Leftward Ho in Las Vegas- the Democrats’ Debate Preview
Tonight’s debate, featuring five or six contenders for the Democrats’ presidential nomination (we predict that the vice-president won’t show, despite the additional podium being added at the last minute), is to be hosted by CNN- the same CNN who hosted their own generated pie-throwing contest for the Republicans last month. It will feature, alphabetically, Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb and, possibly but not probably, Joe Biden.
This debate offers nowhere near the intrigue that the last two Republican debates offered, primarily because there are currently only two real contenders for the nomination- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, with Joe Biden waiting in the wings for just the right moment to launch his own campaign. Just why Chafee, O’Malley and Webb are even showing up is a mystery, indeed, for if their respective polling numbers do not drastically improve, their candidacies will end by year’s end, if not before-hand.
The logistics surrounding this debate are very different from that of the Republicans, primarily due to the very strictly limited number of debates being offered by the Democrat Party, itself. The DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, engineered this limited number of debates by design, as she seeks to protect the party’s front-runner and at-one-time presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, from any possible misstep on the debate stage. Reduce the debates and you geometrically and diametrically reduce the propensity for gaffes, according to this leap in liberal logic.
The most exciting two minutes of this debate will take place at the onset, when the candidates are introduced, specifically because of that sixth podium and whether or not it will be manned by the vice president (we predict it won’t be). After that, the debate will be a total bore. CNN, who oh-so-blatantly wants Hillary to be Barack Obama’s successor, will toss very soft questions to the former first lady- designed to make her look oh-so-presidential, and then ask the other candidates questions which will, a) make Hillary look good, b) make it almost impossible for the other candidates to attack Hillary and c) make Republicans look monstrous, by comparison. So, there will be many questions about the fictitious “GOP war on women”, the fictitious “GOP war on immigrants” and the fictitious “GOP war on minorities”, and very few questions concerning e-mail servers, socialism and Obama’s failed foreign policy if, at all, any.
Aside from whether or not Joe will “show”, the big news for the evening will be the questions that are NOT asked. By candidate, alphabetically, these questions are as follows:
Lincoln Chafee- “One of the principal reasons you cited when your campaign was launched is that you wanted the Unites States to ‘go metric’. Do you believe that this issue is as important as the other issues facing this country and, if so, why?”
Hillary Clinton- “With all of your changing and evolving responses to inquiries regarding your e-mails, deleted or retained, on your own private server, which clearly violate the law, why should the American people trust you, either on a professional or ethical basis, to lead our country, given all of the challenges facing the United States in 2017, and beyond?”
Martin O’Malley- “You once said that climate change and global warming were the primary reasons for the rise of ISIL/ISIS- do you still believe this, and if so, can you explain the connection between climate change and radical Islam?”
Bernie Sanders- “You have advocated a tremendous increase in taxes on the wealthy, as well as a tremendous increase in corporate taxes, as a means to make college tuition-free for students. Given the fact that U.S. corporations already pay the highest income taxes in the industrialized world, how will increasing these taxes encourage job creation for all of these college students entering the work force?”
Jim Webb- “Amongst the current slate of Democrats running for the nomination, you are alone in advocating for a stronger defense and a more assertive foreign policy. Specifically, where do you differ from the Obama administration with regards to the administration’s Middle East Policy, the Iran ‘deal’ and the war on terror, and what changes would you make in these specific areas?”
Joe Biden (assuming he shows)- “Do you believe that President Obama’s foreign policy, specifically related to Vladimir Putin, the Middle East, Iran and ISIL/ISIS has been a success, and if so why? If not, where would you change direction in U.S. foreign policy from that of President Obama’s?”
These are the types of questions that a responsible, impartial media would ask candidates running for the most important job in the entire world- but CNN is anything but impartial or responsible, because they are advocates, instead, and representative democracy is not served as a result of such advocacy. All that’s “left” therefore, figuratively, literally, politically, is how far leftward these Democrat candidates can leap in the luxurious lap of Las Vegas…
-Drew Nickell, 13 October 2015
©2015 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved