The third Democrat debate in Houston, Texas, finally brought the top-tier candidates on the same debate stage. While there were a few squabbles over hot button issues like Medicare for All and ongoing wars, three subjects were, notably, not mentioned during the three-hour event: impeachment, abortion, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) false ancestry claims.
There were a few tense matchups between the ten candidates on the debate stage – Joe Biden (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Beto O’Rourke (D), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Andrew Yang (D), and Julián Castro (D). Early on, Castro questioned Biden’s memory during a heated discussion on health care.
“Are you forgetting what you said already just two minutes ago?” Castro asked after Biden said his healthcare plan would cause Americans to lose their employee health insurance and “automatically … buy into” his plan. Minutes later, he said they would not have to.
“I mean, I can’t believe that you said two minutes ago that they had to buy in, and now, you’re saying they don’t. … You’re forgetting that,” Castro said.
Other notable moments include O’Rourke’s vowing to enact mandatory gun confiscation, Warren’s refusing to say if she would raise taxes on middle class Americans to pay for Medicare for All, and Sanders’ urging the U.S. to focus less on military expenditures and more on bringing the world “together” on climate change.
However, three hot topics were notably absent from the evening’s discussions: impeachment, abortion, and Warren’s false ancestry claims.
Impeachment: Impeachment has been a contentious topic on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee passed a resolution outlining the impeachment inquiry rules, even though the full House has yet to vote. While Democrats are more than 80 votes short of a pro-impeachment majority in the House, chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said a vote will transpire before Democrats choose a Democrat nominee to face President Trump.
“Candidates for the president are going to run on whatever they run on,” Nadler told the Washington Examiner. “By the time of the campaign, the president will or will not have been impeached.”
Despite the buzz on the Capitol and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) constantly fielding questions on her position on the committee’s move, impeachment was not mentioned during the debate.
Abortion: Women’s issues – abortion, specifically – have been a massive talking point for many of the Democrat candidates. The subject became even more prominent following the slew of states enacting pro-life laws this year, and tensions increased as Democrats repeatedly stiff-armed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
Some candidates have been under fire in recent weeks for their hardline stance on abortion. Buttigieg – who considers himself a Christian – made waves last week after suggesting that Scriptures indicate that a baby’s life does not begin until a physical first breath. Sanders also came under fire last week after CNN’s climate change town hall during which he floated population control – via worldwide abortion – as a viable solution to combat the climate change “crisis.”
Despite that, abortion was not mentioned during the three-hour event.
Warren’s ancestry: Warren’s ancestry failed to come up in the third presidential debate, as moderators and candidates refused to grill her on the subject. While Warren mentioned her past – waitressing, going to college, and becoming a special needs teacher – she failed to mention the role her false claims of Native American heritage played.
The presidential hopeful identified as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) deskbook for years and listed herself as a Native American on her Texas Bar registration card. Ultimately, a DNA test found that she had between 1/64th to 1/1,024 Native American ancestry. Even so, her possible connections were not associated with tribal nations in America. Additionally, as Breitbart News reported, Warren has significant ancestral ties to Indian fighters. Specifically, her great-great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Crawford, “served in Major William Lauderdale’s Battalion of Tennessee Volunteer Militia from November 1837 to May 1838, a six month time period during which it fought two battles in Florida against the Seminoles.”
While Warren has apologized for making “mistakes,” she has yet to elaborate on her false claims of Native American heritage, particularly on a debate stage.
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