Joe Biden greeted Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) with a tense handshake on the debate stage Wednesday night, telling his rival to “go easy” on him.
Harris was declared the unofficial winner of the first round of debates after a savage attack on Biden’s record on racial issues. But Harris walked away the biggest loser this time around after getting slammed by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) on her record as a prosecutor. As for Biden, it was not an “easy” night either, but he left the stage mostly unscathed after getting ganged up on by fellow Democrats on deportations during the Obama era, and other topics.
Not holding back
All eyes were on Biden and Harris as the two walked out on the debate stage and exchanged a greeting. The two exchanged a second of very forced small talk, as an unblinking Harris ignored Biden’s comment and asked how he was doing.
“Good,” he said. “You good?” she asked. “Good,” he responded again.
It soon became clear, however, that Biden didn’t come wearing kid gloves. Harris immediately lost her balance — and never recovered the whole night — after the debate moderators pitted the two rivals against each other with a question about Harris’ new healthcare plan. Harris seemed flustered as Biden slammed its “have it every way” approach, which Biden said used “double talk” to sell empty promises of a 10-year transition to universal coverage.
Bumpy ride
As the night wore on, Harris found some room to breathe as the other Democrats ganged up on Biden over his Obama-era record. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, and others went after Biden for deportations that occurred during the previous administration.
“It seems like one of us have learned from the lessons of the past and one of us hasn’t,” Castro said, referring to Biden.
The former VP was attacked for his support of the 1994 crime bill and other aspects of his record now considered sinful by the increasingly radical Democrat Party. But Harris struggled to find her footing for the rest of the night after the initial blitz. Finally, Rep. Gabbard buried Harris with a vicious attack on her record as a prosecutor, saying that Harris locked up black men for drug offenses while “laughing” about smoking marijuana and blocked exculpatory evidence in death penalty cases.
“When you were in a position to impact these people’s lives you did not and worse yet in the case of those on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence that would have freed them, until you were forced to do that, and the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology,” Gabbard said.
Bitter ending
Biden ably defended himself and walked away relatively unscathed. Still, he did have some awkward moments. At the very end of the debate, he confused debate watchers when he told them to visit his “website,” saying, “Go to Joe 30330.” The cryptic message appeared to have been the result of Biden confusing a phone number meant to receive campaign donations with the name of his campaign website.
As for Harris, it looks like she has a hard time taking what she dishes out. In a post-debate interview, there were sour grapes a-plenty, as Harris told Anderson Cooper that she expected Gabbard, who is polling at “0 or 1%,” to attack her since she is a “top tier candidate.” Harris also called Gabbard an “apologist’ for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, with whom Gabbard met in 2017, in an apparent attempt to smear her rival.
Biden’s “go easy” comment proved an ironic omen of how things actually unfolded for the veteran Democrat, but in retrospect it appears he had less to worry about with regard to Harris than he thought. A month after Round One on the debate stage, Biden is still the frontrunner, and Harris just looks like a sore loser.
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