Democratic Debate: Clinton, Sanders, and O'Malley Win

The Reuters photo of Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiling and laughing as they shook hands after Sanders said, “It’s probably not politic for me to say so, but the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails, Hillary! Enough with the emails. Let’s talk about the real issues!” captured my favorite moment of the Democratic debate October 13, 2015. Sanders chided the media for dwelling on Clinton’s emails instead of talking about the issues that concern Americans, like the economy, the fact that 57% of all new gains in the economy go to the top 1% of the wealthiest Americans, the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling gives billionaires unprecedented access to influence our democracy, which has become an oligarchy, and so on.

Hillary laughed and shook Bernie’s hand. I like to see her laugh and I like to see Bernie smile. He doesn’t smile very often. He’s usually mad as hell. I like his righteous anger when it comes to Wall Street’s malfeasance and the billionaire class, but I’m worried about his gun stance. Hillary said he voted against the Brady Bill five times. I thought he voted against it twice. Twice is bad enough. Hillary said he also voted against holding gun manufacturers responsible for gun deaths. In 2005 Congress voted against holding gun manufacturers and gun store owners accountable for gun deaths except in a few cases, including negligence.

Sanders is strong on the Second Amendment and weak on gun control. He kept saying it’s because he comes from the rural state of Vermont where hunting is common. One of the candidates, either Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island or Martin O’Malley of Maryland, pointed out that where Bernie comes from has no bearing on what his gun stance should be for the entire country. Whoever said it is right about that.

Martin O’Malley and Hillary Clinton have the best records on gun control. Former Maryland Gov. O’Malley instituted stricter background checks in his state. He also instituted mandatory fingerprinting for gun purchasers. He supports a national gun registry and wants the federal government, the largest U.S. gun purchaser) to only purchase firearms from manufacturers who use the latest firearms safety technology.

Hillary took an aggressive stance against Vladimir Putin of Russia when she said there should be a no-fly zone in Syria and it should be enforced. She defended herself from candidates who disagreed with her, including Sen. Sanders and former Gov. Martin O’Malley, by saying that we have to enforce a no-fly zone to bring Putin to the negotiating table. I happen to think she’s right. Putin is a bulldozer, and he will continue his aggressive acts around the globe until somebody bulldozes him back.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter advocates the same stance against international bullies. He plans to have American ships sail within 12 miles of China’s man-made southern islands, built to extend China’s military reach in the South China Sea, whether China likes it or not. You can’t accommodate an aggressor and let them set unreasonable boundaries without challenging those boundaries. The same goes for Vladimir Putin.

Anderson Cooper, CNN’s questioner, went for the jugular with each candidate, starting with Clinton. He asked her why she took so long to take a stance against the Keystone Pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which she had strongly supported in the past. In 2012 she called the TPP the “gold standard.” Cooper asked her if she changes her positions on issues depending on who she talks to.

Clinton responded that like most people, she absorbs new information and responds accordingly.

Of course, it does appear that she’s tacking to the left politically because of the huge crowds that Sen. Sanders has drawn, including the 13,000 people he drew in Flagstaff, Arizona this month. He’s created excitement in a race that otherwise might not be that exciting.

Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee did not impress me much at all. Jim Webb looked bottled up, red-faced, and stiff, like an unexploded bomb. He kept whining that Anderson Cooper was ignoring him. One whine might have gone unnoticed, but he whined about being ignored on multiple occasions. His A rating with the National Rifle Association (NRA) is a problem for me, given the number of massacres we’ve had in our country, and only our country, among so-called civilized nations. He says his military background with the Pentagon makes him the most qualified to be Commander in Chief, but I disagree.

Chafee attacked Clinton in a particularly venal way, which I found unattractive. I don’t think the style of his attacks served him. Sanders’ style of engaging and conciliating with Clinton was far more attractive.