Perhaps the most consequential moment from last night’s debate will turn out to be the clash between Julián Castro and Joe Biden, in which Castro bluntly suggested that Biden may have forgotten something he said just moments earlier. It was a direct shot at his apparently declining faculties, made all the more aggressive by his repetition of it just moments later. Castro’s attack is important because it gives permission to the media to begin talking openly about whether Biden is slipping. It was a kamikaze move, in the sense that most voters don’t appreciate personal attacks, but it suggests he’s playing for vice president or some other future role in the party, and doesn’t see Biden as the future of it.
Remember that these debates aren’t won on debate night, they’re won in the millions of clips people watch afterward, and that’s likely to be a widely viewed one.
It also fed into a theme of the night, as Biden seemed unable to remember some of the people’s names on the stage, didn’t get it when Kamala Harris attempted a “Yes we can” joke, and needed to look at his notes not to recall statistics, but for basic rhetoric. And his teeth nearly fell out.
To me, though, the most important moment of the night was when Biden opened a window into how he thinks about the black community. Asked about how the U.S. can repair the damage done by slavery, he meandered around, and then suggested sending social workers into the homes of parents to teach them how to raise their kids. My story on that stunningly paternalistic moment is here.
Oh, and during the commercial break, Republicans aired an ad in which they burned Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s face and compared her to Pol Pot. Very normal.
I guest-hosted Hill TV again this morning. It was a fun show. I was filling in for Krystal Ball, who’s in California for the Bill Maher show. Maybe she can talk some sense into him.
Bernie Sanders struggled early with his voice, which is damaging to him, as it reminds voters of his age, even though anybody can go hoarse after months on the campaign trail. A huge chunk of the beginning of the debate was spent on Medicare for All, which reflects the media’s (erroneous) belief that small differences in health care plans are stand-ins for the major disagreements within the Democratic Party. That led to an endless debate about elements of health care reform that will actually be hashed out by Congress.
Andrew Yang, meanwhile, probably picked up more support among young voters, and is becoming an increasingly interesting element of this contest. He said he’s going to pick ten people at random and give them a thousand dollars each per month, and study how it affects their lives. Can’t say he isn’t interesting.
Insta-polls, meanwhile, found that Sanders did best among college students and Warren performed best overall. If Biden fades a few points and Warren rises a few, she’ll soon overtake him in national polls, and if that happens, a number of Sanders supporters may flee him for Warren, looking to consolidate. Both camps know that it’s a race to be the first to eclipse Biden, and Warren appears to have the inside track there.
Yesterday, Maryam Saleh reported on the new phenomenon of mainstream news outlets increasingly quoting and citing white supremacist organizations as if they’re just normal interest groups doing normal Washington things. Her story is here.