Tulsi’s Big Night

Admittedly, I did not watch the debate live.  There are these things called time zones, and I didn’t feel like staying up until the early morning hours just to watch it alone.  I still haven’t seen it, had kind of a busy day, so I’m piecing it together from what people are saying.  I will try to find time to watch them both this weekend.
Of course all my Tulsi friends are saying she totally crushed it, eliminated some guy named Tim Ryan and destroyed his career, and established herself as a major candidate.  I hope it’s true but some of my other friends are saying she just did all right, or ‘she is weird and talks like a robot,’ which I kind of knew what the woman meant but since I actually  like Tulsi’s calm, methodical, and cautious way of talking, I don’t see it as such a scathing comment.
As for the Ryan thing.  Yes, Tulsi did make him look like a bit of an idiot for not knowing the difference between the Taliban and Al Qaeda and having zero clue why we are even in Afghanistan, but in today’s political climate, it takes more than being completely wrong and embarrassingly uninformed to derail someone’s political career, so we’ll see.
Also, even if she ended his campaign, he was one of the fringiest of fringe candidates.
Then there’s the spike in Google hits, which was recorded by FiveThirtyEight.com.  It was quite amazing.  Tulsi Gabbard was the candidate most people were googling during the debates  BY FAR.  Now, part of this, no doubt, is because she’s been the candidate, up till now, that the mainstream media has tried the hardest to ignore.  Well, maybe that will end.
And the Drudge Poll, which showed that their readers thought Tulsi Gabbard won the debate.  She was more than 11 points ahead of Elizabeth Warren.  Of course, that needs to be taken with a grain of salt because, you know, Drudge readers, but it is a sign that Tulsi Gabbard can appeal even to right wingers, and thus will do great among independent voters, both left and right.
No other candidate can say that, except maybe Bernie Sanders.  He’ll speak tonight.