Terrorist is the hottest issue of the day. Even CBS realized that. The first portion of the debate was all about terrorism. None of the Democratic candidates for President had a clue. Hillary said that ISIS must be destroyed, but she offered no strategy to achieve that. Bernie Sanders is still convinced that global warming causes terrorism. Really! He actually said that! Mark O’Malley bragged about his great work in Baltimore, only to be shredded by Bernie Sanders who pointed out, correctly, that Baltimore is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. Nice!
If, and that is a big IF, any Democrats actually listened to this and they have the slightest bit of concern about their personal safety this was devastating for everyone on that stage. The only thing that saved Hillary from total humiliation is that no other candidate on that stage and none of the moderators were ready, willing or even able to confront her.
I deliberately sat down with a glass of wine so I could stomach the post-debate analysis by CNN. Sometimes intelligence requires listening to the opposition. It was stunning. The panel literally looked and acted shell-shocked. They were all too aware that if Terrorism and National Security sets the agenda Democrats are in big trouble. No one even pretended that Bernie Sanders or Mark O’Malley had a clue. No one even pretended that the Obama foreign policy was anything other than a complete and total disaster. They couldn’t even pretend that Hillary had done well. The best they could come up with is that she still has more experience than some of the Republicans, like Marco Rubio. Seriously? That is delusional. Marco Rubio is far more up to speed on national security than Hillary Clinton. I can pretty much guarantee that the really smart Democrats who watched this performance are now desperately trying to avoid throwing up. This was an unmitigated disaster.
Then there was the delusional response to the e-mail scandal. The moderator asked Bernie Sanders if it mattered that Hillary may have failed to properly protect classified material and all Bernie could say was that he was tired of hearing about the e-mails. The only way this makes sense is that Hillary has promised Bernie some plush administration job and he is stupid enough to think that is remotely possible. Hillary, of course, was desperately waving her hand in the air trying to change the subject. Sadly the moderators were all too willing to let the issue slide and Hillary did not answer a single question regarding her e-mails. However, at some point she is going to have to answer questions and she can’t possibly have good answers.
Imagine a debate with anyone of these Republicans. Image Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz or Carly Fiorina looking Hillary directly in the eye and saying something like this:
Madame Secretary, you told the American people that the attack in Benghazi was the result of a video. You told the families of the victims that this was the result of the video and that you would make sure the person producing this video was punished. But you told your daughter this was clearly a terrorist attack by someone connected with al Qaeda. You told the Prime Minister of Libya that this had nothing to do with a video. With all due respect, Madame Secretary, the only thing clear is that you were either hopelessly confused or you were deliberately lying to someone? Assuming that you were not hopelessly confused, Madame Secretary who was you lying to and why?
Hillary can’t possibly answer that question. When pressed for her “moment in the sun” the only thing Hillary could come up with was “allegedly” urging Obama to authorize the raid on Osama bin Laden. Seriously? This was a difficult decision. Give me a break. It was one of the easiest decisions in the history of the U.S. Presidency. Gee. Should I try to kill Osama bin Laden? Give me a break!
No matter what you hear in the media, from either side, this was a huge disaster for Democrats. None of us can predict the future and something could easily happen to turn this around, but right now Republicans are poised to run the table.
A word of caution. Most people think that Barry Goldwater was defeated by Lyndon Johnson because Johnson successfully painted Goldwater as a loose cannon likely to set off a nuclear war. We even have memories of the commercial with the little girl plucking pedals from a daisy while a mushroom cloud epodes in the background. But that is not what happened at all. The reality is that Goldwater was gaining on Johnson and Democrats were terrified. In a moment of desperation, Johnson took a meaningless incident and turned it into the Tonkin Gulf incident. The people rallied around the Democratic President who was willing to take on communism and Goldwater never recovered.
That could happen again. President Obama could launch a full scale war against ISIS, cheered on loudly by Hillary Clinton. If you don’t think that is possible remember that Bill Clinton literally launched air raids against Saddam Hussein during his impeachment trial.
We are headed for troubled waters. Almost anything is possible. We desperately need to pray that the American people will see through the nonsense and make the right decision. We can and will survive Barack Obama. I am not sure we could survive being stupid enough to elect either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders to replace him.
In the meantime, this debate was nothing short of double exposure. It exposed all the Democratic candidates for President as being totally incapable of defending this country.
TDM