Kamala Harris came out strong at Wednesday night’s debate, with Joe Biden shaking her hand and asking her to go easy on him. Not that we’re huge fans of Tulsi Gabbard, but it was really, really satisfying to watch Harris get the wind knocked out of her sails by Gabbard, who pressed her on her record as a prosecutor and attorney general.

Gabbard nailed her with facts, which Harris dismissed as “fancy opinions on a stage” and refused to address. Harris really laid low for the remainder of the debate; the momentum and swagger were gone.

But Gabbard has plenty of baggage of her own, such as her meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017. But didn’t Assad attack his own people with chemical weapons? Gabbard says we’ll never know for sure because President Trump went in and bombed all the evidence.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is 'skeptical' that the Assad regime was behind the chemical weapons attack https://t.co/iIX2bJiiK1 pic.twitter.com/ApjFnaJrvg — The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) April 8, 2017

Gabbard was called out on her visit with Assad on MSNBC Thursday and dodged the question, saying it sounded like a talking point from the Harris campaign.

1. @yasminv is a total pro and accusing her of asking questions based on another campaign's talking points is quite unhelpful Questions about Gabbard and Syria persist because almost every time she's asked about al-Assad she waffles. CNN interview last night was perfect example https://t.co/s9foTQgNXJ — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) August 1, 2019

2. There's a bizarre sort of reasoning when it comes to criticizing Al-Assad sharply and from the start. That somehow by doing that, one is a war monger. You can say someone is evil without going to war with them. — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) August 1, 2019

How many times has "that's an X talking point" been used to shut down a debate in the past three days? https://t.co/oHuUFpCyJQ — Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 1, 2019

It's a GOP talking point to insist that it's an Assad talking point for Gabbard to accuse MSNBC of using Kamala Harris talking points — Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 1, 2019

This is a good question, and we should have a conversation about this in coming months — Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 1, 2019

It's the political equivalent of "That's a clown question, bro" — Jeff Halm (@jeffhalm) August 1, 2019

So let me get this straight. Tulsi Gabbard brings up things in Kamala Harris’s past that she wants & demands answers for but when someone asks her about something in her own past Tulsi Gabbard can’t handle it & says because it happened 3 years ago it doesn’t count or some shit? — Shark (@intheboombox) August 1, 2019

Looks like Gabbard doesn’t do too well on the defensive either! — Lynn (@lynnrusso88) August 1, 2019

Wow. She's so terrible she has to deflect. Gross — dracarysbygrace (@dadabygrace) August 1, 2019

And yet, at the same time, Dems say any question they don’t like is a “Repub talking point”. Julian Castro accused Jeh Johnson of using a “Repub talking point” re open borders last night. Jeez — judy (@judy060709) August 1, 2019

Yep, every “attack” on another Democrat’s record and ever uncomfortable question from a moderator was just repeating a “Republican talking point.”

Pretty funny that she keeps evading a question about her record by claiming that the objective is to have Harris evade questions about her record. — Dave Bowman (@DaveBow62310286) August 1, 2019

A theory emerges:

All NBC in Harris column, with money and airtime. — Carl Cottingham (@cottinghamcarl) August 1, 2019

All female msnbc mouthpieces are for Harris, it’s blatant — onivasa (@Onivasa316) August 1, 2019

MSNBC sure sounds like they have their candidate. Kamala. Sad sad sad — AmericanVeteran&Patriot (@eddie9691) August 1, 2019

Gabbard doesn’t stand a chance anyway. Harris might actually have a shot, but that’s looking doubtful after Wednesday night’s debate. But if the two want to tear each other apart, we’ll bring the popcorn.

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