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Sunday, November 15, 2015

One Thing We Learned Last Night: Bernie Has no Answers on ISIS

Despite all the help he received from John Dickerson

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-2016-primary-it-seems-only-hillary.html

Bernie is widely seen to have bombed last night. Iowa Democrats see him as losing the debate and it wasn't even close.

Bernie Sanders had the weakest night of the three Democrats onstage at Saturday night’s debate."

"That’s according to a survey of the POLITICO Caucus, a bipartisan group of influential strategists, operatives and activists in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, who weighed in immediately following the second Democratic primary debate."

"Nearly half of Democrats surveyed said the Vermont senator lost the debate, and only 10 percent of Democrats said he won. Those insiders who said Sanders had the worst night argued that he appeared out of his depth on foreign policy a day after terrorist attacks rocked France. He spent just a few seconds addressing the matter in his opening statement before pivoting to his familiar pitch about the economy, in stark contrast to rival Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state who devoted her entire statement to the Paris attacks"

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/insiders-bad-night-for-bernie-215901#ixzz3ra61xRgM

Sometimes you have to be a little flexible. I get it that Bernie only wants to give his stump speech but a day after the Paris tragedy it comes across has tone deaf on his part to give it such short thrift. Does he simply not think it's so important? Is it just a 'distraction' from the stump speech?

As Hillary said in her introduction, it's not just about electing a President it's about electing a Commander in Chief. Evidently, Bernie disagrees.

What I've picked up on is Bernie doesn't really answer questions-he pivots back to his stump speech.

For example, when he was asked about the negative effects in raising the minimum wage to $15-could doing this too fast at the national level lead to job losses?

All he did was pivot back to citing statistics of rising inequality. But he missed the point. He's pushing into an open door there-Hillary and the rest of us Democrats agree about rising inequality.

The question was-is raising the MW to $15 the best way to fight rising inequality? And some economists argue that you don't want to do that too fast. There's a lot of difference between raising it to $15 in certain cities or states and doing it at the national level.

Bernie simply ignored this dimension.

As a Twitter fellow Democrat pointed out HRC has clearly read Bernie's proposals but the Bern hasn't returned the favor.

He is showing no ability to move beyond his base.

"Others said the self-described democratic socialist made no effort to appeal to the broader Democratic Party, and reinforced perceptions Saturday night that he is unelectable."

"Focused entirely on his base which demands the pure," said an unaligned Iowa Democrat. "Worst answer: Asked directly how he would work with a GOP Congress, he argued that the Political Revolution would sweep aside all in its path.”

“The early primaries and caucuses are getting closer and closer, and he is failing to come across as viable and presidential to pick up the new supporters he needs,” said a Nevada Democrat, who instead thought Martin O’Malley won. “Time is running out.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/insiders-bad-night-for-bernie-215901#ixzz3ra8R3CgJ
Most of the Dems polled think HRC won. What Bernie doesn't get is that it's not about policy-Dems are mostly on the same page this primary. It's about leadership. She simply blows leadership out of the water. "

"It was a very good night for O'Malley but Secretary Clinton still proved that she is the most prepared to be POTUS," said an unaligned South Carolina Democrat."

"Added a New Hampshire Democrat, “Not even close; Hillary Clinton, once again, demonstrated her mastery of all issues both foreign and domestic; she was truly presidential. Sen. Sanders and Gov. O'Malley are both fine men, but their issue knowledge stops at the water's edge.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/insiders-bad-night-for-bernie-215901#ixzz3ra8zM0Di


That's it. I mean neither showed that they are in any way equipped to be Commander in Chief. Bernie would have been wiser to have adjusted rather than insist that he stay on message.



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