Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Mistermix reviewed the debate last night, and I, for a change, watched some of it, but if you have not actually seen any of the debate footage and are just reading about it, you really need to watch it.
WORLDSTAR https://t.co/et8FL1rKMF
— John Cole (@Johngcole) February 20, 2020
I feel like a Bernie diehard because I just simply don’t understand why everyone does not love her. Steve felt the same way:
Go watch her.
TPM is live-blogging the Roger Stone sentencing here. I hope Judge Berman Jackson throws the book at Ft. Lauderdale’s most enthusiastic Batman villain cosplayer, but she’s made some noises about sentencing guidelines that could be interpreted as not encouraging? Hard to tell. Anyhoo, I’ll pop back in with the final word when available unless someone beats me to it.
ETA: Sentence: 40 months, $20K fine.
Meanwhile, if you’re up for another debate hot take, mine is below the fold…
Stone Sentencing! Plus, Debate Hot Takes Part TroisPost + Comments (252)
A couple of our jackals requested a daily political “action” thread, so how about if we try it for a bit and see how that goes? If you guys think it’s useful, we can keep it up, and if it ends up being more “seemed like a good idea at the time,” then we can let it go.
The goal is a poll-free, spin-free, prognostication-free, media-free, what’s-wrong-with-the-other-candidate-free-zone – a political thread where the focus is on ACTION: What can be done to help our candidates, and what are we doing to help them, every day?
The hope is that this will help provide inspiration, and encourage action, as an alternative to anger, frustration and despair.
Everyone is free to chime in about what they are doing for their their preferred candidate. What actions are we taking at Balloon Juice, individually or collectively, to help candidates we believe in?
What might you like to do, if you weren’t stuck on not quite knowing how to go from thinking about doing something to actually doing something?
Most of the first hour of last night’s debate consisted of each candidate taking a shit on Michael Bloomberg, and Elizabeth Warren aiming a shit cannon at him. I’ve watched a lot of debates, and I’ve never seen someone own a debate like Warren. She absolutely devastated Bloomberg in the exchange on non-disclosure agreements. When Warren — who was appropriately aggressive in demanding talk time — wasn’t speaking, one of the other candidates chipped in and threw a shot at Bloomberg. She looked strong, she looked smart, she was nimble, and she could beat Trump. A bravura performance.
As anyone could have predicted, Bloomberg was weak for the first hour because he hadn’t been debating on national TV for a year. He also came off, as predicted, like an out-of-touch plutocrat at times. His only moments of strength were when he was making technocratic points on areas of policy that he’s focused on, like climate change. “I am a manager,” the start of his closing pitch, couldn’t motivate a dog to walk across the kitchen floor to pick up a steak. His massive ability to advertise might stitch up some of the damage inflicted on him last night, but his electability argument took a big hit with the legitimate criticisms on stop-and-frisk, the mortgage crisis, and his issues with women. Referring to Warren as “the Senator standing next to me” was a moment where he took a massive hammer and drove home the nail that, despite his protests to the contrary, he has a big problem with women.
Klobuchar wasn’t as good as she was in New Hampshire. She seemed a little shaken in the first hour, and in the second hour, her pure, white-hot hatred for Pete was on full display, and the longest exchange they had didn’t do either of them any favors. However, it was some good TV, and Pete is lucky that she didn’t have a stapler on her podium. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a good moment when the Telemundo moderator asked her about forgetting the President of Mexico’s name, and that moderator had a good follow-up on Latin American policy that wasn’t kind to her, either.
Pete didn’t miss an opportunity to criticize anyone on the stage, to a fault. He often pivoted at the end of a response to criticize someone else. No nit was too small to pick for Pete, and I thought Warren made him look small when she defended Klobuchar for forgetting AMLO’s name after he had gloated over remembering it. He also continues to rely on platitudes. In his defense, as someone who has a message of unity and being an alternative to divisive politics, it’s hard to look good in the Bloomberg pile on that had to happen last night.
Bernie took a few more hits than he did in New Hampshire, but I don’t know if they did any real damage. One of the issues with attacking Sanders is that he’s held the same positions since Jesus was a baby, so when he gets attacked, he has a ready answer. What else is there to say about a completely known quantity? He profited from everyone’s desire to dunk on Bloomberg, because in another debate, they’d be dunking on him. It looked like Jane went to the Burligton Costco and got him a new shirt and tie after reading my assessment that he was dressed like a 1980’s business traveler in the last debate.
Biden was weaker than the last debate. He suffers from the need to pack 10 things into a period of time that can only accommodate 5. I don’t think I’m talking about his stuttering – I’m talking about him starting a sentence, and then driving off to make a point that may or may not be related, then going back to the topic at hand, then going somewhere else. He made a lot of statements about all the foreign leaders he knows, which I think is weak sauce. There were very few “Good Old Joe Biden” moments.
I realize this is sounding a bit like movie criticism, but with the combination of the need of the candidates to tamp down Bloomberg, and the “hey let’s you and you fight” questions from the (mostly, and predictably) awful moderators, it was a pretty fighty and shouty affair. If you haven’t watched it, I can’t really over-emphasize how Warren took over. In the last debate, she was really good at staying on message, and articulating her programs. In this debate, she wasn’t as concerned about staying on message. Instead, she showed us that she was the best lawyer on the stage – she was on message where appropriate, and attacked when necessary. I thought her run down of why she could win rather than every other candidate was well done. She was gracious while Pete was petty. She was confident and composed while Klobuchar seemed a little shaken. She was coherent and focused while Biden rambled. She was a capitalist while Bernie was defending socialism. She was deft while Bloomberg was clumsy. I hope it does her some good, because she deserves it.
The end of Michael Bloomberg in 2:19.pic.twitter.com/nN0pGwhkBu
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) February 20, 2020
The Guardian‘s liveblog summary, which pretty well encapsulated what I’m seeing elsewhere:
Elizabeth Warren made a strong showing, criticizing rivals with well-prepared remarks. Her campaign reported record fundraising during the debate. Facing his opponents for the first time on the debate stage, Mike Bloomberg found himself fending off attacks from every angle. The candidates questioned his record on race and policing, as well allegations that he encouraged a hostile work environment for women. Bernie Sanders, who is leading in polls, cruised through. He briefly faced criticism over his supporters’ online attacks and said he disapproved of such behavior and disowned those who acted inappropriately. Moderates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar were at each other’s throats vyying to lead the middle lane. Joe Biden generally failed to breakthrough.
Warren & Biden were fighting for their political lives & showed it. Strong performances. Bloomberg will have to up his spending to make up for a v-bad night. Reversal on Klobuchar/Buttigieg: She beat him in NH; he beat her tonight. Bernie took some blows but rolled on.#DemDebate
— EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) February 20, 2020
It has to be a first that women finished 1-2 in speaking time for a debate. pic.twitter.com/jlG3oHOj0Y
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) February 20, 2020
This is good advice and the media shouldn't proclaim Bloomberg's campaign dead (or anything close) without seeing the evidence.
But also it wasn't clear how alive Bloomberg's campaign was in the first place and the media may have jumped the gun in proclaiming him a frontrunner. https://t.co/I7QL7rBCDG
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 20, 2020
Thursday Morning Open Thread: About Last NightPost + Comments (150)
5. Nationally China reported 394 #COVID19 cases on Feb. 19 and 114 deaths.
The outbreak totals there are 74,576 confirmed cases & 2118 deaths. pic.twitter.com/T7WlXsBIkP— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 20, 2020
From my (limited and extremely amateur) perspective, it seems like COVID-19 coverage is becoming ‘normal’, at least in the United States. Of course it’s still a serious issue — like global climate change or financial market fluctuations — but it’s trending away from the OMG WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE OF CORONA-PLAGUE coverage. Maybe I’m just an optimist!
I’m also seeing much circulation of two ‘hopeful’ rumors. First, that there will be ‘a vaccine’ within a year (rebuttal: there will probably be experimental vaccines for exposed individuals, but *not* something tested as safe for a more general population). Second, that chloroquine phosphate, a widely available antimalarial, has ‘been approved as a treatment’; this sounds like a throw-everything-at-it tactic, one step above approving aspirin as a valid treatment mechanism — and the drug is well known for its unpleasant side effects, so it’s not something people want to be dosing themselves with ‘just in case’. (As always, please do let me know if I’m wrong about this.)
With 620 passengers now confirmed + from Diamond Princess Cruise – 2 have now died – both in their 80's. Lets hope no additional deaths nor reported cases. If no additional deaths, then among this well monitored group mortality would be 0.3% or less.https://t.co/8RNKbPkjwk
— Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) February 20, 2020
Further evidence of asymptomatic infection, but this one didn't address transmission. Virus was detected both by PCR and viral culture. https://t.co/xZYMAWStH0
— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) February 19, 2020