Bloomberg did so poorly in the debates he would have been far better off to have not qualified.
Having qualified, he might have done better to not show up.
Bloomberg gave the single worst response in debate history.
Bloomberg vs Warren
When asked about sexual misconduct allegations of employees bloomberg responded “None of them accuse me of doing anything other than, maybe, they didn’t like a joke I told.”
Warren chimed in: “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”
Good Moments
All the candidates had their moments. But none had the disasters of bloomberg.
Bloomberg even missed a slam-dunk layup when asked about the billions he made. He should have talked about how many people he employed and how much they made.
Instead, Warren and Sanders piled on about his billions.
Pitiful
Debate Performances
I would rate rate the debate performances in this order.
- Biden
- Buttigieg
- Warren
- Sanders
- Klobuchar
- Bloomberg
Biden made no mistakes and had many good moments. Arguably Warren had the best moments but she needed the best moments just to get back into the ballpark.
Once again Warren praised Klobuchar. It is because of Warren’s earlier debate praise that Klobuchar got as far as she did.
Who Won?
It’s easier to say who lost than who won.
I was just on Coast-to-Coast live radio to give an economic update. The political update was just prior to me. That person commented about Bloomberg’s miserable performance but also about the great performance of Sanders.
I think Sanders was just so-so. He took a lot of hits.
But given the dismal performance of Bloomberg, is that good enough?
I don’t know. I do know that Trump bounced backs off a horrendous debate after I wrote him off. It’s possible Bloomberg does the same.
Key Moments
The Wall Street Journal Live Coverage (found it hours after the debate) had the best coverage I have seen.
Buttigieg: We Should Nominate an Actual Democrat
“Let’s put forward someone who’s actually a Democrat,” he said, in a dig at Mr. Bloomberg, a former Republican, and Mr. Sanders, an independent. “Look — we shouldn’t have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better.”
Warren Defends Her Plan
Warren derided former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s “Medicare for All who want it” approach as “a slogan thought up by his consultants. It’s not a plan, it’s a PowerPoint.” She called Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s health-care plan “a Post-It note.”
Meanwhile, she said, Mr. Sanders “relentlessly attacks everyone” who asks how he tries to make his plan work, and then his aides say it probably won’t happen anyway,” drawing “ooohs” from the audience.
The candidates defended themselves. Former Vice President Joe Biden said: “I’m the only one who has actually gotten anything done on health care,” a reference to former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
More on Bloomberg’s Worst Moment
A moderator asked why he wouldn’t release the women who have signed NDAs from those legal restrictions.
“They signed those agreements and they’ll live with it,” Mr. Bloomberg said, drawing audience boos.
Elizabeth Warren said, “I hope you heard what his defense was: I’ve been nice to some women.” She asked him exactly how many NDAs Mr. Bloomberg has, and he did not respond.
Election Betting Odds
On Election Betting Odds, updated every minute, Bloomberg took a big hit, but no one seemed to benefit.
Predictit Response
Predictit Prior to the Debate
Predictit Following the Nevada Debate
Before the debate Sanders was ahead everywhere but Florida. In Florida Bloomberg was ahead.
After the debate, Biden jumped ahead in four states and Bloomberg none.
Yet, Sanders only rose 2 cents.
Conclusion
Bloomberg took a huge hit, but Biden was the biggest winner in the debate, relatively speaking.
It’s better to be in Sander’s position than not, but Sanders is still not on a path to get 50% of the delegates by the convention, even after this Bloomberg disaster.
Might voters look the other way on Bloomberg?
They did with Trump.
Voters still do not like socialists, with good reason. That’s why Sanders bounce was only 2 cents.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Bloomberg bounce back? To what? He had no standing to begin with. Never will.
Bloomberg scored several endorsements today despite the poor debate performance yesterday, from members of the House, including one prominent one. The establishment Dems will side with Bloomberg no matter Bloomberg’s delegate count, unless Biden recovers. So, to prevail, Sanders has to go into Milwaukee with a majority of delegates or at least a very, very strong plurality (I’d say > 45 percent ). Otherwise, they will “unify” around Bloomberg.
Of course it won’t matter. How can you have less than a 0% chance of winning?
