WP: Debate Winners and Losers

[Rose Siding]

Winners
* Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State came ready to fight on Sunday night. She kept her hit on Sanders's opposition to the auto bailout well hidden in the run-up to the debate in order to get maximum impact when she dropped it on his head. Ditto her attack on him being the long Democrat to vote against the Export-Import bank. She is still not great when it comes to answering questions she doesn't want to answer. Her I'll-release-my-Wall-Street-speeches-when-everyone-else-does answer to a question on her high-paid speaking gigs was, still, not very good. And, she remains overly cautious as a candidate; when pressed whether people at the Environmental Protection Agency should lose their jobs over what happened in Flint, Clinton was unwilling to say they should -- a swing and a miss at a hanging curveball. Still, overall, this was a very solid showing by Clinton. On guns, on failing schools and on Flint, she was confident and effective.

* President Obama: It seemed as though no matter what Clinton was asked about in the debate, her answer wound back to a defense of the current occupant of the White House. Clinton even used Obama as a shield against Sanders as he bashed her on accepting money from Wall Street. Why? Because Clinton knows that among Democratic base voters -- particularly African Americans -- Obama remains hugely popular and, therefore, aligning yourself with him is a stone-cold winner.
.....
Losers
* Bernie Sanders: The Vermont Senator had effectively walked a fine line in the previous six debates when it came to attacking Clinton without coming across as either bullying or condescending. He tripped and fell while trying to execute that delicate dance on Sunday night. Sanders's "excuse me, I'm talking" rebuttal to Clinton hinted at the fact that he was losing his temper with her. His "can I finish please" retort ensured that his tone and his approach to someone trying to become the first female presidential nominee in either party would be THE story of the night.

Put aside the fact that Sanders misstepped on tone, he also did nothing to change the underlying dynamics of the race. If you think Wall Street is the problem for much of what ails the country, you were for Sanders before this debate and certainly for him after it too. But, as we know from the first 40 percent or so of states that have voted, there aren't enough of those people to make him the nominee. Sanders didn't knock Clinton off her game in any meaningful way, making the debate a loss for him. (Sidebar: His answer about white people not knowing what it is like to live in a ghetto or be poor would have been a massive gaffe if he was not as far behind in the delegate chase as he is.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/06/winners-and-losers-from-the-7th-democratic-presidential-debate/?postshare=2701457320146330&tid=ss_tw

[livetohike]

1. I only saw the second hour of the debate. Sanders was

horrible. His body language, finger pointing and wagging, making faces, interruptions. Horrid.

[Rose Siding]

7. Yep. Switched to MSNBC after and they've been

Great

Ari Melber had Joy Reid, Podesta some other guests and campaign reps but good stuff!

They really got down to how he swings all the answers around to econ and he took a hit on his ghetto remark. -How AAs aren't all poor or the only poor.

[livetohike]

11. Yes. I did the same- switch to MSNBC. He

doesn't have the temperament to be President. I think Hillary's poll numbers will rise after tonight's debate.

[Rose Siding]

13. It hasn't been too hard to watch has it?

Less horse race than Matthews, and even Maddow now at times. And not a repub in sight -always an improvement!

[Cha]

16. So good to hear, Rose. Thank you!

[Her Sister]

2. great!

Brilliant!!

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. K&R!

[Haveadream]

4. Great Article!

Thanks

K&R

[SunSeeker]

5. Sanders was rude, angry and again showed he was Johnny One Note.

He was so awful with his interrupting finger waving that I had to turn it off. Sanders reminded me of the way my sexist right wing father-in-law talks to his wife (it's his second marriage--my husband's birth mother had the good sense to get a divorce!).

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. If he's against the Ex-Im bank he can kiss Washington State goodby

A lot of Boeing jobs depend on that.

[Rose Siding]

12. Glad you read that.

That's a big deal. Not just Ex Im but the vast diversity of interests throughout the country. Sanders is so one size fits all.

[comradebillyboy]

8. He looked angry and tired and frustrated

[MSMITH33156]

9. Okay, but that is a

corporately owned newspaper. And we all know corporations back Hillary. This whole thing is rigged!!!

Not really, but that's what the BS crew will say.

[radical noodle]

10. I picked up on the comment

about not knowing what it is like to be black and live in a ghetto or be poor. He still doesn't get it.

Thanks for posting this.

[Rose Siding]

18. Cillizza at the Post is not a Hillary fan

To see him write so conclusively about her being superior here is significant.

[Fla Dem]

36. No he hasn't been. But I think the bloom is off the rose.

Bernie's tirades and speeches are becoming one note. Those who have been following him are beginning to see how one dimensional he is.

