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"You're dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don't even know the flavor." - Sen. Cory Booker
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Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Andrew Yang, Jay Inslee, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tulsi Gabbard, Bill de Blasio, and Michael Bennet hit the stage Wednesday for the second night of the second Democratic primary debate, which clocked in at almost three hours. Thankfully, there’s not another one of these until September. Enjoy your August recess Congress (and America).
Like Tuesday night, the two poll leaders on stage (Biden and Harris) were the top targets for the underdog candidates. This time, though, they both struggled to defend themselves from attacks on their records—on health care, criminal justice, immigration, and reproductive rights.
Here’s a rundown of the night’s standout moments →
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“FRANKLY, I’M SHOCKED”
Unlike Tuesday night, when CNN hosted an entirely white panel of candidates, moderators devoted a significant portion of Wednesday’s debate to the candidates’ criminal justice reform agendas and their public service records on the issue.
In the most pointed exchange of the night, Cory Booker defended his own tough-on-crime record as the former mayor of Newark, NJ, by pointing out that he inherited a community ravaged by the 1994 crime bill, which Biden co-authored and used to champion as a personal achievement.
“If you want to compare records, and frankly, I’m shocked that you do, I’m happy to do that. Because all the problems that he is talking about, that he created—I actually led the bill that got passed into law that reverses the damage…you were bragging, calling it the ‘Biden Crime Bill’ up until 2015.”
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IF YOU CAN’T TAKE THE HEAT...
Kamala Harris was notably silent during most of the criminal justice debate, perhaps because her record as a prosecutor has left her vulnerable to criticism. In the most effective attack on Harris this cycle, Tulsi Gabbard recited a list of controversies:
- “She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
- “In the case of those who were on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them, until you were forced to do so.”
- "She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California."
- “She fought to keep the cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way."
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Kamala responded: “As the elected Attorney General of California, I did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of the state of 40 million people which became a national model for the work that needs to be done, and I am proud of that work.”
“WE CAN WALK AND CHEW GUM AT THE SAME TIME”
While the candidates on stage Tuesday scarcely mentioned Trump, the Wednesday field did a much better job highlighting his unfitness for office and the importance of confronting him. When Michael Bennet expressed concern (and by concern, we mean fear of Mitch McConnell) about the political risks of opening an impeachment inquiry, Julián Castro stepped up to make the political case for it.
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THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN LAME
CNN’s legal team spent most of the night shutting down anyone on the Internet who tried to stream the debate, which probably saved some folks from watching moderators who often seemed less concerned with fostering debate than generating attacks between candidates.
Ten candidates with less than three hours to debate will never cover the entire range of issues facing the country. But almost every question the moderators asked on both nights boiled down to: “The person standing next to you is a politically toxic leftwinger, yes?”
This understandably frustrated the candidates, who at times tried to take control of the debate for themselves. During the foreign policy discussion, Bill de Blasio challenged the moderators for ignoring perhaps the most pressing national security crisis facing the country.
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HEALTH CARE. AGAIN.
Harris took the stage two days after introducing her health care plan, which she released to clear up confusion over whether she supports Medicare for All, a public option, or something in between. Wednesday’s debate thus centered on whether or not private insurance plans should exist alongside a public plan, how much a Medicare for All system would cost taxpayers, and which taxpayers would bear the cost.
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This exchange emphasized the downside of not having all the frontrunners on the same stage. Absent Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who both support Medicare for All, Bill de Blasio had to serve as a proxy for progressives. He noted that Harris, Gillibrand, and Booker all co-sponsored Sanders’ Medicare for All bill and have since walked away from it—but the random drawings denied voters a chance to see the most effective Medicare for All supporters and Medicare for All skeptics confront each other.
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