A Bold Bernie Sanders Wins Big in the Third Debate

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

22 December 15

 

ocial media and polls are showing that Bernie Sanders scored a major victory in the third Democratic presidential debate. It is unfortunate that due to scheduling that clearly was designed to limit exposure of Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, the debate was on a Saturday night just days before Christmas.

On social media, where Sanders’ grassroots revolution began, there were more Google searches for Sanders than for any other candidate. His campaign had the most retweeted tweet of the night, according to Twitter. He gained more followers on Twitter than any other candidate, and Facebook said people talked about Sanders more than any other candidate online.

After the debate, Sanders was named the winner by viewers who voted in large-sample polls from Time, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Telegraph.co.uk and The Washington Times.

On Time's website, for example, 84 percent of the 27,246 who had taken the poll in the first 90 minutes after the debate said Sanders won.

Access to the debate was also limited by ABC, who claimed it was a space issue. Bernie 2016 TV and other outlets were called non-media outlets and denied access. The filing center was very large and had plenty of empty seats. For example, WMUR, the local ABC affiliate, has 4 rows of seats that were empty for most of the event. ABC national also had dozens of seats that were unused.

I was originally approved for a credential but was told when I went to pick up the credential that non-media had been taken off the list and that Bernie 2016 TV was not media. I informed them that I had applied for the credential as a reporter for RSN and pulled out months of credentials including the past debates. They let me in, but still denied the reporter from Bernie 2016 TV.

Okay, I'll stop ranting - the real story is Bernie got his message out to those who were viewing and not Christmas shopping.

Data Breach

I won't spend much time on this distraction but it is how the debate opened. Bernie apologized to the Clinton campaign and his supporters for the actions of his aides. He did also call out the DNC for blocking his campaign from accessing his campaigns data, which would have been a death sentence if access hadn't been restored after a lawsuit was filed. The staffers were wrong, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz took the opportunity to inflict damage on the Sanders campaign in her overreaching punishment. The only thing that remains is an independent investigation of both the breach last week and the security of all the campaign data for the past year. Other than that, let's move on …

Foreign Policy

Bernie nailed the foreign policy portion of the debate, which was over half the debate. He is right about building a coalition that includes Russia and Iran to defeat ISIS and putting regime change in Syria on the back burner. Bernie is also right to oppose a no-fly zone in Syria. The only fighter planes in Syria are owned by friendly countries and Syria itself. ISIS does not have planes or helicopters. The only result from a no-fly zone could be World War III if we shot down a Russian plane.

Sanders is right that working with Russia and Iran along with our Western allies is the fastest way to defeat ISIS. Assad is a complication that gets in the way of a united front against ISIS.

Bernie successfully showed the difference between his own policies and Clinton's more hawkish ones. In defining the unintended consequences of regime change in places like Iran, Iraq, Libya and Chile, Sanders reassured many that he would not have an interventionist foreign policy that would lead to perpetual war. Hillary Clinton on the other hand exposed views that would lead to other military actions around the world. She defended regime change and called for keeping the overthrow of Assad in Syria as an equal priority to defeating ISIS.

Health Care

It seemed for a while like the whole debate would be spent talking about ISIS. Sanders supporters were complaining on social media, even though I think Bernie held his own and Hillary took a hit on foreign policy. When the conversation finally turned to health care, Hillary defended Obamacare and said she would bring down costs on prescription drugs. Bernie quickly pointed out that premiums and co-pays are too high, and rising, and that too many Americans still don't have health insurance. He called for “Medicare for all,” a single payer system. He said that people would pay thousands less for health care under his plan. For some reason, people just don't understand that while taxes would go up to pay for single payer health care, they would be more than offset by the elimination of premiums and co-pays. If you ended up in the hospital or had outpatient surgery, you would pay nothing under Bernie's plan. I think Bernie needs to do a better job of saying that, but it's true that Bernie's plan is cheaper than everyone else's. Why? It eliminates private insurance companies, who build things like advertising, legal expenses, and profit into their plans. Insurance companies are nothing but middle men that skim off the top and even keep you from getting treatment you need, so they can keep your costs down. Single payer works all over the world, and the countries that have it don't have people asking for private insurance so they can pay more. Secretary Clinton called the rising cost of health care a “glitch” that needs to be worked out. Bernie knows that it is more than a glitch.

Taxes

Of course Bernie's plans will need to be paid for by higher taxes. But that is offset by not having to pay for college and health eare. Mothers would be able to spend more time with their babies instead of rushing back to work. Employers who would not have to pay for health benefits could hire more people or provide better benefits to employees. Young people graduating from college would not be in debt and could buy a home and a better car, spurring economic growth. It really is a no-brainer. Bernie would also shift the tax burden back to the wealthy where it belongs.

Racial Justice

Bernie's commitment to racial justice is unmatched in this race. He is the only candidate talking about reforming the broken and racist criminal justice system. He has pledged that the United States would no longer have the highest number of people in prison by the end of his first term. A free college education and health care and a raise in the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour would improve the lives of all, but a commitment to ending institutional racism, and having a plan to do it, is what separates Sanders from Clinton. I remember Hillary putting the burden on Black Lives Matter when she met with them. She told them they had to make more specific demands. No, Secretary Clinton, they don't have to be specific, that's the job of legislators and government officials. It's your job to listen and come up with solutions.

College Tuition

“Debt-free tuition” is this election's equivalent of “universal health care.” How often do you hear that Hillary and Obama ran on single payer health care in 2008? They didn't; the term universal health care was used to describe plans that were nothing close to health care for all. Now Hillary Clinton has coined the term debt-free college tuition. It is anything but debt-free. It is not free tuition at public universities. It's the Clinton definition for what everyone else can afford. Bernie will take us back to the days when public colleges and universities were just that, public, and didn't cost an arm and a leg. Anyone who thinks it's impossible to have free college education, ask your grandparents how much a state college cost when they were young.

Debates

Most of the debate was spent on foreign policy, making it the second straight foreign policy debate. That is unfortunate since there is only one debate before the early caucuses and primaries. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has prevented the DNC from even considering motions to extend the number of debates. That also is unfortunate. I think the votes would have been there. She is running the DNC like a dictator, and the first regime change that we need is ending her reign as DNC chair.

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Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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