While the Democrats were sorting out the first debate cycle with twenty candidates for the office of President of the United States, I had a chance to live-chat it out with a beloved family member. I have copied some of the things I said in this chat because as usual, when I start to work extemporaneously some significant things tend to fall out onto the page, or in this case, into the chat.

These are all my perceptions of the candidates. Mostly first impressions. It is also worthwhile to mention that I have already picked my candidate from the field, Pete Buttigieg.

• On the NBC Electoral Theme Music:
  • “I’ve got PTSD from the theme music. I heard it while making dinner. Muttered “fucking hell”
• On Trump et al:
  • If you’re talking about Trump, McConnell, or Graham – you aren’t talking about what you would do.
• On Cory Booker:
  • Something is terribly wrong with corys eyes.
  • The right eye doesn’t follow.
• On Jay Inslee:
  • And Inslee has an old speech impediment he is trying to overcome.
• On Amy Klobuchar:
  • Klobuchar must go
  • She has anger issues, and she is cruel.
• On Beto O’Rourke:
  • Beto comes across as frustrated and angry.
• On John Delaney:
  • Delaney has a caught-raccoon smirk
• On Kirsten Gillebrand:
  • I can’t forgive Gillebrand for what she did to Al Franken.
  • Gillibrand isn’t looking at the camera.
• On Andrew Yang:
  • He’s not there to win.
  • He’s there to get people to talk
• On Bernie Sanders:
  • Bernie’s Hands Attack!
    Almost gave Biden a Karate-Chop
  • Bernie just applies volume.
• On Michael Bennet:
  • None of these people can count.
  • One or two words!
• On John Hickenlooper:
  • Hickenlooper has a hardon for government jobs and socialism.
• On Kamala Harris:
  • She’s got an ax to grind.
• General Debate Behavior, many candidates (not Pete):
  • One thing! God damnit!
  • They break out in babble when they see a camera.
• On Taxation:
  • Let’s go back to 1957. Taxes.
  • We did it before. We can do it again! Make the IRS 1957 again!
  • Maybe we cut back on the military a bit.
  • Maybe we tax corporations, a bit.
  • Maybe we adjust the tax rates, a bit.
  • Maybe if we cut the poor tax to zero, cut middle class to say 10%, say to 75,000 we year, perhaps those people will have more buying power. Maybe the money we spend heats up the economy. Maybe. A bit.
  • So, the trap is “How will you pay for all your fancy dancy social programs?” Ooooh. I think we can find the money.
  • So, maybe we reject the narrative that we are a hard-scrabble lot struggling to make ends meet. Apple has a trillion dollars in Cash.
  • So, maybe there is some room for a chat. A bit. Just a little bit.
  • Or you know, we could nationalize the companies and eat the rich.
• On GOP:
  • When you are attacking the GOP, you aren’t talking about your policies.
  • Witness the agonies of trickle-down economics. You’ll notice that we’ve swallowed the sales brochure from Ronald Reagan so thoroughly that we can’t imagine a world any other way.
• On Universal Basic Income:
  • UBI tickles me. This is a natural consequence of trickle-down economics.
  • And how will we prevent mass starvation once automation eliminates all the jobs?
  • But that reveals the true nature of America. We hate the poor. We can’t give them cash. They are filthy gimmes. They’ll waste it on frivolities. They won’t buy yachts. They’ll buy bread. Tsk tsk tsk.
  • This is trickle downs time to burn.
  • This is why socialism is so remarkable. What I find fascinating is the spittle and vitriol when you mention socialism. UBI downright causes a stroke.
• On Healthcare, and the inflection with Undocumented Immigrants:
  • Is healthcare a human right?
• On Healthcare, Generally:
  • And what happens when we incentivize illness?
  • If a profit-seeking organization cures illnesses, they are actively denying profit.
  • So, are the pharmaceutical companies actually working in our best interest?
  • Healthcare from the very start. No stress about illnesses. No having to pawn wedding rings for insulin.
• On Economics:
  • What entertains me is just how much of the kool-aid we have all internalized. We’ve written the GOP economic plan into our assumptions. So we don’t talk about anything else. We battle from the right to the ultra-right because the land has been gated off from the right to the center and all the way left.
• On Religious Hypocrisy:
  • Oh, hey, Jesus. Oh them? Those are filthy sick poor people. They are drains on our economy. Why are you crying? Why are you shaking? Wait! Why did you flip over the dinner table?!
• On Climate Change:
  • Ah, climate.
  • We missed the tipping point. 1973.
  • Just! A! Bit!

These were all the instant reactions while I watched the debate performances. There were some very notable and memorable candidates on both nights. Julián Castro was the most earnest in the first night’s debate, he was passionate and clear about many topics and especially about border and immigration policy. I found Elizabeth Warren to be the most experienced and professional in the first night’s debates, she has a drum, and she beats it well. I think that may be what may disturb other folks if they aren’t on board with the Warren drumbeat, they flee. I think Elizabeth Warren is the most polarizing of all the candidates for both nights, either you are very into what she is saying, or you are very not into what she is saying. Cory Booker in the first night’s debates carries himself with notes borrowed from Joe Biden, especially framing himself coming from a damaged or disadvantaged hometown. The negative threads started to collect around Cory Booker as he came across as more prosecutorial as the first debate night concluded. The first night had us agreeing that Castro, Warren, and Booker won that night.

The second night had the headlines of today in large blinking neon. The second night was overwhelmed by the conflict between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I fear that Joe Biden has lost his bid, because the frame in which he was speaking was already covered in a story from the New York Times about the bussing issue which became the focus from Harris, and Joe Biden neglected the very thing that was the pinnacle of both nights, which I will cover in the last paragraph. Bernie Sanders came across as desperate, angry, loud, and impatient. Bernie lost us when he decided that screaming was the answer, overwhelming your opponent with your voice, it was disrespectful and painted Bernie as a Daedalus watching his hopes drop out of the sky in flames. I am firmly against both Gillibrand and Klobuchar because they are unfit in their own ways for the office of President. Gillibrand for being opportunistic and unable to follow basic directions and Klobuchar for being abusive and cruel.

The winner of both nights, the man who came out on top was the candidate that I had already decided on, Pete Buttigieg. The question started a conversation about the police shooting incident in South Bend, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg looked squarely in the camera and without blinking or looking away said in a clear calm voice, “I couldn’t get it done.” This demonstrates something I have never seen in any political debate in memory, the honest admission of fault and expression of humility to everyone who was watching the event. The calm, direct line was the most potent sentence uttered during the entire debate by anyone at all, for both nights. These events are built around pandering and seduction, powered by platitudes and lies, sweeping generalizations that deny reality to present the candidates in the best possible light. When something else, something novel, something new appears, it causes the entire Universe to stop, everything rotates around that one moment, and then everything resumes. It takes a proud man to flog his best qualities, but it takes the best man to trot out his failure and actually level with the citizens. There was no way to get through a police shooting like this, except this one way. The events in South Bend, because Pete Buttigieg took the hard road, makes him more my candidate for President, because he was honest, looked directly into the camera, and said the hardest thing. This is precisely, to pick up the thread from before, exactly what Joe Biden failed to do. Anyone can dodge their past, it takes real courage to skip the dodge, skip the obvious, easy road of peddling bullshit and express sincere regret and humility. We have been led by an unspeakable individual for a long while now, totally incapable of even looking at this sort of humility before everyone in the country and that is why I regard Pete Buttigieg as my candidate. I also put my money on this very thing. It was his humility before everyone, his raw courage, and honesty that made me a donor. I expect I will give more as we go along. Bravo, Mayor Pete, Bravo! Well Done, Sir.