Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Candidates, Please Leave Your Walkers Off-Stage

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Twelve Democratic presidential contenders will take the stage in Ohio tonight for the fourth debate.   This single debate, sponsored by CNN and the New York Times (two of Herr Trump's least favorite news outlets), will be the largest so far in this primary season.

A new poll released today by George Washington University has Elizabeth Warren now as the frontrunner with 28%, Bernie Sanders running second with 21%, and Joe Biden third with 18 percent.  Two other candidates, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, each had 5% of the survey tally.

Those five will be at the center of the stage tonight, with Biden in the middle flanked by Sanders and Warren, who, in turn, will be flanked by Harris and Buttigieg.  The Democratic Party, it seems, is providing the country with a visual of its starting five.   Not only will those five be jockeying for position and strength with the voters, they will also be fending off attacks from the ne'er-do-wells standing along the fringes of the lineup.

Joe Biden, when he is lucid, is currently fending off attacks against his son by Donald Trump while also desperately trying to turn all of that publicity into support for his failing campaign.  Biden, who will be seventy-seven next month, has his moments - and then he wanders - or disappears to rest.

Bernie Sanders, who turned seventy-eight in August, has to hit the stage running tonight and show that the heart attack he suffered a couple of weeks ago has not slowed him down - mentally or physically.  A freaking heart attack that his campaign failed to disclose for several days while they figured out how to spin it!  Old people have heart attacks and doctors usually recommend rest - not campaigning day and night to be elected to one of the most stressful jobs on the planet!

Elizabeth Warren, who hit the big seven-oh this past June, nevertheless has the clarity of mind that Biden lacks, a high energy level, and an apparently sound heart, will be stepping on the Ohio stage tonight with a target on her back by virtue of her rising status as the frontrunner.    She has the double challenge of showing debate viewers where the country needs to be going - while, at the same time, being ready to respond to shots lobbed by moderators and any of the eleven bloodthirsty jackals who would like to bring her down.

And flanking this septuagenarian triumvirate will be a 37-year-old gay male mayor of a bustling American city and a 54-year-old female senator from the most populous state in the nation.  But they have their work cut out for them because party elders are very reluctant to let the kids drive!

Good luck to each of the twelve candidates who are being allowed to participate in tonight's debate - and, as we say in the theatre "Break a leg!"   Ambulances will undoubtedly be standing by.

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