# Debate 10/15/19 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 16, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828 "2019-10-16T00:23:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/61 "2019-10-16T04:41:36Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Pete is BY FAR the most polished, authoritative, and all-around impressive of any of these people. BY FAR. He has consistently demonstrated this in every single debate. These are all true statements. Also true: he is quite young, and looks \*\*super \*\*young. And he is the mayor of a small city, and one with a lot of problems at that. He has great potential, but he needs to season a bit and, crucially, find some way to build a more legitimate resume. Which could be tough in Indiana, but he’s a smart guy. Maybe move to Illinois? ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/62 "2019-10-16T04:50:04Z")
That shit worked for Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/63 "2019-10-16T04:54:11Z")
I understand where y’all are coming from, but I think having a reasonably liberal mayor from a state where our esteemed VP came from could be a bulwark against the “encroachment” from the the leftist coasts. This could be a boon for our country cred. ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/64 "2019-10-16T04:57:46Z")
Motherfucking Rhodes Scholar? Soldier, Mayor of a mid-sized industrial town crushed by outsourcing largely condoned by our current, ne’er do well president? he’s got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/65 "2019-10-16T04:58:39Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The trope that Beto’s mandatory gun buyback plan is moot if police don’t go door to door is absurd. Fully automatic weapons (“machine guns”) are illegal now, but we don’t send police to search everyone’s house… Well for decades you could get a $200 license, after passing a solid check. But there are like 10 million assault weapons in the USA. There were never many fully auto tommy guns and the like, they were expensive and not popular except with gangsters. And they have been banned for so long, what few there are went to collectors or junked. So, yeah, they might well have to do some sort of door to door checks. However, I will bet they will never pass a law banning possession. They might, as in CA, pass a register or buy back, like Joe suggests. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/66 "2019-10-16T04:59:28Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > These are all true statements. Also true: he is quite young, and looks \*\*super \*\*young. And he is the mayor of a small city, and one with a lot of problems at that. > > He has great potential, but he needs to season a bit and, crucially, find some way to build a more legitimate resume. Which could be tough in Indiana, but he’s a smart guy. Maybe move to Illinois? In what way is his resume not already legitimate enough? Why do you have to be a governor or senator to be taken seriously? Lots of governors and senators are totally fucked up and preside over states with enormous problems. How is he not “seasoned”? He has the charisma needed to win the election. This election has jack shit to do with being seasoned. Joe Biden is seasoned. He’s as seasoned as you can get. He’s been rubbed in rosemary, thyme, and all the rest, and it amounts to jack shit. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/67 "2019-10-16T05:02:00Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > A ticket of Buttegieg and Booker would knock it out of the park. No, sorry, I like Mayor Pete but a openly Gay man wont play in Peoria in 2020- he cant win the general. I hope America gets to the point where he can win in 2028, I’d like to see that. Bookers ideas on guns are looney. ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/68 "2019-10-16T05:09:53Z")
Just want to see someone who’s smarter than me as president. Is that a bridge too far? ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/69 "2019-10-16T05:12:16Z")
Richard Pryor nailed Peoria. He was bisexual. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/70 "2019-10-16T05:28:33Z")
Warren did not wear the yellow jersey well. She needed to show she could. I was really hoping she would. Klobuchar benefited by having her strongest interactions early. Buttigieg was solid and the interaction with Beto demonstrated some strength of character, some toughness and not gonna be pushed around, that will play well. Sanders was more than energetic enough to keep his core and maybe win back a few who had defected. Yang would have benefited if Sanders looked frail - but he did not. Biden was standard issue Biden. His polling was unmoved by other debates with solid “WTF Joe?” moments and this was not that bad. No one will leave him because of this debate but it wasn’t good enough to win over anyone new either. I think the after polls will show Biden essentially unchanged, Warren dropped back some, Sanders a tick up as will be Klobuchar and Buttigieg. Harris will fall a bit further. Yang unchanged or one tick up. And no one else with numbers to even consider. My WAG anyway. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/71 "2019-10-16T08:08:04Z")
Your WAG looks like trenchant analysis to me. > [@cutman74](#): > > I understand where y’all are coming from, but I think having a reasonably liberal mayor from a state where our esteemed VP came from could be a bulwark against the “encroachment” from the the leftist coasts. This could be a boon for our country cred. It’s possible that some could erroneously get that idea. In politics, perception trumps reality. But FWIW, the reality does not actually match up with that narrative. Indiana has been a red state in presidential elections at least 80% of the time over the past 45 years. During that same timespan, South Bend has _never_ elected a Republican mayor. Not a single one. So the state it is in really doesn’t have a lot of practical relevance. It’s a college town with an inner-city black population. So if it represents anything, it’s more of a microcosm of the Democratic Party: college students, college professors/counselors/administrators, and racial minorities. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/72 "2019-10-16T08:34:05Z")
