Democratic debates

Maybe Hillary assumed no one would notice the kinds of hauls she was taking in from the Financial Sector for her presidential run. After all, the titans of Wall Street had largely underwritten her political career from the get go-- to the tune of $36,846,987. The only Members of Congress to whom they were more generous were McCain ($38,054,987) and, as she pointed out at the Sunday debate in South Carolina, Obama ($68,186,749).

Did you know that tomorrow is another Democratic presidential debate? If you didn't, don't worry... you weren't meant to. Or, do worry because you weren't meant to. Former Hillary Clinton Campaign co-chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, now head of the DNC, has scheduled a series of debates with one thing in mind-- exposing the candidates to as few viewers as possible.

by Gaius PubliusThis is just a news piece, so you know how bad it was. At DNC headquarters, they're marking this "mission accomplished." Adam Edelman at the NY Daily News reports (my emphasis):

"Killer Mike" interviews Bernie Sanders. Could this dynamic be a game-changer in southern Democratic primaries?by Gaius PubliusIn the most recent underwatched Democratic debate, there was a lot of ISIS-this and terror-that thrown around — and not one climate word, as near as I could tell.

This morning when I woke up, 49,216 people had voted in Time Magazine's online poll about the debate. I'm surprised that many people even watched the debate... around 10 million fewer than watch weekday night debates. A little update: As Wasserman Schultz had planned, the debate had the fewest viewers of any so far.

With the voters from the stupid party busy looking for Agrabah on their maps, tonight's debate will be viewed by... not many people. And that, of course, is how Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic establishment had it all planned out from the beginning-- no other explanation for the Saturday night before Christmas.

Demagoguery, particularly when it comes to stirring up war fever, xenophobia and naked bigotry, have been tried and true methods conservatives use to get voters to think about something other than the economic agenda that's enslaving them and their families. It works well. Republicans and conservative Democrats would much prefer to demonize a tiny, pathetic handful of Syrian refugees than discuss... oh, say...

Bernie Sanders at the second Democratic debate. Because Debbie Wasserman Schultz scheduled this debate on a Saturday during the run-up to the college football playoffs, close to half of the previous Democratic debate audience missed this exchange.by Gaius PubliusThis is Bernie Sanders at the second Democratic debate:

I was just driving home and the NPR host was talking about a poll on Climate Change. By the time I started paying attention, I had missed the details or who had done the poll. I figured I'd find it on Google when I got home. But I can't find it. And it was interesting because the findings were at odds with what most of us assume about Climate Change. First of all, they found that Americans believe it's caused by man and say they'd be willing to pay to ameliorate that.

Hillary felt the shoe fit when Bernie started talking about Wall Street's concerted effort to buy off the political system with millions of dollars. She interrupted to claim he was trying to "impugn my integrity." Watch in the video above. And keep watching as she uses typical GOP talking points to explain why her political career has been built on Wall Street money.We'll come back to Hillary in a moment. First I want to remind you that the Financial Sector is the #1 source on political contributions (legalized bribery, plain and simple) in our democracy.