The Democratic Debates Part Three: Beto Finally Scores and Health Care Becomes the Great Divide

A couple of things happened last night in the third democratic presidential debate. First, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke finally proved he belonged on the stage with everyone else. It was a refreshing change from his two previous performances which, at best, could be described as dreadfully lacking.

When the topic turned to gun control, O'Rourke awoke from his stupor and whacked a dinger out of the park.. After relating a story about a woman who watched her 15 year old daughter bleed out during the Midland/Odessa, TX mass shooting--there were so many wounded the limited number of ambulances in the area couldn't get to everyone--an impassioned O'Rourke told the crowd, "So hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against fellow Americans any more."

Obviously O'Rourke was talking about banning only assault weapons with high capacity magazines. Unfortunately there isn't a right wing chingado out there who didn't translate his promise into meaning all guns. Not that it matters, because even banning military assault weapons is going too far for many.

Overnight Texas state representative Briscoe Cain sent a tweet to the candidate saying, "My AR is ready for you Robert Francis." It was pretty obvious, Mr. Cain didn't mean it was available for pick up by the authorities. O'Rourke shot back, so to speak, telling Cain his sort of vile and threatening behavior is exactly the reason assault rifles should be off the market and out of homes.

O'Rourke's sudden burst of honesty aside, what became strikingly clear last night was the sharp divide between progressives and moderates on health care. The candidates had sparred ever so lightly on the issue in the two previous debates, but Thursday, at least at times, it became a full fledged gang fight.

Accusations flew back and forth about the taxpayer cost of mandatory universal medicare and the ramifications of eliminating all private health care benefits. This as opposed to the private costs and coverage of different versions of public options, all of which sounded like Obamacare on steroids. To say things became heated is a tad understated.

In fact the argument became so out of hand at one moment, Julian Castro seemingly accused former VP Joe Biden of suffering from creeping senility. During an exchange between the two, Castro shouted, "Can't you remember what you said just two minutes ago?" The flare up came as Castro claimed Biden's had, moments before, admitted his plan would force several million poor and elderly citizens to pay for health coverage. Unfortunately for Castro, who ended up having his poorest outing of this pre election season, Biden hadn't said anything of the sort.

When the smoke cleared, to these eyes anyway, it seemed clear why Biden, despite his gaffes, remains in the lead over Sanders and Warren. Health care is a lightening rod to the entire electorate and there are huge numbers of voters, especially older ones, who don't believe the two senators can pull off universal medicare in either practice, or the way they propose to pay for it.

So, how did they do? Warren was sharp and steady as always. She also let Sanders take much of the heat on health care, an issue they basically agree on. The Senator from VT appeared worn down by his own outrage and slightly out of sorts. Booker was eloquent and sharp witted. He looks to be headed toward a possible Vice Presidential spot. If Biden does win--and he looked good early on, although he faded a bit toward the end--we now know Julian Castro is off his short list for that spot. Harris, who spent much of the evening attacking the elephant in the room, Don Trump, for the first time was a non factor. O'Rourke scored points, but the thinking here is it's too late. The same for Amy Klobuchar. Andrew Yang promised ten lucky winners a boat load of money out of his campaign fund, which might be illegal. And, Pete Buttigieg proved once again when it comes to sheer brains he is the class of the lot, although being smart hasn't helped him all that much in the polls.

In the end, the big winner was Barack Obama. After seeing his legacy attacked, especially from the left during the first two debates, almost all the candidates praised him last night. Not a bad idea when you consider his approval rating among democrats is something like 90%.

Or, as a comic book fan might say, when you are facing Doctor Doom next year, it's best not to piss off Mr. Fantastic now, because you are going to need him.


sic vita est

9-13-19