Whew! That was close. Another 30 minutes and they might have all killed each other, leaving…yep.
His eventual opponent showing up for the big fight all bruised and battered, is one of the structural advantages the incumbent President enjoys.
Socialists want to take your stuff—It’s easy to become a socialists but you need a gun to stop(Venezuela)
Glad I didn’t watch a second of it.
“Buttigieg: We Should Nominate an Actual Democrat”
The Washington Post thinks the Democratic Party elites should nominate the candidate, not the common Democratic Party members. Jonathan Gruber said the voters are stupid. As with the Trump impeachment, the Democratic Party elite said they had to impeach, as the voters can’t be trusted to make the right decision.
The Democratic Party doesn’t believe in democracy.
“The Washington Post thinks the Democratic Party elites should nominate the candidate, not the common Democratic Party members.”
That’s probably because the Republicans did such a good job in 2016.
There is no difference between trump or Bloomberg. Their style is a bit different but not that much.
The things the media is saying about sanders they said about trump. He cant win, party will lose everything, market will crash….
Bloomberg………..invents hft computers and gets rich off wallstreet and now bashes wallstreet. Get the **** outa here.
Bloomberg didn’t invent hft computers.
As if any of these self promoting clowns ever “invented” anything more intellectually demanding, than childish excuses for why they in particular, out of all other mediocrities, should be privileged to rob and spend the value add of those who just may have invented something meaningful.
Warren defended her plan? You watched a different debate than I did. When asked about her “transition plan,” she ripped of a series of glib snarky attacks on everyone else’s plans and said nothing whatever about her plan. She’s good at preplanned pit bull nasty remarks on her opponents, which is why Democrats love her, but she has nothing else other than punishing anyone who has money for being rich.
Michael Bloomberg has taken Andrew Yang’s place as the cryptocurrency candidate
I generally agree with your ranking of the candidates’ performance, with the exception of Biden. He constantly talks about how he has experience on every issue, but it sounds a lot like Al Gore claiming he created the internet. I would rank his performance toward the middle of the pack—I can’t see anyone switching their vote to him based on his performance.
Chicago Is The Most Corrupt City In The U.S., According To New Study
Chicago outpaced Los Angeles and New York in corruption convictions — and residents are already bracing for more. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/18/chicago-is-the-most-corrupt-city-in-the-u-s-according-to-new-study/
He can bounce back if he sells out to Putin. Worked for trump.
I’d take Putin over any of those Dem nominees. He’s more of a statesman and way smarter. He just gets it.
Why not? It wouldn’t be the first time we had a foreign born President. We are very progressive, you know…
Or maybe he can buy Putin. He does have the money to outbid Trump for his services…..
Rumor has it tat Putin may be the wealthiest person in the world with an estimated $200 billion hidden away.
Who won the Nevada Democratic debate? Our panelists’ verdict
The debate was so vicious at times that it resembled a circular firing squad. So who emerged as the victor?
Thu 20 Feb 2020 00.46 EST
Best performance was Warren, but I strongly doubt it does anything for her. Bernie did not look good.
Buttigieg was well prepared, Klobuchar (who I like as the best of the lot) was not.
I agree, Warren had her best performance yet.
Klobuchar was horrible.
I think Biden managing to enlist Obama as in stern opposition to Bloomberg over Stop and Frisk, enough so to consider involving the Federal government even, was the single biggest point scored of the day.
Aligning himself with Obama’s legacy, is Biden’s only hope. Since the Democratic party is now so splintered, Obama has become somewhat of a Reagan figure to them. Painting Bloomberg as someone Saint Obama directly clashed with, does not do him any favors. And Biden needs Bloomberg’s voters, and vice versa, as those two, more than any of the others, are fishing in exactly the same pool.
If it does come down to a brokered convention, Biden may still end up getting the nod among the moderates, even without coming in with the largest non-Sanders pool of delegates on his own. After all, Bloomberg was just presented as someone harassing women, and offending Obama with his treatment of minorities. Neither exactly vote getters among most Democrats.
Bloomberg really was pitiful. Don’t know how else to describe it.
Not surprising. Bloomberg is not Trump. He will keep messing up in other debates.