John McKee, the debate moderator “valley girl” is Ashley Parker. I’m thinking she might have been nervous or being very careful with her diction. She’s on MSNBC a lot and speaks well. She’s also a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for Washington Post.

Every day, I wonder how the bad people can possibly come back from whatever has been revealed, and every day they dig themselves deeper into cloud cuckoo land. Logic, common sense and all accepted wisdom is just thrown out the window as they desperately try to defend the utterly indefensible.

I’m watching CNN’s panel right now, and one Whitaker-clone lunkhead is completely befuddling Cuomo and the rest with his mindless verbiage. Very funny – Cuomo just tried to demonstrate how you can hear a cellphone call from a distance even when it isn’t on speaker. Absolute, embarrassing silence :)

You’re welcome John McKee.

Am watching Mr. Holmes’ testimony. Pretty compelling stuff. He just said he decided to step to the plate after realising the need for first-hand witnesses. He ended with a call for a return to America’s principles and values.

Ms. Hill is up now and she sounds very angry.

Thank you so much, Bemused. Compliments are so much more reassuring when they come from someone you have got to know and for whom you have the highest regard. My sentiment is something we are not hearing much from the general hubbub, so I’m going to spin it out a little further and pitch it as a small article to one or two leftish web discussion sites.

I share John’s desire for a broad-based defense of historical American values and principles.

Way to go, John McKee!!!!!!!

Dear Joe, Elizabeth, Bernie, Pete, Kamala, Amy and Cory,

One of you is destined for a meaningful role in history. The time is ripe for a true leader to step up to the microphone and speak of vision, not the minutiae of policy. I want to hear you talk of an America where money does not take the place of conscience, in terms of either legislation or electoral advantage; a place where historic shames are addressed fairly and squarely.

Tell us about a truly united coalition of states where no-one has to fear illness and injury for anything other than the actual physical problems they may bring, a nation where every voice counts, and counts equally in the conduct of government.

America should be taking up the torch once again to show the world how a country can defy special and monied interests to give every child the hope, indeed the expectation, that his or her future will not be blighted by unfair obstacles and the curse of discrimination in any form.

I want to hear about the ideal of having every citizen rewarded fairly for their efforts, where labour and capital are treated equitably in terms of taxes, and where a comprehensive safety net keeps people from abject poverty at the same time as giving them a helping hand to climb the ladder.

Please, ladies and gentlemen, regard the Presidency as more than the pinnacle of personal power and influence, no matter how pure and honourable your intentions. Whoever amongst you gets the opportunity to succeed the malignant narcissist currently despoiling the Oval Office should see your role as chief cheerleader for the many millions of good Americans working hard to make the US a better home for all its people.

Damn! Missed the whole thing.

Agree fully with Kevin on the need for people to get out and vote regardless of what the polls say or what they think about politicians. Not voting is a crime against democracy in my book. As the saying goes: “use it or lose it!”

I also like Kevin’s list for the first 100 days, plus Ellen’s addition of health care however it may be called. Having experienced universal systems in two countries, I’d lean in that direction. That solution does NOT bankrupt the country, rather the contrary, it helps keep the working/consuming population able and willing. And the insurance companies are doing just fine, too, providing the perks that a universal system can’t afford to provide (single room, immediate service for elective surgery, etc.).

Where I differ may also be due to a recent rereading of Machiavelli: I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Pence and McConnell may decide to throw Trump under the bus. Four years by either Trump or Pence could turn the USA into a travesty of itself. And I’m seriously preoccupied by Pence due to his proven ability to stay quiet and keep his own counsel as his spokesmanchild crashes through the bushes.

I must say I thought the moderators did a great at job. Substantive questions without minutia. No stupid questions and even the gotchas were legit and not too gotcha-y.

Great start, Kevin. I’d add shoring up ObamaCare to the list.

I wouldn’t break out the champagne yet re next November. I would push as hard as possible to motivate EVERYONE to vote, particularly in the swing states. Assume that every deplorable is going to vote early and often because they will. Assume that you cannot count on your neighbor to vote. If you’re going to assume, then assume that it’s up to you and that you should vote like your life depends on it. Because it does.