[justhanginon]

14. I think the demeanor of a candidate for the presidency should

be put into the mix of things we require in a potential president. When, as president, you are constantly on both the national and international stage you want someone who has been proven to be able to stand up with both tact and grace to the hard stuff that will be thrown their way. I think that Secretary Clinton has the experience and that quality in how she comports herself and that should be taken into account when deciding one's vote.

[jsmirman]

22. Whenever I envision him sitting down with world leaders, contentious and otherwise

it's not a pretty picture.

I don't think he is remotely qualified - by experience or temperament - or curiosity or breadth of knowledge to run this nation's foreign policy.

It is one of the biggest reasons that I am firmly in the Hillary camp.

He's not qualified. He would be dangerously ill-equipped to navigate our country through an unusually dangerous and markedly contentious world.

[George II]

17. "(Sidebar: His answer about white people not knowing what it is like to live in a ghetto....

....or be poor would have been a massive gaffe if he was not as far behind in the delegate chase as he is.)"

I'm really tired of this plea for sympathy.

I'm WHITE and I know what it's like to be poor and lived in what might consider to be a "ghetto" (although not a racial ghetto, but a poverty ghetto).

And I do NOT support Senator Sanders because his philosophy and politics do not advance the lives of those who are poor and disadvantaged.

And, as Sanders would say, "by the way".....I grew up with friends in Brooklyn not far from where he grew up, whose parents had numbers tattooed on their arms. He does not have a monopoly on that, and he should stop using that in his campaigning.

If he was so concerned about the plight of the poor and disadvantaged and the minorities, he would not have moved up to Vermont, he would have stayed in Brooklyn or even Chicago to help those that he's now suddenly concerned about.

[Agnosticsherbet]

28. I have in my lifetime been homeless, living in a car for months at a time with a wife and baby

I have lived on food stamps and food aid, picking up baskets of donated food.
I have looked at my bills and been forced to decide which I could play and which I could not.
At one time, I knew that three boxes of Kraft Macaroni and cheese ($0.75) would make a meal for my family, and I made Spaghetti with ketchup packets picked up form fast food restaurants.
I am not in that state now, but I and many others know what it is like to be poor.

What I do not know is what it is like to be black or Hispanic or an American Indian. They not only live with poverty, but with a legal system designed to keep them in place, and in a nation where they are always viewed with suspicion as criminals and outsiders. It is probably worse than that.

[UtahLib]

19. He remains clueless on so many levels.

[mcar]

20. When Cillizza says HRC won and Bernie stumbled

it means something. Only because his hatred for HRC has been well documented.

[Lucinda]

21. Thankie Rose!

[SharonClark]

23. K&R

[dlwickham]

24. Kick

[LAS14]

25. k

[southerncrone]

26. What else would one expect from a Rupert Murdoch owned, Wall Street rag.

Just emphasizes how fearful they are of Sanders' growing support.

[Rose Siding]

27. We were expecting you! (see reply #9)

Whoops you landed in Hilz group where we do math.

[southerncrone]

29. I also do math. Quite well, actually.

Sorry, didn't mean to crash you party. Carry on.

[Cha]

31. Good. Then you know Hillary's Winning.

[Cha]

30. Brawaaaaaa. sanders lost the debate.. it doesn't matter who reports it. You can try and

kill the messenger all you want. Not working.

The media has been going all out to stick it to Hillary.. but even they can see BS lost and Hillary Won.

[Historic NY]

32. He went into "get off my lawn mode". Democrats aren't always right....

I loved it when he said he only switched to the Democrats to run for President. Whats his plan if he win Independent or some other party.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/271997-sanders-dems-are-not-always-right

[Cha]

33. Cha to bernie... "Guess what, you're not always right, either." Does he admit to that?

[DemonGoddess]

34. this part right here:

“I don’t want to break the bad news — Democrats are not always right. Democrats have often supported corporate welfare; Democrats have supported disastrous trade agreements," Sanders said during Sunday's Democratic debate in Flint, Mich.

Then WHY on earth is he running as a Democrat? With that statement, RIGHT THERE, and what followed? He showed his true colors as to his intentions to use the Democratic resources for his own self interests. He got in to this race, not as a real Democrat, but as an idealogue.

[NastyRiffraff]

35. Bashing Democrats again

Nothing new there for Bernie. He's quite happy to use the Democratic party and its resources as a springboard for his campaign, though. He wanted more debates and he got them. And proceeded to stumble in all of them. He'll probably blame the Democratic party for that, too. After all, Bernie cannot be wrong! Ever.