New Delhi: It was a clash of the titans in the ninth Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday, which witnessed six candidates, including newcomer Michael Bloomberg go head-to-head ahead of the Nevada caucuses.
So far, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg have emerged as the top contenders of the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. The national polls have also indicated a win for Bernie Sanders (25.3%). However, Tuesday’s debate saw a determined Elizabeth Warren attempt to close the gap.
Touted as the “most negative debate of the 2020 cycle”, the event witnessed several fiery attacks, mostly targeted at the contentious billionaire candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The issue of healthcare, a crucial point in the Democrat party, also reared its head especially when Elizabeth Warren tore into Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar’s plans.
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Michael Bloomberg faces the heat
In the very first minutes of the debate, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren hit out at Michael Bloomberg over his past comments about women and asked for an apology.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” Warren said
She later persistently demanded that he release the employees who had sued his company for sexual harassment or gender discrimination from their nondisclosure agreements, which made Bloomberg visibly uncomfortable.
The 78-year-old was also attacked for the contentious “stop-and-frisk” policy that had been implemented in New York during his tenure as the mayor.
The stop-and-frisk policy allowed officials of the New York Police Department to temporarily detain and search suspects and civilians.
Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders emphasised on how the policy had discriminated against those from the coloured community and thrown “close to five million young black men up against a wall”.
Bloomberg conceded saying that the policy had gotten out of control. “…when we discovered, I discovered, that we were doing many, many, too many stop and frisks, we cut 95% of it out,” he said.
Joe Biden, however, contested his statement and said that it wasn’t until former US President Barrack Obama took notice and “sent moderators” that the programme was halted. “When we sent them [the moderators] there to say this practice has to stop, the mayor thought it was a terrible idea to send them there.”
The big healthcare debate
During the debate, which lasted for two hours barbs were also fired over the Democrat candidates’ healthcare plans.
Elizabeth Warren’s comments were especially noteworthy as she likened Pete Buttigieg’s plan to a PowerPoint presentation and Amy Klobuchar’s proposed policy to a post-it note.
“Mayor Buttigieg really has a slogan that was thought up by his consultants to paper over a thin version of a plan that would leave millions of people unable to afford their health care. It’s not a plan. It’s a PowerPoint. Amy’s plan is even less. It’s like a Post-it Note, ‘Insert Plan Here.’ ”
Klobuchar, however, responded by saying, “I must say I take personal offense since Post-It notes were invented in my state.”
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