Divisions On Display
 
The "moderates" in the Democrat Party may have made their last stand last night. 
Two Washington Post headlines put it well:
 
"In Contentious Democratic Debate, Deep Divisions On Health Care Separate Liberals And Moderates"
 
"Evolution Or Revolution? Democrats' Ideological Divisions Broke Into The Open In Their Detroit Brawl"
 
MSNBC's Chris Matthews tweeted, "It's clear that tonight was a debate between the left and the center of the Democratic Party."
 
Bullock, Delaney, Klobuchar and Ryan did their best to push back against the party's progressive leaders.  The candidates' opening statements set the stage for the next two and a half hours.
 
Montana Governor Steve Bullock said that last month's debate looked like politicians "outdoing each other with wish-list economics." 
 
John Delaney warned about "free everything and impossible promises," and recalled the ghosts of vanquished liberals McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis.
 
Tim Ryan began by rejecting the extremism of the left and declared, "America is great." 
 
John Hickenlooper pitched pragmatism over progressivism.  And even Marianne Williamson seemed to distance herself from calls to ban private health insurance.
 
That said, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders more than held their own. 
 
Sanders clearly understood that he did not perform well in the June debate.  Last night, he was feisty and eager to show that he was still a serious contender.  Warren was aggressive and assertive. 
 
And it was very telling that last night's biggest applause lines came whenever Warren or Sanders slapped down the moderates for being timid or insufficiently progressive.
 
The second half of the Democrat primary field will take the stage tonight at 8:00 PM ET.  The candidates participating in tonight's debate are: 

• Sen. Michael Bennet
• Former Vice President Joe Biden
• Sen. Cory Booker
• Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
• Sen. Kamala Harris
• Gov. Jay Inslee
• Businessman Andrew Yang

 
  
The Gospel of Socialism
 
In virtually every major public policy debate, the left often tells Christians, "Keep your religion to yourself."  But one of the candidates last night seemingly suggested that doubling the minimum wage was a kind of Christian "litmus test." 
 
I must be reading from a different Bible.  Jesus was not a socialist.  The Gospel of Jesus is not the gospel of Karl Marx.  Jesus loves investors as much as He loves the homeless.  Nor was Jesus a fan of big government.  The big government of His day (Rome) greased the skids to crucify Him. 
 
There is not one verse where Jesus calls on government to obey the Ten Commandments.  He does not call on government to minister to the poor. 
 
All of His exhortations are directed to Christians.  He said if you have money, share it with the poor.  He did not say, "If you are a Christian legislator, take money from others and give it to the poor." 
 
Jesus is not Robin Hood and that's not Christian charity.  That's communism, which kills Christian charity because it first robs people of their own money and choices, and it has also killed millions around the world because it also robs them of their freedom.
 
 
 
Progressive Anti-Semitism
 
During a recent radio interview with Ibrahim "Ebro" Darden, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended Palestinian violence against Israel. 
 
Darden asked AOC, "What's going on with Israel and Palestine?  While it's very, very deep, it is very, very criminal, and it is very, very unjust."  Ocasio-Cortez answered:
 
"Absolutely.  I think, too, where we're at as a country when it comes to Israel-Palestine is very much a generational issue. . .
 
"I believe that injustice is a threat to the safety of all people, because once you have a group that is marginalized and marginalized and marginalized — once someone doesn't have access to clean water, they have no choice but to riot, right?  And it doesn't have to be that way."
 
Israel is not marginalizing the Palestinian people.  Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the corrupt Palestinian Authority are marginalizing the Palestinian people. 
 
Meanwhile, President Trump's remarks in Williamsburg, Virginia, yesterday were interrupted by a demonstrator who yelled, "You can't send us back! Virginia is our home!"  He was holding a sign that read "Deport Hate" and "Reunite My Family."
 
It turns out that the demonstrator is a state legislator, Del. Ibraheem Samirah. 
 
Prior to getting elected to the Virginia House of Delegates earlier this year, Samirah volunteered for Rashida Tlaib's campaign and was active in the radical group Students for Justice in Palestine. 
 
Samirah has a history of making anti-Semitic statements, and his father, Sabri Ibrahim Samirah, was once banned from the United States by the Bush Administration as a threat to national security.