A 'messy, chaotic and embarrassing' night

CNN Opinion commentators weigh in on the highs and lows of the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina. The views expressed in these commentaries are their own. View more opinion on CNN.

Raul A. Reyes
Tuesday night's debate was somewhere between an episode of "The Jerry Springer Show" and a "Real Housewives" reunion: messy, chaotic and embarrassing for nearly everyone involved. It was inevitable that, as the stakes have grown higher in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, there would be a greater sense of urgency among the candidates to stand out. But that did not mean the event had to devolve into a free-for-all.

It is hard to come up with positive take on this debate, as we've heard most of these candidates' message before. Although former Mayor Michael Bloomberg marginally improved on his disastrous debate debut last week, that's an awfully low bar to clear. Ditto for former Vice President Joe Biden. He was more energetic and passionate than usual, but that did not necessarily make him more effective on stage.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar was absolutely right when she declared that "If we spend the next four months tearing the party apart, we will watch Donald Trump spend the next four years tearing the country apart." There was way too much infighting at this debate, which is troubling given that all of these candidates will have to coalesce around the eventual nominee. Memo to the candidates (or as Bloomberg referred to them, his "fellow contestants"): Your rivals are not the enemy. Trump is the enemy.

There were plenty of low points in this dismal evening. The moderators did a poor job reining in the candidates, allowing them to jump in, seemingly at random, and then cutting them off, just as randomly. The candidates outdid themselves in pandering to African American voters. Bloomberg's attempts at jokes, from kidding about how well he had done at the last debate to name-checking "The Naked Cowboy," were pathetic. The Bloomberg commercial that ran during the debate only served to further the notion that he is trying to buy the nomination.

And once again, the lack of any significant discussion of immigration in a Democratic debate was notable. California and Texas, the two states with the country's largest Latino populations, vote on Super Tuesday -- and so overlooking this critical topic was inexcusable.