last night's mayoral debate was an NFT. nothing about it was real.
five candidates, all of them the same.
So last night I put on the first televised LA mayoral debate, and immediately regretted it. Protestors right away began shouting at LAPD placeholder Joe Buscaino for existing. The heckling, which was coming from the People’s City Council, kept going, to the point alleged frontrunner Karen Bass compared the protesting to January 6th. Uhh, comparing a bunch of fried QAnoners taking selfies to the Left is a pretty bad take. Meanwhile, the LA Times did not mention Bass’ comments, saying instead, “Bass made no obvious slip-ups or faux pas that might endanger her early lead in the polls.”
Bass also has LAPD brain, and used the phrase "officer-involved shootings,” a public relations term used by police to obscure details of police shootings.
Despite being the “front runner,” according to a recent poll, no one really knows why they want Bass to be mayor. Almost half of likely voters said they don’t know enough about her.
From the beginning, the panel of five candidates to lead a very troubled city were trying really hard, but it was unclear who they were talking to. The politicians all stood there in solidarity, smiling at each other as they got blasted by activists. They knew that in the end, they were really on the same side.
And they all had their book reports ready to go. Homelessness is bad. LA is unaffordable. Commenting on his homelessness policy, Buscaino said, um, “We will have a “no camping” law citywide.” He also went after District Attorney George Gascón: “He’s coddling the criminals…he’s got to go.” Buscaino is definitely the worst of the crowd, the type of serial networker who goes from social event to social event but never remembers your name.
Our boy, City Attorney Mike Feuer, meanwhile, made Joe Biden look like an amped up Tik Toker. Polling at a soft 4 percent, Feuer is fast becoming the Joe Pera ASMR candidate, lulling voters across the city into a deep, much needed sleep. He talked a lot about creating more government agencies with really long titles, and how he is, in fact, the city attorney.
After the Black Lives Matter wave two years ago, no candidate last night committed to reducing the size of the LAPD. Kevin de Leon was the only one who said he would retain the department at current staffing levels. Kevin de Leon…the guy has a cool voice.
Mel Wilson, who this year led a protest over DWP corruption, also seems pretty chill. I hope he brings the issue up.
Things got even more depressing when former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came on Spectrum to campaign for governor, I mean, give his post-debate analysis, which was just, “I thought all the candidates handled themselves well.” Damn dude, that’s a spicy hot take. Be careful what you say.
There are actually over 20 people who have filed intentions to run for mayor, so last night was a pretty narrow view of candidates.
There were no questions or mention of DWP, but I’m going to try and get The Debaser credentialed for the next one.