I think you need to be able to articulate a reason why you are there. Gabbard is there because she believes her experiences in the military add to the debate, Inslee is pushing for a stronger commitment on climate change, Ryan wants to “stay engaged” in decade-long armed conflict. Beto wants to be there because...?

I know who Lenny and Jammer are voting for

About that...

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ ... e-n1023406

"trolls"

So called "disinformation experts" should be more worried about NBC and the major parties than online polls.

I love that they are still pushing the "Gabbard as Russian agent" nonsense.

I so look forward to the day these motherfuckers are lined up against a wall.

I'm looking forward to not hating myself enough to watch tonight's debate either

OK, I really get to express my hatred in the existence of the soft G in language now. For a long time (especially with the latter), I thought Buttigieg and Gillibrand's names were both entirely pronounced with hard Gs, simply because I never followed them in any form of media other than print. Ugh, it's going to take me a long time to unthink that error.

His Democratic opponents are going to get Yang alive if he's really going to advocate a VAT to fund a UBI.

Oh boy, Swalwell, who's just two weeks older than me, is going full generational warfare against Biden.

BTW, is anyone else going to comment in this thread as this debate is unfolding? If not, I'll just stop talking to myself.

ill drink with you but I'm watching house hunters...

They're freezing out Yang

I think the media representation of this as a horse race is ratings-considered and wrong-headed. This is an extended primetime hour of democratic talking points, consistent across candidates as far as public processing is concerned, which illustrates the difference between that party’s language and Trump/McConnell’s rewritten version of conservatism.

Never-trump Republicans will talk up Biden, or a handful of others who are extra centrist, because they sense a loss in the making and nothing would make them happier than for it to be the most centrist Democrats on stage. The media will humor that, as they have. But the last two nights have illustrated how little “democratic disarray“ there really is, and how much 2018-level energy still rolls on.

Lol good

I’ll say having seen no commentary so far that Kamala Harris is winning this night hands down. Biden is going to have a hard time over the next few news cycles living tonight down. He’s getting lost in his own language and more than once ran out of things to say and said “oops I am out of time” instead of completing his thoughts.

I’d really like to see what this will mean for the trajectory of the race, but I certainly am walking away thinking more seriously about candidates I was previously hesitant about.

There was laughter when he mentioned the freedom dividend

I will say I appreciated Buttigieg saying whatever it was they were doing in South Bend it clearly wasn’t enough on the recent situation there with police violence. He took ownership of the issue and didn’t just lay out excuses and plans.

Random thoughts, night two:
--Felt like greatest hits night for Bernie, he's likely to linger around for a while like he did in the last campaign.
--Harris didn't change my mind in that she should be a serious competitor.
--Alongside Castro, I thought Gillibrand was being underrated, and my mind hasn't changed there either.
--I feel like Biden the same way that I did about Beto last night: not great, but not terrible.
--I can see why Mayor Pete has been impressing people, he should have a long, bright future ahead of him in politics somewhere.
--Swalwell at least made things interesting and felt like he was serious about his campaign.
--I have no idea why the Colorado guys, Yang, and Williamson are here.

I agree with a lot of this. The four You note at the end were not really relevant in the debate. Biden just didn’t look good. Bernie was Bernie, but Warren was a more compelling version. Gillibrand was good but I never really got the sense of who she was. Buttigieg I think came in second tonight and maybe fourth overall among the 20 candidates. Harris was great and wins between all of them. I’d feel confident with her as the top of the ticket and if she does not get the votes I hope she’s seriously considered as a VP candidate because she needs to be on the national stage juxtaposed to Trump.

My top 5 on debate performance would be:

1) Harris
2) Warren
3) Castro
4) Buttigieg
5) Booker