Opinion

The Second Democrat Debate

PHOTO: Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, left, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Martin OMalley participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate, Nov. 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa.

On Saturday night Nov.15 the second democrat debate was held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Hosted by CBS Political News Director John Dickerson and moderated by Kevin Conney, anchor for KCCI-TV in Des Moines, Nancy Cordes of CBS News  and Kathie Obradovich of the Des Moines Register the questions were pretty straight forward as a debate questions should be unlike the fiasco with the moderators of the  CNBC Republican debate. This debate was interesting ,straight forward and bordered on the boring side.

The candidates each wore black suits in honor of the Paris shootings. O’Malley and Sanders both had  nice contrasting blue shirts while Hillary stood out the most in a black on black ensemble.

Out of all three candidates I thought Martin O’Malley the former governor of Maryland came across as the best of the three in my opinion. Although I did disagree with him  on some issues he came across as being the most mature, conservative, disciplined and pro American liberal democrat willing to accept other ideas.. Hillary was very egotistical and emotional like the radical she is while Bernie Sanders struck me as being very direct, aggressive and expressive while also being a very angry radical who wants a political revolution as he said. Hillary and Sanders seemed to agree on most issues while O’Malley disagreed with both of them at times which says something about him which I liked.

The debate started out with the recent attacks in Paris and radical Islam. Hillary and Sanders refused to say radical Islam instead preferred to say radical jihadists and extremists. She agreed with former President Bush saying we are at war with extremists and not all of Islam. She referred to an “arch of instability from North Africa to Afghanistan.” Sanders blamed the current situation on the invasion of Iraq which caused all the instability today. U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton was criticized in a debate on Saturday for her 2003 vote backing the U.S. invasion of Iraq, with rival Bernie Sanders linking it to regional chaos that aided the rise of Islamic State militants.

The day after a series of deadly bomb and gun attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris, Sanders said the invasion was “one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the modern history of the United States.”

O’Malley said we need good  Muslim Americans to help us stand up to the radical jihadists and is willing to accept 65,000 refugees with proper vetting. My only question is how do you vet that many people? Say to them” Are you a terrorist or radical jihadist?” and if they answer “no” say “Ok you can go?” I’m sure they are going to say no whether they are or aren’t.  Another thing is I haven’t seen any Muslim Americans speaking out ever since 9/11. The problem there is if they speak out against Islam they or members of their families over there can be killed.

On the question of college all the candidates agreed college should be free and paid for by the states. Hillary and Sanders want real tax reform and again here we go with ”taxing the rich.”  The rich are already taxed to the max.  When you tax the rich, the rich are owners of big companies and they will star to lay off people and hire less. The rich also buy expensive jewelry, big cars and yachts. When you tax them they buy less and the economy suffers. Both want to end corporate loop holes, off shore accounts and tax wall street to bail out the kids so they can go to college free. O’Malley was for lowering the income tax rate and lower capital gains tax. Meanwhile the white house announced that all recent U.S. military veterans and their families will now be offered in-state tuition rates to public colleges and universities throughout the country, the White House said on Wednesday.

Announced in honor of the U.S. federal holiday Veterans Day, which fell on Wednesday, the change is part of President Barack Obama’s “steadfast commitment” to military families and aims to make sure veterans can both access and get the most out of higher education, administration officials said.

When columnist Kathie Obradovich questioned the candidates about the minimum wage, Sanders was in favor of $15 an hour saying it’s been proven in places like Seattle and San Francisco. Hilary was in favor of $12 and hour saying the economist Alan Kruger said it wouldn’t affect jobs. O’Malley said in his state all he could get was $10.10 per hour but two counties went to $12 an hour which was successful.

I’ve said before that I agree with raising the minimum wage but to $9 or $10,but minimum wage is not meant to be a working wage, but rather a starting point to go on to better things. I disagree with $15 a hour not affecting jobs. Companies will have to lay people off and not pay for insurance. Besides if you raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour everything else will go up proportionately

A big discussion centered around healthcare.  Hilary and Sanders both praised Obamacare, but said it didn’t go far enough. Sanders was in favor of a single payer system and expanding medicare to include everyone.

CBS brought in the second Democratic debate seven minutes under time, giving Iowa Democrats the chance to catch the end of the No. 5-ranked Hawkeyes’ game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The candidates began their closing statements with more than 10 minutes to go until the scheduled 11 p.m. conclusion, with Bernie Sanders finishing his at 9:52 p.m. local time. Moderator John Dickerson cut to a commercial break, returning with final thoughts from the panel and a teaser for the next debate on CBS for the Republicans on Feb. 13 in South Carolina.  BEING BORING: CBS ENDS DEM DEBATE 7 MINS EARLY

I thought this comment sums things up pretty good. 😀

Rene Demonteverde ·

Fountain Valley, California

Thank God. Many viewers must have said. One draft dodger wanting to be Commander in Chief of a country in time of war, like Sanders. One lying corrupt failed Sec of State like Hillary. A failed Governor and non entity like O’Malley What a line up. You are in dire straits, America if these are the best the Democrats could offer you.

BEING BORING: CBS ENDS DEM DEBATE 7 MINS EARLY

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Jim Clayton

I am a retired former newspaper reporter and retail sales person. I'm a politically conservative easy going person from New Jersey. I am married to a wonderful wife and like talking and writing about movies,, concerts I attend and current events all which I write about here. I would enjoy hearing from anyone on my articles and they can write to me here.

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