When it comes to dealing with the media, running as a Democrat is simply easier than running as a Republican.
Whereas journalists are naturally suspicious of everything Republicans say, they tend to lack healthy skepticism when it comes to Democratic claims. Just to give a quick example of this, when the New York Times ran a predebate fact check on Pete Buttigieg going into the debate, it failed to list any of his factually dubious claims, except for those that directly criticize other Democratic candidates.
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So tonight, the NBC/MSNBC moderators in Las Vegas have a chance to pin down the leading Democratic candidates on issues where either they’ve been slippery with the facts or where their extreme views haven’t been challenged. There are plenty, but here are the three most important.
1) You keep saying the Trump-era economy has not worked for the average American or the working man. Why do you say this, given that unemployment is very low, men are reentering the workforce in impressive numbers, and wages are not only rising, but rising fastest for the bottom quartile of workers?
Buttigieg loves to say recent economic gains are good for the wealthy but that the money doesn’t end up on regular people’s kitchen tables. Tom Steyer, who won’t be in tonight’s debate, makes the same assertion, claiming that today’s economy works only for “the 1%.” Elizabeth Warren claimed at one point that the current economy was only good for wealthy investors in private prison, drug, and oil stocks — a claim that was false in every possible way.
The data show that the bottom quartile of earners is seeing more wage gains than any of the higher quartiles. Inflation is low, and wages are rising across the board. Unemployment is incredibly low — significantly lower than economists once believed possible. Out-of-work men are rejoining the labor force.
Moderators should ask the candidates to justify their specific claims about the economy.
2) Do you think Jack Phillips, Catholic hospitals that won’t perform abortion, and the Little Sisters of the Poor are simply using their “religion as an excuse” to harm people, as Pete Buttigieg puts it? Or do you think there are serious conscience objections that the government should respect?
The Democratic field is pretty extreme in its opposition to religious liberty. Candidates not only oppose any accommodation for conscience rights, they assert flatly that such claims are dishonest cover stories for rank bigotry or attempts to harm gays and women.
The candidates’ extremism on these issues should be flushed out so that voters of faith know what to expect if any of these Democrats becomes president.
3) Do you worry that anti-Semitism is a growing force in the Democratic Party?
Every Republican is always asked to account for the most racially insensitive or racist comments by any Republican congressman. Democrats should be called on to address the open flirtation with anti-Semitism by Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
These questions would enlighten the public on important issues and press candidates on their factual slipperiness.
