On Tuesday, October 13, I watched the first Democratic presidential debate for the 2016 election on CNN. I find it frustrating when critics refuse to watch the Republican debate because they are convinced that the opposing viewpoints are so unwarranted that they refuse to give them a chance to state their case. Realizing that Republicans are guilty of the same behavior, I decided to set aside hypocrisy and actually listen to what these people had to say. I must admit that coming from a conservative view, it was hard to sit and listen to the candidates without becoming increasingly exasperated.
The Candidates: Vastly different from the Republican debates in terms of number of candidates, the majority of democratic candidates were able to have substantial air time with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders having the most.
Lincoln Chafee: The former Rhode Island Governor and Senator was mostly ignored during this debate with probably the least amount of air time of all the candidates. When he did get a chance to speak, it didn't go well. Moderator Anderson Cooper pressed him with this question; "...You've attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999, you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger." Chafee then replied with probably one of the worst answers possible; "The Glass Steagall was my very first vote. I had just arrived. My dad had died in office, I was appointed to office, it was my very first vote." Cooper continued, "Are you saying you didn't know what you were voting for?" Chafee's excuses continued, "I just arrived at Senate- I think we get some takeovers, and that was my very first vote- it was 90 to 5- it was the-" Cooper broke in, "...What does that say about you that were casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about?" Defeated, Chafee replied, "I think you're being a little rough." The Governor's response did nothing to help him, and probably generated even more questions about his party loyalty (he was previously both Republican and Independent).
Jim Webb: The former senator from Virginia and secretary of the Navy was probably the only candidate who actually made some good points in my opinion, but they were overshadowed by his frustration with speak time constraints; "Anderson, can I come into the discussion at some point?", "I've been trying to get into this conversation for about ten minutes,", "Anderson, I need to jump in," and "Bernie, say my name so I can get into this," and "This hasn't been equal time." Those, unfortunately for him were the most memorable things he said.
Martin O'Malley: The former Governor of Maryland was the surprise of the debate for me. He came with a plan, and though he still had some trouble distinguishing himself from both Sanders and Clinton, his closing statement alone, as much as I disagreed with it, might be enough to gain more followers.
Hillary Clinton: The supposed front-runner showed her debating skills against the less-practiced Sanders and was the most polished candidate. She was extremely fortunate that when the current issue about her emails came up, Sanders essentially rescued her by saying he was tired of hearing about her emails. She had an answer for most all the other questions.
Bernie Sanders: The self-proclaimed socialist tried to establish himself as the right choice, but struggled to separate himself from Clinton. The loudest cheers arose when he bashed the discussion of Clinton's emails. This may have helped him in the short term, but overall it will hurt him as he gave Clinton an easy escape route to the question.
Winner: Hillary Clinton; her debating skills were much better than everyone else's and she appeared to be the only candidate who has any idea of how foreign policy works.
Loser: Lincoln Chafee; his terrible answer will seal his fate. I expect he will drop out of the race fairly soon.
Conclusion: Overall, I don't think much will change in the polls. The candidates mostly maintained what they had. If I were to choose someone who may have gained followers, I'd probably say O'Malley, but he is still far behind Clinton and Sanders.
From the Conservative point of view: One of the two most maddening parts of watching this debate was when O'Malley used his closing statement to bash the Republicans: "On this stage you didn't hear anyone denigrate women, you didn't hear anyone make racist comments about new immigrants, you didn't hear anyone speak ill of anyone because of their religious belief." The faulty reasoning behind this statement was extremely frustrating to me. Referring to illegal immigrants as criminals is not an attack on their race. It is an attack on the fact that they are doing something illegal (breaking the law) which is what criminals do. Calling out Muslim terrorists is not speaking ill of someone because of their religious beliefs, it's calling out terrorists because they're terrorists, it doesn't matter what god they believe in. Saying that Republicans denigrate women because of their pro-life stance is an inaccurate supposition. Supporting the unborn does not mean waging a war on women; it is waging a war on murder.
The other part I hated was when Clinton said that Republicans are for "big government" because they want to limit women's right to choose (an abortion). She doesn't understand that there should be laws on the federal level to protect the lives of both the born and unborn.