If people show up all over the place and vote, we have a chance to elect a new president and to change the majority in the Senate, and we absolutely need to do both things. If a President Castro were to take office but still be facing a GOP majority in the Senate, we can guarantee that not only will no legislation get passed, but no appointees would likely be confirmed.

In the event that the Dems show up to vote across the country, and in the event that they somehow wind up with majorities in both houses plus the White House, I’d recommend a 100 Days strategy. I’d say that the Congress and the new White House should work to accomplish the following within that first hundred days:

1. Pass DACA, essentially in the form that President Obama started it, with none of the bigoted conditions the Right Wing has tried to demand in exchange for not throwing all the DACA enrollees out of the Us;

2. Pass the payroll tax modifications that have been recommended for the past 20 years to stabilize Social Security and Medicare (ie lifting the cap and making a minute adjustment to the employer side). This would end the whole Right Wing discussion of gutting those programs for another few decades;

3. Pass an adjustment to the federal tax code to fix the vindictive tax hikes the GOP inflicted in 2018, restoring the individual exemptions and deductions for itemizers including the state tax deduction, and raising the corporate tax rate to 30%;

4. Confirm a series of sane judges to multiple vacancies, as a first step toward correcting the horrifying trend of the Pence White House’s terrible appointments;

5. Begin the long process of cleaning up the mess across the executive branch, beginning with the appointment of dedicated professionals who care about the work their departments do to help ordinary people. Which will be a huge breath of fresh air after the series of gargoyles inflicted on these departments by Pence, most of whom being people who don’t even think their department should even exist.

How’s that for a start?

Tom Steyer’s closing statement focuses on term limits which doesn’t seem like a topic near the top of many people’s agendas.

Cory Booker made a passionate case for better black representation, attacking Biden but he has strong support from the black community.

I suppose they could complicate things, Ellen, but I get the impression that almost every democrat is happy with at least one of their existing choices. Steyer’s $300 million hasn’t given him much penetration.

Oh, please, Pete. Put your bloody faith back on the shelf. We’re talking about the real world here.

Rudy is In big trouble and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.

Agree with your assessment of the race, John. But we will probably have Bloomberg and Patrick before long.

Meanwhile, on another planet, Rudy posted then deleted then reposted this tweet: “I came into this at Volker’s request. Sondland is speculating based on VERY little contact. I never met him and had very few calls with him, mostly with Volker. Volker testified I answered their questions and described them as my opinions, NOT demands. I.E., no quid pro quo!”

Were he and the orange ogre separated at birth?

As a slow old man myself, I’m having difficulty reading Twitter and Palmer Report, commenting here and taking in the debate all at one. And I still have Al Jazeera on in the background just in case. Haven’t quite worked out which of the two young women on the right is the Valley Girl :)

Ha! It’s the one in the white shirt.

Yang is a good guy, but I just can’t see him, Castro, Booker (sadly) or the Gabbard thing around for much longer. Realistically, it’s down to three good women, a young gay fellow and two worthy but slightly-past-their-best-by-date old troopers.

John M, Welker is on the right end and Parker is next to her.

I didn’t realize Amy Klobuchar is so short.

Oh that’s either Kristen Welker of MSNBC or Ashley Parker of WaPo.

I do so adore Rachel.

I hope so.

Like New York, huh, Ellen. So good you had to say it twice :)

No, I’m referring to the young woman on the interrogation team. I have no problem with her questions, by the way – just the fact that she effortlessly turns one-syllable words into two syllables.

Big laugh for Andrew Yang saying the first thing he’d tell Putin if he (Yang) wins election is “sorry I beat your guy. Or not sorry.”

When you think about it, this primary season IS, in fact, the 2020 presidential election. If Trump manages he survive the next year, he will be so damaged he’ll be buried under a landslide. If he doesn’t survive, whoever takes his place will be destroyed along with the Republican Party that has been so complicit in the outrageous spectacle we have all been witness to.

I don’t know why my comment posted twice.

You’re probably talking about Tulsi Gabbard.