand, I'm liking Sanders more and more each time he talks. Voting against the PATRIOT Act is a HUGE point in his favor, as is not running with a Super PAC. I also greatly appreciate his desire to promote and protect the democratic process, something no one else on that stage or the other one seem to give a damn about. I also think his comments on gun control and affirmative action (the latter of which I care a great deal about) are remarkably sane for someone described as being a "radical" liberal, though I do have a few issues. And his attacks on Wall Street (which may as well run the government) and the pharmaceutical industry (which is thoroughly corrupt) are well-deserved. Most of all, he seems open to having a dialogue with those who want one and that's something I really like. But then, I already liked a lot of what Bernie had to say.
I think the most surprising part of this debate is just how
much I disliked what Hillary had to say and how much I agreed with what Bernie had to say. Pretty much everything that came out of Hillary's mouth that was a point of contention ticked me off and pretty much every idea that Bernie voiced seemed somewhere between reasonable and absolutely correct. About the only thing I liked that Clinton said (and she still didn't come out strongly against it) is that she is kinda-sorta against the TPP now that she's looked at it. I would rather have seen a more firm opposition to it, but I don't really expect much out of her to begin with, so credit where it's due.
Well, that's about the extent of my thoughts. I didn't really bother to proof anything since it's more or less just what I thought as I was reading things. In the end, I'm still glad I watched the Red Wings beat the snot out of Tampa Bay over this, though. Man, that was a great game.
