John Katz,Editor,The American Dossier
The third Democrat debate featured all 10 “front runners” for the first time on the same stage. According to some pundits Joe Biden, Bernie Saunders and Elizabeth Warren are leading the pack. The key issues for the evening were focused on healthcare, foreign policy, and gun control.
If I had to grade the debate on civil discourse amongst these candidates , I would give them a grade somewhat better than the last 2 times at best. There was some explanation of policy views ,however a lot of distraction by several of them in utilizing theatrics. For example rather than utilizing time to expand on explaining his healthcare policy, Julian Castro spent several minutes of his time rudely attacking the former Vice President on his age, agility and loyalty to President Obama.
On the issue of gun control Beto O’Rourke was credited for his stance on automatic assault weapons, with his emotional , “ We are going to take your AR-15” pledge. The truth on this particular issue of mandatory gun buy backs, in the polls, there is strong debate on whether certain weapons should be taken away in retrospect of recent mass shootings.
Regarding the War in Afghanistan, Pete Buttigieg countered Elizabeth Warren’s stance to withdraw all troops in stating that , “ We have a very clear purpose and mission to hold in mind and that is to make sure Afghanistan is never again a base for terrorist attack against the U.S. homeland.”
However there was no lack of “prime time “ rhetorical bantering bits to vilify President Trump:
“So President Trump you spent the last two and a half years full time trying sow hate and division among us” -Kamilla Harris
“You have a white supremacist in the Whitehouse”- Beto O’Rourke
Rather than best utilizing their debate time focused on issues at hand these DNC Candidates have consistently chosen to waste time with theatrics and masquerading in being more virtuous than the other. The election of 2020 will soon be upon us and there still is no clarity or confidence in the candidates or platform that the DNC has to offer.
Upon reflecting on the third DNC debate I could not help but ponder on a quote from Ichabod Crane , from author Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. “Villainy wears many masks, none so dangerous as the mask of virtue.” Furthermore the reality is that that time stands still for no man. In the spirit of Ronald Reagan, who will we better off with for the next four years?