The Irish Examiner View: Race to the bottom

It’s difficult but not impossible to see this year’s race to the White House becoming a more puerile spectacle than the one that was on show this past week.

Seven Democratic presidential contenders took the stage in Charleston on Tuesday for a debate that within minutes sank into a two-hour shouting match on which the moderators were either unwilling or unable to impose order. With tickets costing from $1,750 to $3,200, (€1,590 to €2,908) there must have been some who left the auditorium thinking the money would have been better spent on the best seats at a Broadway show.

For those watching at home, the big turn-off moment was probably the point at which Mike Bloomberg said Vladimir Putin wished to see Donald Trump re-elected and therefore wanted Bernie Sanders to get the Democratic nomination … the reasoning being that no sane American would vote to put a 78-year-old self-avowed Socialist — the country’s answer to Britain’s mega-loser, Jeremy Corbyn — in the Oval Office.

In India, meanwhile, Mr Trump could not turn down the opportunity offered by Harvey Weinstein’s conviction to chuck muck at the Democrats: “The people that liked him are the Democrats. Michelle Obama loved him … Hillary Clinton loved him. He gave a lot of money to the Democrats.”If this is how it’s starting, we ain’t seen nothing yet!