I am live blogging, just kind of a slow typist.
I already posted everything memorable, nothing, now on with the rest.
First, they wanted no one to watch and the attacks in Paris certainly helped them keep this out of the news.
Hillary made no new gaffes, looked and sounded about the usual, positioned herself as carefully as should could between sounding reasonable enough to win and sounding socialist enough to compete with her current opponents.
For only about the second time I noticed that ccp is right, Hillary is running for President.
Backing up, let's meet Martin O'Malley first. I haven't seen him much before. Seemed like a pretty normal, middle aged aged, white guy, Democrat. Looks to me like he was a two term Governor of Maryland, two term Mayor of Baltimore and two term councilman before that. Served as chair of the Democrat Governor Association. What you might call a professional politician. He is not as unqualified or unimaginable of a nominee as people seem to think. If Baltimore were a model city or Maryland a model state for the future success of the union, then he is your guy! Unfortunately, the facts indicate otherwise.
Twice O'Malley pointed out that Maryland has the highest median income in the country. Not tied to any of his policies that we know, but maybe tied into the wealth that surrounds Washington DC. Our family business, T Rowe Price, is in Baltimore and so is Johns Hopkins. Neither were created by O'Malley. Baltimore and MD are also home of the riots and all the signs of abject failure in the city.
With the debate following the terror coverage, all gave strong words. O'Malley said ISIS is evil and our role is to confront evil. The Middle East is a mess but that does not mean boots on the ground. Call it what it is, "Radical Jihadis perverting one of the world's great religions".
Maryland raises taxes, he bragged, on everyone with the sales tax and on the 'top 14%' with the income tax and maybe a dozen other ways, brandishing his credentials. Note that Ben Carson changed his residency to Florida upon his retirement.
Borders should have a welcome sign, the Statue of Liberty is our symbol, not a wall.
Hillary's Wall Street reform he called "weak tea". He favors "gun safety". MD decriminalized small amounts of marijuana. And "Black Lives Matter", which is when I first noticed that R's have a black frontrunner, 2 Hispanics and a woman with executive experience, while the Dems have 3 pretty boring whites running. They face a real challenge trying to keep their 95% hold and large turnout of blacks under Obama. Recall that when Obama was off the ballot in 2010 and 2014, they lost nearly everything.
Asked what crisis he faced that shows he is ready, I liked his answer. No Governor faces a crisis similar to what a Commander in Chief will face.
Bernie Sanders. First, he looks and sounds exactly like a parody of himself, an SNL character. He tried to take it to Clinton but wouldn't hit her directly on her weakest points. Answering Bernie's charges and proposals is an important task for conservatives even after he leaves the national stage.
Bernie says "the system is rigged." "People are working longer hours for lower pay." "The benefits all go to the rich." "Climate change is directly related to the rise of terrorism." "The disastrous invasion of Iraq led to the rise of al Qaida and ISIS" (an attempt at a direct hit on Hillary). "Regime changes have unintended consequences" All policies have uninteded consequences he later admitted related to the raising of minimum wage causing job losses.
In our defense budget of $600B, less than 10% of it goes to fight international terrorism. We must destroy (radical Islam). "The cold war is over".
Bernie was asked how high he would go with his top tax rate on the rich. He said he would keep it lower than that socialist Eisenhower who had it at 90%. Still looking into it, "we don't have a number yet" (or didn't want to say).
Healthcare, repeal Obamacare go single payer, Medicare for everyone. "Healthcare is a right." Wanted Hillary pinned down on that point, but the moderator wanted a commercial break. Real unemployment is 10%. Something else is over 50% (black teenage unemployment?). No disposable income. When we raise minimum wage and with mandatory living wage someday, all that new money in circulation will [trickle down / trickle up?] through the whole economy bringing prosperity to all. Obvious follow up missed, why not more, why not sooner if it is all that simple.
Wall Street banks, break them up! Credit unions are the model of the future. Wall Street is part of corrupt campaigns, implying and really saying that Hillary is an example. The current Wall Street business model is fraud and greed.
1 in 4 African American (males?) ends up in our criminal justice system. The system is broken. End minimum sentences [don't examine the welfare state that pushes those males out of responsible for the family.] Send marijuana laws back to the states. [What? They oppose that for almost everything else.]
Free college, make states pay 2/3rds. Study hard and you have hope. [Students who are poor AND have a great academic record can already write their own ticket.]
The greatest crisis Bernie faced was the reforming of our veterans programs.
He hates the way America is now; we need a revolution to take it back. [Take it back to when?]
Hillary Clinton, On terrorism and ISIS, she will "do a better job". [Than Obama, than she did as Sec of State?] WIll use tools like diplomacy and law enforcement. [Huh?] ISIS threat, must defeat, not contain. [She is a hawk, just doesn't really have any direction.] "We support those who take up the fight." [Lead from behind] Dickerson, moderator, you missed it? [The ISIS threat] Answer: A ramble about AssAd and blaming the region. "Middle East is complicated, can't paint it with a broad brush."
Dickerson: Did you get it wrong with Libya? HRC: Khadafy had American blood on his hands, turned on his own people, the people elected moderate leaders.
Dickerson: Rubio called it Radical Islam, will you use that term? Rambling no, violent extremists use religion for power and oppression.
Fighting ISIS, we already have authorization "AUMF", and we will have to go to congress for authorization to update it. Which is it? We will screen 65,000 Syrian refugees. [Even though there is no resource or database.]
More programs, more spending, how will you pay for it all? "No tax increase on the middle class." "Tax the wealthy more." "Close loopholes." She will not raise the debt! [That literally means no deficits from Day One, possibly a lie?]
Healthcare, keep Obamacare, improve it. "Republicans want to throw it back into debate". [True.]
Keep the costs down. [No plan to do that.]
Dreamers legal, make a pathway. People that have been here for decades stay. [Let's lock in that point in agreement. That was decades plural. If you have been here illegally for 20 years and otherwise tax paying, law abiding, then that is where we set up the pathway to becoming legal. Maybe she meant, been here for minutes...]
Minimum Wage: Go $12 nationwide, not $15. Let other places like Seattle And NYC go further.
[Why not go higher if it is a good policy and delivers what it promises? It isn't; it doesn't.]
Guns: "No immunity for gun makers." This is her liberal attack on rural state US Senator Bernie. "This is an emergency." "90% of Americans support gun safety." [4 out of 5 dentists support sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.]
The Clinton gaffe: The 9/11 defense of her Wall Street campaign contributions. A nice angry clip that has NOTHING to do with the question asked, how dare you Bernie question me on my billions! (Bernie voted for all the same NY 9/11 funding. So did everyone else in the Senate.)
Dickerson took another shot at the emails, wanted to know if there is another shoe to drop. "After 11 hours I think the answer is clear!" [Huh?] Followed by ramble. Asked in follow up, people want us to talk about the issues, no answer again. In this format, one tough question, one tough followup, no one points out that we did not get an answer. There is an FBI investigation going on with Hillary and her aides, IS THERE ANOTHER SHOE TO DROP?
Dickerson to each: What was the biggest crisis you faced that shows you are ready to be President?
HRC: It was the planning for the bin Laden raid. [Not Benghazi??!!]
