Bloomberg Under Heavy Attack In Latest Democratic Debate In Las Vegas

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) The ninth nationally televised Democratic presidential debate was a trial by fire for former New York Mayor and multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg, but the two other oldest candidates in the field, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, were energized, confident and effective in the exchanges.

The debate, held in the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday night just days before the Nevada caucuses scheduled for this weekend, was more personally vicious and chaotic than any of the previous ones.

Senator Elizabeth Warren set the tone at the very beginning reminding Bloomberg that he had been alleged as referring to women as "fat broads and horse-faced lesbians."

The quote was actually extracted from a 1990 supposedly humorous booklet compiled by Bloomberg's staff on his alleged jokes and comments.

Democratic frontrunner Sanders also aggressively attacked Bloomberg's record as mayor of New York City

"Mr. Bloomberg had policies in New York City of stop and frisk, which went after African American and Latino people in an outrageous way," said Sanders. "That is not a way you're going to grow voter turnout."

Bloomberg won no significant applause from the audience and had no strong comebacks to the wave of attacks on him,

It was a good night for Warren. Often criticized for presenting unrealistically financed social programs in previous debates, she focused on her two-cent wealth tax proposal on the top 0.1 percent of wealthy Americans.

Warren also won strong applause when South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg repeatedly attacked Senator Amy Klobuchar for forgetting the name of the president of Mexico while boasting of her international experience.

Warren, who has been criticized for her supposedly cold personality and demeanor, came to her fellow lady senator's support and said everyone forgot Names and Buttigieg's focus on it was unwarranted.

Buttigieg, who has relied heavily on his friendly and optimistic image, was also drawn into an ugly personal exchange with an outraged Klobuchar.

"Are you trying to say that I'm dumb," she asked him. He had no ready answer.

It was a poor night for Buttigieg after strong results in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

He received little applause and had poor comebacks when he clashed with Sanders, Klobuchar, Warren and Biden. But NBC commentators tried to talk him up in their post-debate discussion.

Buttigieg accused the surging Sanders of being unelectable and compared him to Bloomberg as being at extremes in the Democratic Party.

"We shouldn't have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out," Buttigieg said.

Biden had very disappointing results in the Iowa caucuses where he finished fourth and even worse in the New Hampshire Primary, the only one to be held so far, where he finished fifth.

However, the Las Vegas debate, Biden was boosted by the most recent NBC poll which showed him as the candidate most favored to beat President Donald Trump. He spoke confidently and effectively.

Biden repeatedly emphasized his achievements as President Barack Obama's vice president in pushing through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare and in provoking the opposition of the National Rifle Association for his efforts on behalf of gun control.

Biden also strong words of criticism for the stumbling Buttigieg.

"He has not managed his city (South Bend) very well when he was there," he said.

Sanders entered the debate surging in support among Democrats across the country, according to polls and he had a very strong night.

Other candidates repeatedly attacked Sanders on the alleged cost of his program for universal health care.

However, Sanders forcefully repeated his core position that the United States alone among major industrialized nations lacked such comprehensive coverage while pointing to the $100 billion a year profits for the US pharmaceutical industry.