What Went Down At The December Democratic Primary Debate

Sanders gets a question on Israel, which has become an increasingly controversial political issue, particularly on the left. He went right after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying he’s a “racist.” This is really a third-rail issue and I’m a little surprised the moderators asked about it.

In response to a question about American policy toward Israel, Sanders called himself “proudly Jewish.” One notable thing about this campaign is how much more he talks about his biography — he never talked about that before a couple of months ago. I have to think it has something to do with the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S.

Yeah, Sanders almost never makes big screw-ups in debates, and I don’t think that it was a big screw-up, but it was at least a modest one. If you’re going to use your time to go back to an earlier question, you’d better make sure that you’re not sounding dismissive of the new issue you were asked about.