> [@cutman74](#): > > I agree Warren is the one to beat, but I also have noticed that she’s been given an extra up to 20 seconds with no one cutting her mic. I’ve seen others’ mics potted down. He said “potted”. You must work in the bizz? I’m sorry about this hijack, I’ve just never see anyone on the WebNet refer to potting up or down. Gave me a little tickle, it did. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/73 "2019-10-16T09:56:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, sorry, I like Mayor Pete but a openly Gay man wont play in Peoria in 2020- he cant win the general. I hope America gets to the point where he can win in 2028, I’d like to see that. > > Bookers ideas on guns are looney. I don’t know man. Maybe he can’t win anyway for other reasons but this conservative country is weird about homosexuality. The whole gays getting the right to marry thing went way smoother and happened way sooner than I ever would have imagined. I think a lot of conservative Americans just don’t really think about it or care that much unless a gay person happens to meet their expectation of nutty-kookoo-flamboyance and in-your-faceness. These days I think there’s more of an issue with a Dem candidate being perceived as being a gun-grabbing, welfare-giving, income-redistributing Commie who’s well to the Left of Chairman Mao. Mayor Pete is so white-bread, Middle-America, corn-bred wholesome and earnest that many conservatives probably don’t think of him as gay at all. It’s kinda the same thing as: “Who, Steve?!? Steve ain’t no n **r! I’ve known him since we was twelve. He’s my best friend. If he’s a n** r then so am I.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/74 "2019-10-16T11:18:06Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, sorry, I like Mayor Pete but a openly Gay man wont play in Peoria in 2020- he cant win the general. I hope America gets to the point where he can win in 2028, I’d like to see that. > > Bookers ideas on guns are looney. I could see Mayor Pete as VP easily, with Harris as the PotUS nominee. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/75 "2019-10-16T12:04:12Z")
Didn’t watch the debate this time. Did anyone say anything solidly antiwar or was there a bunch of pro-Syrian Civil War stuff going on? I did google “Gabbard” this morning, of course. She had perhaps the funniest clip of this election cycle on her feed. > If you are in need of a good chuckle, watch the reactions of the top 3 contestants first around the 15 second mark, then contrast this with their reactions around 30 seconds. That is what fear looks like. Unfortunately I don’t see any coverage of a Harris-like takedown from Gabbard this time. This will probably be her last go, but if all she did this year was deny Harris, she has served our country greatly. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/76 "2019-10-16T12:11:34Z")
As someone who wears her military service on her sleeve like a gaudy bracelet, you’d think Gabbard would understand the concept of ‘team’. Evidently not. When calls for unity made them all look better, she still couldn’t resist taking cheap shots at her teammates. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/77 "2019-10-16T12:23:22Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Didn’t watch the debate this time. Did anyone say anything solidly antiwar or was there a bunch of pro-Syrian Civil War stuff going on? > > I did google “Gabbard” this morning, of course. She had perhaps the funniest clip of this election cycle on her feed. > > [https://mobile.twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1184344603606036480?ref\_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet](https://mobile.twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1184344603606036480?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet) > > If you are in need of a good chuckle, watch the reactions of the top 3 contestants first around the 15 second mark, then contrast this with their reactions around 30 seconds. That is what fear looks like. Unfortunately I don’t see any coverage of a Harris-like takedown from Gabbard this time. This will probably be her last go, but if all she did this year was deny Harris, she has served our country greatly. You are reading something into that which isn’t there. They were looking up when Gabbard was talking about them but looking at their notes when she wasn’t. Funny that you enjoyed that clip. Gabbard is criticizing Trump’s pull out from the Kurdish held territory which I thought you favored. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/78 "2019-10-16T12:46:04Z")
I love Liz, but the fact that she kept saying “cost” instead of breaking it down the way Bernie does is a major strike against her. Not against her policies, but against the fact that she just keeps beating around the bush. She needs to get out of her own way on this issue. Pete has my vote every day. That guy doesn’t put a foot wrong as far as I’m concerned. That he has an issue with the black vote is a puzzle for me and a huge persistent challenge for him. Not sure how he will overcome that. My guess is that he’s saving the South Carolina strategy for later in the contest, once he has assured his standing as a likely contender for the nomination. Joe is a great guy but there is less there with each debate. Mighty Joe has struck out, as far as I’m concerned. Amy is fine. She’ll make a good cabinet member. So will Cory. I might consider Kamala for DOJ… but maybe not. Beto needs to take it down a notch; he talks like a guy who really needs a piss. Somebody accused Tulsi of being too pro Russia and I have no idea of the justification for that. She’s just unremarkable. Ditto the rest of the field. * * * ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/79 "2019-10-16T12:49:45Z")
I can never look at Beto O’Rourke without being distracted by how much he looks like a Kennedy family stunt double ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828/80 "2019-10-16T12:57:47Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Pete is BY FAR the most polished, authoritative, and all-around impressive of any of these people. BY FAR. He has consistently demonstrated this in every single debate. I agree, FWIW. Intelligence is more important than a weak resume but I am in the minority on that opinion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-10-15-19/841828.md?page=5)