1st DEM Debate Thread: June 26 & 27, Miami, MSNBC & NBC & Telemundo (9-11pm)

[Gustaf]

I don't think this is as bad for Warren as a lot of you seem to think, mainly for the reason that it isn't about who watches the debates (I imagine not that many people will and many of the ones who do are political junkies for whom the debates will mean less) as much as what the news media spins afterwards. And Warren seems guaranteed to get attention from her debate.

[Gustaf]

Yeah, to put it differently - imagine you're Kamala Harris and you could switch debates with Warren. Would you want to? I feel like it wouldn't necessarily be a bad trade.

[Gustaf]

I kind of like Nate Silver's point that debates are likely to pull races to where they "should" be. One thing to consider there is that on average people who have managed to succeed, say by becoming senators of large states like Gillibrand and Harris are probably more likely to do well than some House Rep.

[Gustaf]

I kind of like Nate Silver's point that debates are likely to pull races to where they "should" be. One thing to consider there is that on average people who have managed to succeed, say by becoming senators of large states like Gillibrand and Harris are probably more likely to do well than some House Rep.

Gillibrand was originally appointed to her Senate seat and the only time she ever ran statewide was her reelection bid against some GOP nobody, but point taken in general.

Fair enough, but I don't only mean in terms of winning elections. Even appointments require some people to evaluate you positively, etc. While there can of course be exceptions to this, in some sense if, say, Moulton looked better in debates than Warren you'd expect him to be senator of MA and not her. And if Swalwell was a better debater than Harris maybe he'd be senator of CA. And so on. And yes I know Moulton didn't even make it in.

[Gustaf]

They announced the podium placement for both nights:

Night One:
de Balsio - Ryan - Castro - Booker - Warren - O'Rourke - Klobuchar - Gabbard - Inslee - Delaney

Night Two:
Williamson - Hickenlooper - Yang - Buttigieg - Biden - Sanders - Harris - Gillibrand - Bennet - Swalwell

Source

Pretty cramped stage. Thank God Abrams isn't running. I don't think they could fit in both of her podiums.

Seems like Trump's supporters have been reduced to making "your mom" jokes at much more accomplished people than they'll ever be.

Sanchez is, pretty unsurprisingly, a POS edgelord. Comes with the territory of being a Trump supporter I suppose. The correct approach is really to just treat him as noise.

[Gustaf]

You guys do realize that pretty much every Democrat on this site has referred to Trump as the "Cheeto-in-Chief," the "Tangerine Tornado," or some variant of this theme, right? Remember when everyone called Ted Cruz "Grandpa Munster?" Making fun of a politician's appearance is obviously not the best refutation of their platform, but don't dish it out if you can't take it, for God's sake. You just come across looking like hypocrites.

And for the record:

Trump really does look like a tangerine.
Cruz looks like Kevin from The Office.
AOC has crazy eyes.
Michelle Bachmann has crazier eyes.
Ben Carson always looks half-asleep.
Stacy Abrams is fat.
Chris Christie could've won "Largest Candidate" at the Iowa livestock caucus if he'd entered.
Bernie Sanders has never used a comb in his life.
Hillary Clinton dresses like an authoritarian leader from some Young Adult movie.
Pete Buttigieg looks like Alfred E Newman.
Jeff Sessions looks like a Keebler elf.

I didn't realize I had made fun on the appearances of Republican politicians. But nice try.