2nd Democratic Debate, Night 2 – Detroit, MI
Analysis
As was earlier mentioned on The Week website, CNN wasted viewers’ time by taking very nearly 30 minutes before the first question was asked, which was in stark contrast to NBC News’ first question within 60 seconds. And then, after an elaborate opening, they went directly to a commercial break, which was followed by candidates’ opening remarks.
CNN pitted the candidates against each other by baiting. The lead question was directed at Senator Harris which attacked Biden and her M4A (Medicare for All) plan.
The candidates’ positions, for the greatest part, were quite similar, and CNN’s efforts were to attack the presumptive leader, which in that night was Biden.

There were 117 so-called “questions” (opportunities for verbal exchange) lobbed by CNN at the 10 candidates, the first 10 of those 117 are:
1.) Senator Harris, this week you released a new health care plan which would preserve private insurance and take 10 years to phase in. Vice President Biden’s campaign calls your plan, quote, “a have-it-every-which-way approach” and says it’s just part of a confusing pattern of equivocating about your health care stance. What do you say to that?
2.) Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator Harris. Vice President Biden, your response.
3.) Your response, Senator Harris?
4.) Senator Harris, thank you. Vice President Biden, your response?
5.) Thank you, Senator Harris. Mayor de Blasio, let’s bring you in here. What’s your response?
6.) Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Vice President Biden, you just heard Mayor de Blasio. He said in the past that Democrats who wanted to keep the private insurance industry are defending a health care system that is not working. What’s your response?
7.) Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Senator Gillibrand, you support Medicare for All. How do you feel about Senator Harris continuing to call her health proposal Medicare for All, when it includes a far more significant role for private insurance than the bill you co-sponsored?
8.) Thank you, Senator Gillibrand. Senator Harris, your response?
9.) Thank you, Senator Harris. Vice President Biden, your response?
10.) Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you. Senator Booker, let me bring you in here. You say you support Medicare for All. You also say you are not going to pull private health insurance from more than 150 million Americans in exchange for a government plan, but that’s what Medicare for All would do. How do you square that?
Within those opening questions/exchanges, former Vice President Biden was mentioned by CNN 12 times, either by surname, by title, or combination of the two. The runner-up was Read the rest of this entry »
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