The Fifth Democratic Debate Showed the Value of Female Moderators
It also proved, once again, that Joe Biden can’t keep his foot out of his mouth.
It feels hard now to remember a time when Democrats weren’t debating each other. Wednesday night was the fifth debate of the 2020 primary, and there will be seven more to go. Still, even though most of the candidates and talking points are more than familiar by now, Wednesday’s debate was much less painful than usual. Probably not coincidentally, all of the moderators were women: Andrea Mitchell, Rachel Maddow, Ashley Parker, and Kristen Welker.
If you were looking for a feminist sisterhood circle, or a forum on gender in America, this was not it. The moderators were sometimes frustratingly slow to ask about gender politics. They waited until three quarters through the debate to ask about abortion. Though the debate took place on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, there were no questions about what the candidates would do if elected to protect transgender rights.
There was also no big fanfare around the moderators’ gender. They just set about quietly excelling at their jobs. As a result, this debate was miles quicker and more substantive than the last few have been: There were no 15-minute fights about health care, no roundabouts in which each…
