NO FURY

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Most people know this phrase but have no clue who actually said it. As far as I can tell, it comes from the play Morning Bride, written in 1697 by William Congreve.

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hell-has-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned.html

Regardless of the source, most of us have seen this in action. Most recently was by Hillary Clinton who is still trying to get over her defeat by Donald Trump. Odds are she will go to her grave a bitter and angry woman. Last night, we saw two more candidates for honorable mention as women scorned.

The first, right out of the gate, was Elizabeth Warren. She is clearly pissed that Bernie Sanders is pushing her aside but furious with the late entry of Michael Bloomberg. She is not alone in that opinion. When Bloomberg said he had only been campaigning for a few weeks, everyone on that stage instantly responded with anger and scorn. But Warren raised it to a whole new level with the following jab:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/19/21144905/nevada-democratic-debate-mike-bloomberg-elizabeth-warren-women

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’” she said. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”

She then doubled down by saying that Democrats would make a huge mistake if they chose Michael Bloomberg.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/warren-slams-bloomberg/285-0d4632dc-e37f-4b92-af48-145fee2d05e1

 “Democrats won’t win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, harassing women and supporting racist policies like stop and frisk and redlining. Understand this: ‘Democrats take a huge risk if we substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.’”

What made this so devastating is that it is undeniably true. This has zero chance of getting Warren the nomination, but it ended any chance of Michael Bloomberg winning.

Then, Pete Buttigieg insulted and patronized Amy Klobuchar to her face on national television. He treated her to the same self-righteous sermon he routinely delivers during his campaign speeches. At one point, she became visibly angry and gave the following retort:

https://nypost.com/2020/02/19/klobuchar-to-buttigieg-at-nevada-debates-are-you-trying-to-say-im-dumb/

“Are you trying to say I’m dumb? Are you mocking me here, Pete? I said I made an error. People sometimes forget names.”

One will note that the only other woman on that stage, Elizabeth Warren jumped in to defend Klobuchar:

“This is not right,” said Warren. “I understand that she forgot a name. It happens, it happens to everyone on this stage.”

Buttigieg probably thinks he won the exchange last night, but Buttigieg is wrong about almost everything and this is at the top of the list. I do not know how much longer Amy Klobuchar will remain a factor in this election, but I do know that she is beyond furious with Buttigieg. So is Warren. Buttigieg is likely to be the target of some vicious personal attacks.

Every pundit, both Democratic and Republican, agreed that last night’s debate was a disaster for Democrats. Even the usual suspects on CNN and MSNBC recognized that reality. Jake Tapper finished the debate by asking if the candidates would accept letting the DNC choose the final candidate even if someone (Bernie) came to the convention with more delegates than anyone else. This was an admission by Tapper that it is almost impossible for Bernie or anyone else to win the nomination during the primary election process. While all the candidates, except Bernie, said they would just let things play out, the reality is that the DNC is headed toward a meltdown. Regardless of what they say, two things are very clear. They all think Bernie would be a disaster and none of them think they can beat him.

If the DNC steps in and chooses someone other than Bernie, they will have a huge problem. If they choose someone who was never even a candidate, the blowback will reach hurricane force. But, no other candidate currently in the race has any chance of competing with Donald Trump. At this point Joe Biden is probably the biggest winner because at least he is not the biggest loser. Biden would lose to Trump, by a big margin, but that is probably a better option, for Democrats, than what will happen if anyone one else wins. That is why Biden continues to do “fairly” well in the national polls. Biden, for all his faults, is somebody and you can’t beat somebody (Trump) with nobody (Everyone other than Bernie and Biden).

The bottom line is that Bernie took a big hit, but that won’t affect the 30% of Kool Aid drinkers who are true believers. Bloomberg took a fatal hit. Warren, Buttigieg and Klobuchar self-eliminated, but may survive long enough to prevent Bernie from winning enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Biden is not even everyone’s second choice. He probably ranks about third or even fourth. But, as the Daytona 500 taught us last Sunday, if the leaders crash in front of you, third has a good chance of winning.

TDM