On multiple occasions throughout CNN’s post-Democratic debate analysis late Saturday night, liberal CNN commentator and Atlantic writer Peter Beinart dared to step out and criticize Hillary Clinton for her debate performance on foreign policy and the Democratic Party as a whole for being “very vague” and “nonspecific” on an issue where “polls show people trust Republicans.”
In the first few moments after the analysis commenced, host Wolf Blitzer asked him about how Clinton did on gun control questions and while he did respond that he thought she “did well” on that, he actually wanted to talk about her invoking of 9/11 as spurring her donations from those on Wall Street.
Beinart declared that her comments will “resonate” for some time (in a bad way) and “it plays into the stereotypes, the stereotypes — the negative stereotypes that people have of her.” He then slammed it as “a canned, political answer and it reminds Democrat of just why they don't like about Republicans which is bringing up 9/11 in order to justify thing that can't be justified in other ways.”
Fellow political commentator and former Clinton adviser Patti Solis Doyle not surprisingly tried to spin the sequence as a point where she did well:
I think she won the debate on banking, but I do think that the 9/11 reference was probably better used when she was talking about terrorism. She was senator when the 9/11 attacks happened. She was the senator when we needed to rebuild that city and it would have been more powerful talking about terrorism in that context.
Less than 10 minutes later, Beinart turned his concerns to the Democratic Party as a whole with the admission that “as a liberal,” he was “concerned as a Democrat about the entire terrorism part of this debate” because the Republicans are much more organized and coherent on it:
The Republican line, whatever you think about it, is very clear. It's that we left Iraq, the terrorists filled the vacuum, we've retreated from the world. Now, they're going after us. I would be darned to listen to all three of those candidates and discern a clear Democratic line of how you're actually going to fight terrorism.
Further blasting Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders as being “very vague, very nonspecific,” Beinart declared that “they have a lot of work to do” and “[i]f terrorism is going to be a major, major issue in this election, the polls show people trust Republicans on it, they're going to have to do better.”
Beinart eventually turned back to pitfalls the former secretary of state could face against any possible Republican in a general election match-up: “[S]he's going to have to run the campaign being linked to both the Iraq War and the Libya war. Both wars that have turned out very badly and I think that's going to be tough.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from CNN’s Democratic Debate Special on November 14 can be found below.
CNN’s Democratic Debate Special
November 14, 2015
11:07 p.m. Eastern
PETER BEINART: Umm, yeah, I thought she also did well on gun control, but I think this answer on 9/11 is going to — one that's going to resonate. I would be surprised if she repeats it. I think it plays into the stereotypes, the stereotypes — the negative stereotypes that people have of her. It was a canned, political answer and it reminds Democrat of just wh they don't like about Republicans which is bringing up 9/11 in order to justify thing that can't be justified in other ways.
(....)
11:14 p.m. Eastern
BEINART: I actually think that I would — and I say this as a liberal. I would be concerned as a Democrat about the entire terrorism part of this debate. The Republican line, whatever you think about it, is very clear. It's that we left Iraq, the terrorists filled the vacuum, we've retreated from the world. Now, they're going after us. I would be darned to listen to all three of those candidates and discern a clear Democratic line of how you're actually going to fight terrorism. They were very vague, very nonspecific and I think they have a lot of work to do. If terrorism is going to be a major, major issue in this election, the polls show people trust Republicans on it, they're going to have to do better.
(....)
11:21 p.m. Eastern
BEINART: She has the — she's going to have to run the campaign being linked to both the Iraq War and the Libya war. Both wars that have turned out very badly and I think that's going to be tough.
