61.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Bernie and Hillary, all red, white and blue
I’m no Lady Gaga, but I felt like bursting into “The Star-Spangled Banner” as I watched the Democratic debate last Thursday night. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were going at it: strong, smart, tough and aggressive. Neither yielded any ground.
Most important, however, they hammered one another with padded gloves, offering verbal civilities such as, “With all due respect.” There was neither name-calling nor personal jibes. Remarkably, no one called anyone “stupid” or “evil” or even nastier slurs that can’t be printed in a family newspaper. Ugly, profane and mean-spirited language has been the calling card of the Republican candidates, most particularly frontrunner Donald Trump.
I admit I was fascinated two weeks ago, when Gov. Chris Christie took out Sen. Marco Rubio at the Republican debate in New Hampshire. Rubio was sweating even before Christie leaned into his podium and began to dismember him. But there was no intellectual exchange, no debate; it was all personal, and insulting.
The most heated moment was between Sen. Ted Cruz and Dr. Ben Carson. Carson accused Cruz of putting out false reports of his political demise just before the Iowa caucuses. Cruz said he knew nothing about any dirty tricks, and that it was miscommunication and misguided staff members who led him to announce that Carson was withdrawing from the race. Meanwhile, where was any discussion of the Middle East or Russia or migrants or our national debt?
Consider the difference in the quality of the conversation among and between candidates, Republican and Democrat. Between Bernie and Hillary, sparks flew when Madame Secretary called out the senator from Vermont for criticizing President Obama, and he responded by saying, “Madame Secretary, that is a low blow.” You could see anger and passion in their faces, but they did not let their emotions drag down the level of discourse.
It was all so civil and decent, and still compelling. And decency has been a rare commodity in this season’s political marketplace.
