Bankruptcy, Democratic-style
One element (but not the only one) of last night's Democratic talkathon that deserves attention is the candidates' unwillingness to challenge the phenomenon of "sanctuary cities" such as Minneapolis and New Have where local authorities refuse to enforce immigration law. This is one point that supports Bill Kristol's assessment of last night's debate as marking the possible vulnerability of the Democratic nominee in the fall. Today's Yale Daily News reports on New Haven's road show taking the city's municipal identification program for illegal aliens into the 'hood. The consensus of the Democratic candidates' in support of this phenomenon is striking.
Another element of the talkathon that marks the candidates' vulnerability in the general election is their conformity on the desirability of public schools educating eight-year-olds on homosexual relationships. At one point last night one -- was it during the discussion of Social Security? -- one of the candidates referred to the unreality of the talkathon, but bankruptcy seemed to me the more appropriate metaphor. Senator Gravel found a way to salute himelf for his personal and business bankruptcies:
“Well, first off, if you want to make a judgment of who can be the greediest people in the world when they get to public office, you can just look at the people up here,” Gravel said in a nod to his fellow candidates.Byron York salutes Gravel:“Now, you say the condo business,” he continued. “I will tell you, Donald Trump has been bankrupt 100 times. So I went bankrupt once in business. And the other – who did I bankrupt? I stuck the credit card companies with $90,000 worth of bills, and they deserved it – “
“They deserved it,” Gravel repeated, “and I used the money to finance the empowerment of the American people with a national initiative.”
Gravel’s answer was unprecedented in the history of these debates, and, if nothing else, it seemed guaranteed to win him at least a share of the insolvent vote, even among those who have stuck credit card companies for debts far more prosaic than empowering the American people with national initiatives.But York misses Gravel's magnanimity. He went bankrupt for us! It seemed to me an emblematic moment.
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