Democrat debate: Save the black folk

Since I filed this column, three "contestants" -- Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar --have departed the game show stage.

Watching Tuesday night's South Carolina Democratic debate was rather fascinating. Actually, it was more of a cross between nauseating and irritating. By irritating, I mean like skin irritating -- kind of made me itch -- in between laughs.

Yep, it's all kind of comical. Comical, yet sad at the same time. All the hand-raising -- "Pick me! Pick me!" -- reminded me of my years as a teacher in the junior high classroom. The F-bomb by Sen. Amy Klobuchar was similar to what I've been told goes on in a barroom. Let's not forget Pete Buttigieg, who always comes across like he's in the courtroom -- you know, judge, jury, and prosecutor rolled into one, the smartest man in the room, whose wisdom everyone else needs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, well, she just radiates rage, like she's about to emerge from the locker room to pound her boxing opponent. And Bernie, he's in the waiting room because he needs his head examined if he thinks his vision for a socialist America is best for the country. Mike Bloomberg looks like he'd rather be anywhere but in the room at all, and it's obvious that he's every candidate's target. Furthermore, he's just not a good debater, though he had some strong audience support and performed better than his previous debate -- but that was an easy bar to reach.

What do I have to say about Joe "I Beat the NRA Twice" Biden and Tom "Climate Change" Steyer? Nothing really. Sorry.

Back to Warren. The angry accusation she leveled against Bloomberg -- that he told an employee to "kill it" when he learned she was pregnant -- was a serious one. However, given the Democrats' position on abortion and even infanticide, I found her anger mere hype and, of course, most hypocritical. My guess is she took exception to his audacity to tell a woman what to do rather than opposition to what would happen to the baby if she did it, but that's just a guess -- based on the Democrats' own platform and her own advocacy. For the record, he denied the allegation.

Though the candidates fought to set themselves apart from the other "contestants," as Bloomberg called them -- which, by the way, might be the most accurate description of these game show participants -- there was one area in which they jelled. You know what that is. It's the same area in which politicians on the left always find agreement at election time: saving the black folk. Like I said, it's comical. These folks scratch and claw to be the No. 1 proponent for the black community -- raising their hands to give the answer that's going to endear them more and more to a people they haven't managed to truly help -- evah! But, boy, don't they do their best to make it sound like they do? Whom do they think they're fooling? Why black folks even entertain their nonsense is beyond me. Why they (I say "they" 'cause I ain't fooled) remain loyal to a party that only sweet talks them, I don't know. I've said this countless times, and so say I again: "Stop 'helping' us." Your condescension is oozing, and your faux election season pandering is insulting. First of all, your "poor black folks" ideology is sickening -- and it was on high display Tuesday night. I don't deny racism, and I don't deny hardship, but I do reject a victim mentality that Democrats as a party sought to establish and desire to maintain -- so they'll have that eternal voting bloc by bamboozling blacks into the delusion that they have our best interests in heart. I don't believe it. But a random observer would have seen something different Tuesday night, would have seen a mad dash to be the first, second, third ... person to craft the catchiest "We love black people. Let us rescue you" statement. It would have been flattering if not so phony.

How many more months of this charade do we have? This stuff is either "must-see TV" or "avoid at all costs." I ran into a few in both categories on social media as we laughed and scratched while discussing the folks on stage who somehow -- scarily -- bought into the naivete their well-meaning mommas told them when they were kids: "You know, you could even be President of the United States one day."

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member.