The sign on the Strip read \u201cDEMOCRATS DEBATE.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0It should have said the first \u201cHEAVYWEIGHT THRILLER IN VEGAS\u201d as five of the six candidates walked on stage primed to battle.\u00a0\u00a0The one candidate not ready for the \u201cmain ring\u201d was Mike Bloomberg, who seemed annoyed, unprepared, and disdainful of the other candidates, all of who were lined up ready to jump him from the top rope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hard to imagine Bloomberg didn\u2019t prepare, but he wasn\u2019t. It\u2019s not that his staff isn\u2019t \u201cexpert\u201d enough to know what was coming, they\u2019re the best money can buy; but the candidate himself just hasn\u2019t been in the spotlight enough to know. Like any athletic event, there is nothing like the standing actual \u201cring\u201d to prepare for the competition. Mike wasn\u2019t ready on Wednesday; even his billions didn\u2019t buy experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t expect that he\u2019ll stay muddled. While Bloomberg doesn\u2019t ever look to be an \u201coutstanding\u201d debater, he will improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As far as the other candidates are concerned, Senator Sanders seemed in a \u201ctough\u201d mood. He took his fair share of shots from the others as well (though only about half of what Bloomberg got) but Bernie always came back to \u2013 we\u2019ve got to change, and we\u2019ve got to change everything: join the revolution or join the billionaires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senator Warren attacked Bloomberg, and defended women both herself and Senator Klobuchar.\u00a0\u00a0She also shied away from any attacks on Bernie. Warren, as usual, had an answer for every question.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s hard to judge whether she got all the attention from the moderators, or they simply let control of the discussion slip into her hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe Biden had has best night yet \u2013 perhaps his desperate electoral situation is focusing his skills.\u00a0\u00a0The obvious contrast of Biden and Bloomberg may well put the former Vice President back in the hunt for the nomination.\u00a0\u00a0Bloomberg\u2019s media campaign has influenced a lot of voters, but his tentative and haughty performance in Vegas might just put Biden in play for Nevada, and more importantly, South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amy Klobuchar had another strong debate, making her case as a strong Presidential performer.\u00a0\u00a0While it\u2019s hard to see her path to the nomination, both financially and electorally, she\u2019s demonstrating that she belongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Mayor Pete Buttigieg fell into a different role in the debate. Tom Steyer seemed to be the candidate\/moderator of the last debate, directing the discussion back to the core issue of defeating Trump.\u00a0\u00a0Thursday, Steyer was absence from the stage, and Mayor Pete seemed to take on the \u201cGreek Chorus\u201d role.\u00a0\u00a0His statement, burn it down (Sanders) or buy it (Bloomberg) was supposed to leave \u201cPete\u201d as the only remaining choice.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t think it achieved that goal, but it did present Democratic voters with some stark choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall rankings: Klobuchar, Biden, Warren, Buttigieg, and Sanders, with Mayor Bloomberg coming in last with a rookie performance. Tune in again in South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the debate wasn\u2019t the only news Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richard Grenell, avowed Trump loyalist, Fox contributor and Ambassador to Germany has been appointed acting Director of National Intelligence. Grenell has no intelligence background at all, and retains his Ambassadorship as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While he is only an acting appointee, and is unlikely to receive the permanent appointment due to the Senate on March 11th<\/sup>, it seems that the President is making another statement about the value of the intelligence services. In light of the impeachment and the whistleblower report, Mr. Trump is showing his disapproval of the intelligence community, a Presidential attitude that goes back to the Intelligence briefing on the Steele Dossier in January of 2017, before Trump even took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And speaking of Russia, Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is claiming that former Congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered him a Presidential pardon if he would deny Russian involvement in the stolen Democratic National Committee emails. While Rohrabacher was in the House, he was nicknamed \u201cthe Congressman from Russia\u201d for his undying support for the Russian side on every issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Assange was really offered a Presidential pardon it would be a huge story in American politics.\u00a0\u00a0But the reality is, Assange is willing to say anything, true of false, to avoid extradition from the United Kingdom to American courts.\u00a0\u00a0And while Assange has a willing following in the United States, it isn\u2019t likely that this story will gain much traction.\u00a0\u00a0Both Assange and Rohrabacher could also be tools of Russian disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Trump has already distanced himself from the story and former Congressman Rohrabacher, saying, \u201cI hardly knew him\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And finally, Acting Chief of Staff and \u201cman no longer allowed in the White House press room\u201d Mick Mulvaney complained that Democrats are unconcerned about the growing US deficit. It\u2019s what my mother would have called, \u201cthe pot calling the kettle black,\u201d as Mulvaney not only wrote the Trump budgets that increased the debt by trillions of dollars as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, but was a \u201cdeficit hawk\u201d as a Freedom Caucus Congressman in his previous career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And that was only Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of Pots and Kettles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n