It's on to South Carolina, with Democrats debating in the state as its primary comes up this Saturday, February 29. Debating tonight, in reverse alphabetical order: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Tom Steyer, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The debate started at 8 PM ET and is slated to last for two hours. It will air on CBS and stream on a number of platforms.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 2:20:57 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter
Now we go to national security and Warren, you want to bring all our combat troops home and isn’t that a scary thing. Warren says we are not winning in Afghanistan, in the Middle East. She talks about rebuilding alliances and diplomacy and using all of the tools. It was a solid answer. Bloomberg uses 9/11. We can’t pull all the troops out. And 9/11 again.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 2:24:25 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter
And now we have coronavirus to Klobuchar—would you close borders to exposed Americans. She says we need to get them treatment and quarantine. Then pivots to the cuts Trump has made. Then does a PSA for CDC.gov to tell viewers what to do if they get sick. That was a smart answer.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 2:26:26 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter
To Biden, how would you respond to this crisis. “I did that with Ebola.” He’s kind of veering back into the whole Obama presidency was actually his, but at least he does have this experience. He was doing pretty good until we got to the “I’m the only one” who’s ever done anything.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 2:28:41 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter
Bloomberg asked how cozy he’d get with China and President Xi, since he’s said he’s not a dictator. Said of course he wouldn’t let them build critical infrastructure but we need to work with them. And then he did a really stupid thing about getting into whether or not Xi is a dictator.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 2:30:37 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter
Biden back to the “I’m the only one” on dealing with China. Doing a tough guy thing that doesn’t come across well. Warren puts in the context of we need to trust the president, and uses that to go after Bloomberg on his taxes, since he’s done business with China. Bloomberg gives a very Trumpian answer about how they’re working on it.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 2:34:43 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter
Bernie getting the USSR/Cuba question, but he’s using it to hit Bloomberg on his China answer and then talks about U.S. history of overthrowing governments and said Obama said things about what Cuba had done that was good and Biden checks that. Says he can speak for Obama and that Obama never praised Cuba. And then it devolves and Pete does Pete.