Elizabeth Warren Should Have Been a Fighter All Along
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty
The big story coming out of last night’s Democratic primary debate was the severe maiming of the billionaire crypto-Republican Michael Bloomberg by a frothing mass of candidates led by Elizabeth Warren. It became clear after about 20 seconds that this would be a one-sided bloodletting, and it was Warren who kicked off the frenzy with a well-prepared cluster bomb:
Warren’s opening salvo on Bloomberg set the tone for the rest of the debate. He was unable to come back from this. pic.twitter.com/tHwoRL7Soc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 20, 2020
Warren’s campaign has frustrated and annoyed me, starting with the moronic DNA fiasco and continuing to her ill-advised and cynical attempts to paint Sanders as a sexist based on an old conversation, but I found myself pumping my fist while watching this exchange, so deep is my loathing for Bloomberg and his attempt to buy the primary. It’s exactly the treatment he deserved, and though almost all of the other candidates landed a few body blows over the course of the night, nobody was quite as vicious and mean as Warren, and I mean those adjectives as the highest compliments. Back when she seemed like a credible progressive alternative to Sanders, this was what we expected—someone uncompromising, fearless, and genuinely scary on a debate stage. Bloomberg may have been an unexpectedly easy target, but it takes skill to execute when it matters, and the Warren guillotine sliced his metaphorical head from his metaphorical body with surgical precision.
Today, some liberals—particularly rich and/or famous ones—are rallying around Warren, but I don’t quite believe this is enough for a resurgence after months of missteps that translated into a slow fade. She had a brief moment in early October when it looked like she might overtake even Biden, but it’s been rough sledding ever since, and it’s almost definitely too late to reverse that momentum. It’s also true that debates matter less than those of us with our heads planted in the political circus tend to think. Still, if the assassination of Michael Bloomberg is nothing more than a last act in her presidential campaign, she’ll have done her party a tremendous service. Watch more of her evisceration:
Here is the moment when Liz Warren spoke about the Michael Bloomberg’s NDA’s.
She’s taking no prisoners tonight. #DemDebatepic.twitter.com/IgaM3TiMJa