Walter Shapiro

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

National security doesn’t produce conflict or goose ratings. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@Bencjacobs @maggieNYT @katherinemiller Or later if CNN thinks more conflict will be good for ratings. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I am getting to the point that I am beginning to think that Fox News would do a better job than this debate. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

If you drive around downtown, the improvement over the last decade are stunning. Still there are major problems, but Detroit is no longer a metaphor for irreversible decline. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Ryan gets points for criticizing head-to-head polls 16 months before the election. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Best line of the night. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@shapiromichael I can understand why. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@KrisSchultzNH @NickKristof Golly. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I have a fantasy — that someday a Democratic candidate will be allowed to finish an answer. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

CNN is wondering if ratings would be higher with 3-section answers. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @ktumulty: These time limits on their answers are ridiculous. #DemDebate — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

This is the “Thank you, senator” and”your time has expired” debate. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Given the huge deficits from the Trump tax cuts, the “will you raise taxes on the middle class” question loses its relevance and its potency. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I love that Marianne Williamson used “actualized” as a verb and denounced a “false God.” — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Nothing like an ad break before the candidates get to say a word. Classic CNN 2019. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @richardwolffedc: The least presidential thing about this debate? The sheer drama. The drums. The walk-ons. By the time this intro is do… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

The “spin room” in Detroit is so small that post-debate it may be impossible to physically spin around. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

If you review and answer one unread email per minute (and you forgo sleep, meals or bathing), you get through all four email boxes in something like seven weeks. If I were you, I'd start right now. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@JillDLawrence I set up an entirely new email box for covering the 2020 campaign and it's already nearly unusable. And I still can't get the Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders press releases to switch over to my new address. Arrgh. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@JennyLynBader I'm humbled. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@MarkLeibovich Not only is this not Williamson's "first rodeo." It isn't even her "first seance." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I am dreading what will happen to my inbox during tonight's debate. Yikes. Fact-checks and viral moments from 10 campaigns. Plus, all the interest groups that weigh in when their pet issue (say, cauliflower) is mentioned. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @BuzzFeedBen: Remarkably absent from the report of @jheil's new project: The name Mark Halperin https://t.co/twEJlfeBED — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Even as a sometime skeptic of lists like this and a constant skeptic of Marianne Williamson, I felt so rewarded with the revelation about the only spiritual guru in the Democratic race. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@KennethBaer All true. But it is very hard to guess the political expectations surrounding a Democratic president in 2021 who probably be dealing with massive resistance from Mitch McConnell. And, I believe it is premature to guess how Medicare for All might play with Trump on the ballot. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@TopherSpiro Yes, the more that the Affordable Care Act is perceived as working, the lower down on a new Democratic president's priority list would be massive health-care changes. Probably the safest 2021 bet would be small incremental tinkers to Obamacare. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DavidZavac @jmartNYT I was referring to the mandate, which was treated in 2007 as a major deal-breaking difference between Obama and Hillary. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Just a pre-debate reminder that any health-care plan proposed by a Democratic president in 2021 will probably be significantly different from what they will be talking about in Detroit. For examples, see Obama, Barack and Clinton, Bill. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

This is so important. CNN is reaping an advertising bonanza from the debates. So if the DNC had held the debates themselves, they would have gotten saturation coverage from the cable networks with none of the CNN over-the-top game-show craziness. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Late-night theory of this week's debates that may be withdrawn in the morning light: Maybe you don't have to attack somebody else to score a breakthrough. Maybe being smart, witty and actually funny might be enough. — PolitiTweet.org