Not long after CNN wrapped part one of the Democratic Party presidential primary debates Tuesday night, the post-debate analysis boiled down to how the so-called “moderate” candidates on the stage did against the extremely far-left ones.
In that vein, Inside Politics host John King argued that just because a far-left radical had never won a national election (that’s not true) doesn’t mean it can’t be done in 2020.
Setting himself up to make the case, King pointed out how “we're in a primary where you want to love a candidate, you want passion, you want someone to represent you. There is a hunger in the Democratic Party for ideas.”
From there, he seemed to suggest that simply pointing out how Democrats might lose the battleground states due to a candidate’s radical proposals wasn’t good enough argument against a far-left candidate:
So, just saying, “well, you'll lose Wisconsin, or you'll lose Michigan.” You might be right, but this is an untested proposition what Senators Sanders was just describing, what Senator Warren is describing, has not happened in our lifetime; that a Democrat can run a national election to be for Medicare for all, for free college tuition, maybe for reparations, for giving health care for undocumented immigrants. A host of liberal proposals way to the left of the last Democrat who won, Barack Obama. Way, way, way, way, way, way, way left to Bill Clinton, the Democrat to win before that. My first campaign was Dukakis. He was not as liberal as many of these things. That doesn't mean they can't win, it's just never done before. That doesn't mean it's impossible, it's just never been done.
“So, they're asking the party, ‘take a huge bet on me, I can beat Donald Trump with this agenda that's never been done before,’” King said speaking for Senators Bernie Sanders (VT) and Elizabeth Warren (MA).
King also found it “interesting” that “Mayor Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke did not join the other moderates in a passionate way.” But as NewsBusters research analyst Bill D’Agostino reported during the debate, Buttigieg alluded to his desire to change the Second Amendment in order to crack down on firearms in America.
That was far from a “moderate” proposal. The liberal media throws around the word “moderate” to normalize far-left policy proposals in order make Republicans seem out of touch and extreme.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Debate Post Analysis – Night 1
July 30, 2019
11:01:09 p.m. EasternANDERSON COOPER: You heard from a lot of the moderates, from Delaney and also from Bullock, saying, “you know, this is like sort of wishful thinking, this is a laundry list of just wishes, it's not something that's actually going to be possible and get Democrats elected.”
JOHN KING: And to David [Axelrod]'s point, we're in a primary where you want to love a candidate, you want passion, you want someone to represent you. There is a hunger in the Democratic Party for ideas.
So, just saying, “well, you'll lose Wisconsin, or you'll lose Michigan.” You might be right, but this is an untested proposition what Senators Sanders was just describing, what Senator Warren is describing, has not happened in our lifetime; that a Democrat can run a national election to be for Medicare for all, for free college tuition, maybe for reparations, for giving health care for undocumented immigrants. A host of liberal proposals way to the left of the last Democrat who won, Barack Obama. Way, way, way, way, way, way, way left to Bill Clinton, the Democrat to win before that.
My first campaign was Dukakis. He was not as liberal as many of these things. That doesn't mean they can't win, it's just never done before. That doesn't mean it's impossible, it's just never been done. So, they're asking the party, “take a huge bet on me, I can beat Donald Trump with this agenda that's never been done before.”
I think the interesting part was, did any of the moderates tonight -- this is why we're going to watch tomorrow night too. Does Joe Biden more passionately stake out the “you can't do this to the Democratic Party”, why? Not just we can't win, but why? Why is protecting Obamacare, building on it better than Medicare for all? We'll see if that happens tomorrow night.
Do think interestingly tonight, Mayor Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke did not join the other moderates in a passionate way. You might find one or two examples they took issue a little bit. They decided to do their own business tonight to try to help their own standing, not to join the ideological fight. It might have been a little different if they joined in. But they're already qualified for the next debate, so they didn't have to do it tonight. And they decided to step back I think and just try to do a little bit of their own business.
