Democratic debate recap: Philly mass shooting noted in gun violence question, CNN trailer mocked

Ten Democratic presidential candidates faced off in Detroit Tuesday for the party’s second primary debate of the 2020 election season.

Tuesday’s debate was moderated by CNN Tonight host Don Lemon, and chief political correspondent Dana Bash, and The Lead anchor and Philadelphia native Jake Tapper, whom Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders accused of using a Republican talking point to frame a health care question.

Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren spent much of the evening battling lesser-known but more-moderate candidates like Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (a Narberth native). In one of the more noteworthy exchanges, Warren pushed back on Delaney’s criticism of her proposals as “fairy tale” policies by questioning why he was even running for president.

"I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” Warren said, drawing widespread applause.

Here were some of the most interesting moments during Tuesday night’s debate:

The remaining 10 candidates — including former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, and California Sen. Kamala Harris — will take the stage Wednesday at 8 p.m. for night two of the second round of debates.

Here’s a recap of highlights from night one:

Warren ended Tuesday’s debate with the most speaking time, edging out Sanders by about 30 seconds. Buttigied also garnered a fair amount of speaking time during the debate.

Lemon posed the debate’s final question to Buttigieg, basically asking the 37-year-old mayor if age matters in the race, considering that five Democratic candidates would be 70 or above at inauguration in 2021 (Sanders, Biden, Warren, Inslee, and former Alaska Gov. Mike Gravel, who didn’t qualify for this round of debates).

Buttigieg, positioned on the stage next to the 77-year-old Sanders, essentially said no.

“I don’t care how old you are. I care about your vision,” Buttigieg said before advocating for a “new generation of leaders.”

Aging expert S. Jay Olshansky, professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, concluded in the American Federation for Aging Research that “chronological age should not be a disqualifying factor to run for or be president of the United States,” as my colleague Stacey Burling reported this week.

Trump was the oldest person elected president, and would be 74 at the beginning of his second term, if he were to be re-elected.

Buttigieg, an Afghanistan war veteran, claimed President Donald Trump lied about having a bone spur to earn a deferment from serving in the Vietnam War.

“Nominate me, and you get to see the president of the United States stand next to an American war veteran and explain why he chose to pretend to be disabled when it was his chance to serve,” Buttigieg said.

According to the New York Times, Trump earned five deferments during the Vietnam War: Four were for education, but the fifth was given after he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels after graduating from college.

During testimony before Congress in February, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said the president acknowledged to advisers that he made up a fake injury to avoid military service.

Williamson drew widespread applause during several answers in which the focus was on race, saying $200 billion to $500 billion for reparations was “politically feasible.” She also claimed the clean water crisis in Flint, Mich., was a result of the “dark underbelly of American society,” and would never have happened in the affluent Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe.

“I’ve lived in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. What happened in Flint would not happen in Grosse Pointe," Williamson said. “This is part of the dark underbelly of American society.”

But Williamson was also mocked for mentioning Trump’s “dark psychic force,” which caused the term to Trend on Google.

“If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days," Williamson said.

Hickenlooper, like many of the lower-tier candidates, came into Tuesday night looking for a breakout moment. Unfortunately, most viewers’ takeaway of the former Colorado governor will be an arm-raising moment he shared with Sanders.

Warren, pushing back on Delaney’s criticism of her proposals as “fairy tale” policies, questioned why he was even running for president.

"I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” Warren said, drawing widespread applause.

During a question about gun violence, Lemon included a mass shooting in Philadelphia that happened Sunday night but was overlooked by national media. A 21-year-old was killed and five others were injured after a man opened fire in the Elmwood neighborhood of Southwest Philadelphia.

The shooting in Philadelphia didn’t get much media attention due to a mass shooting at Gilroy Garlic Festival, which also occurred Sunday night and claimed the lives of three people, including a 6-year-old.

Here is how the Inquirer’s Editorial Board framed the shooting:

Both Sanders and Warren defended the idea of decriminalizing unauthorized border crossings.

“What Trump is doing through his racism and xenophobia is demonizing a group people," Sanders said. "If a mother and a child walk thousands of miles on a dangerous path, in my view, they are not criminals. They are people fleeing violence.”

“As Americans, what we need to do is have a sane system that keeps us safe at the border but does not criminalize the activity of a mother fleeing her,” Warren said.

Sanders accused Tapper of framing a question around a Republican talking point after he was asked if middle class taxes would go up under his “Medicare for All” proposal.

“What I am talking about and others up here are talking about is no deductibles and no co-payments,” Sanders said, before going after Tapper.

“Jake, your question is a Republican talking point,” Sanders said. “And by the way, the health care industry will be advertising tonight on this program.”

Warren ran out of time while discussing Ady Barkan, a man with ALS struggling to pay his medical bills and detailing his battle with his insurance company to cover his treatment.

Tapper asked a follow-up about health care to Warren, who returned to Barkan’s struggles, drawing laughter from the crowd.

“This isn’t funny,” Warren chided, silencing the crowd. “This is someone who has health insurance and is dying.”

It didn’t take long for Warren and Sanders to be attacked by name. During his opening statement, Delaney accused both of promising “free everything" and warning that their progressive policies will turn off independent voters and “get Trump re-elected.”

“That’s what happened with [George] McGovern, that’s what happened with [Walter] Mondale, that’s what happened with [Michael] Dukakis,” Delaney said.

Sanders responded to Delaney moments later: “You’re wrong.”

Warren also responded, telling Delaney more people would have coverage under “Medicare for All” and it’s Republicans who are attempting to take away health care from individuals.

CNN opened Tuesday’s debate with movie-style trailer hyping the match-up between Warren and Sanders and promising that “the road to the White House drives to Detroit.”

Not surprisingly, many media and political pundits had some thoughts about the intro:

Ahead of Tuesday’s debate, the campaign of businessman Andrew Yang accused the Democratic National Committee of changing its rules to prevent him from qualifying for the party’s third and fourth presidential debates.

Yang had celebrated becoming the eighth candidate to qualify for the next two debates, citing four different polls where he garnered at least 2 percent support. But in an email to The Hill, the DNC said candidates “may only count one NBC-sponsored national poll released during the current qualification period.”

“By the DNC’s own rules, the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Fox News, and Quinnipiac are all approved organizations, and thus Andrew Yang has qualified for the fall debates. We disagree with the DNC decision and are disappointed with the ruling," Yang’s campaign manager Zach Graumann said in a statement.

Yang will be on the stage Wednesday, and has until Aug. 28 to qualify for the next two debates. He already exceeded the 130,000 unique donor threshold, and just needs to reach 2 percent in one more poll from a list of DNC-approved pollsters.

So far, seven candidates have qualified to participate in those debates: Biden, Sanders, Warren, Harris, Buttigieg, O’Rourke, and Booker.