Debate Blogging

The ABC This Week Democratic debate just ended. I watched it with what started as a critical eye, set to pick apart the minutiae. Then I remembered that there are a gazillion blogs that will be doing that, so I’m just going to give my overall perceptions of each candidate.

I can’t really put my finger on it, but Barack Obama is like the guy from high school you wanted desperately to go out with, but once you went out with him, it turned out he does nothing for you. He's supposed to be perfect, so why is there no zip? Ladies? Know what I mean here? He presents himself very well, he has some good things to say, they are just so scripted it’s dizzying. Or they strike me that way, at least.

Hillary, too, is well scripted and polished and on-message. Of course, being able to control a message the way she does is a good quality in a lot of ways when it comes to selecting a president. She seems to be flirting with an apology for her vote on the AUMF.

John Edwards is forthright with his apology, and that plays well in a country that is sick to death of this war. He seemed to hit a lot of the right notes, and at times seemed downright presidential. At other times, he seems to flirt with schmaltz and that makes me roll my eyes.

Joe Biden amuses me. He always has, actually. I’m not sure what he is running for, certainly not president, most likely a cabinet position, and I think that would be just fine and dandy.

Chris Dodd is having a blast! He is having more fun than any candidate on the stage. That is because he might as well just come out and say “Hey, I’m running for Secretary of State!” And if we can’t get Bill Clinton, then Chris Dodd would be a good alternative.

Mike Gravel is clearly nuts. In his lucid moments, he says some things that need to be said, and makes some sense. But the rest of the time – that is to say most of the time – he’s the crazy uncle that you were afraid would send your significant other running for the exits when they met him. After one of his outbursts of unspeakable truth, my husband said “He’s insane. I love him.”

Dennis Kucinich – what the hell? He sure does say a lot of the things I want to hear, damn him anyway. Why does the Rob Schneider candidate have to be the one getting so much right?

Finally – as you know if you have looked at the side bar, I am supporting Richardson in the primary. That is because he comes right out and says in plain English that he will restore the Constitution, Habeas Corpus and the Fourth Amendment. And damnit, that is the most important thing. I trust him to end the war, I trust him to negotiate first and give diplomacy it’s proper due. He simply has the best resume. His presentation needs a little tweaking, but his message is right. If he isn’t on the ticket, I would prefer him in a diplomatic role. In fact, he falls between Bill Clinton and Chris Dodd on my short list for Secretary of State.

It’s early, the first vote has yet to be cast. But any one of the candidates on the stage – Gravel included – would do a better job of governing than the slavering authoritarians on the other side that would just finish scrapping the Constitution and the ideals that make us Americans.

The. Best. Campaign. Ads. Ever.

If you haven't seen this yet, get all liquids away from your monitor.






Haven't we all been interviewed by an empowered idiot?

Meantime, I think I'm about to commit to a primary candidate...

Round One: EDWARDS

If you haven't been keeping tabs on the kerfuffle about FAUX News and the Democratic primary debate in Nevada, well...there was one. But it's pretty much over, and Edwards won it.


Here's the deal - the Democratic Party in Nevada originally - inexplicably - booked FAUX News to host the Democratic primary debate in that state. That got the lefty-blogs up in mother-fuckin' arms. John Edwards (already in trouble with the blogosphere because of going wobbly in the face of the Wonkette/Shakes Sister criticism) pulled out of the debate. Pressure began mounting on other candidates to do the same, but FAUX - probably scared shitless of getting caught with their pants down and losing half the slate and being exposed for the partisan hacks they are - pulled out.

The purpose of a debate is to present the candidates. There is no reason to believe that FAUX
would present the candidates in an unbiased journalistic manner. As evidence I offer the following exchange between Fred Barnes and Mort Kondrake when FAUX hosted a presidential debate in 2004: (Hattip Digby for digging up the transcript)

FRED BARNES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "WEEKLY STANDARD": Not really. Maybe Al Sharpton. It makes a difference when Sharpton's there. It was much livelier debate, as a result. That's for sure. He wasn't there in New Mexico last week, although Lieberman was livelier tonight than he's been before and so on.

So, it was a zippier debate but, I think, uneventful in the outcome of the Democratic presidential fight.

I think Democrats have one problem in these debates and that is they talk about an America, they criticize what's going on and they create a picture of an America that I think most people don't recognize, you know. It's an America where the Patriot Act is creating a police state and where, as Al Sharpton said, soldiers come home and they can't get an education, they can't get a house, you know. They can't get a job or anything like that.

You know, there's this health care crisis that is ruining the country and we're involved in another Vietnam. And people in Florida are denied the right to vote. I don't think most Americans recognize that as the real America.

MORT KONDRACKE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "ROLL CALL": Obviously, they are not appealing to the whole of America. What they are trying to do is to appeal to the Democratic primary voter. And the way that you appeal most to Democratic primary voters is to beat up on George Bush.

I mean, practically anytime anybody asked a substantive question they had a little bit of an answer about what they would do, you know, on the subject, but the rest of it was an attack on what George Bush has not done or failed to do or lied about or et cetera, et cetera.

And it's because the Democratic primary core voters are so enraged at George Bush that they have to -- you know, they have to feed that beast.

And the most -- the best example of this is Joe Lieberman, who's probably the most moderate of them all and constantly is waving the bloody shirt of Florida, you know, that black voters were disenfranchised, were prevented from going to the polls in Florida, et cetera, et cetera. It's replaying the sore of the 2000 election.

So, you know, that's what this is all about. This was not an attempt to appeal to the average voter.

Roger Ailes threw a hissy fit. "Who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake" and "runs a real risk of losing the voters." I shrugged. So FAUX has been called out, and now they commence with the bluster.

Fuck off, Fox. It ain't playin' in Peoria any longer.

They aren't balanced, they are biased. They aren't news, they are propaganda. Their newscasts stay as close to the party line as ITAR/TASS did in the old Soviet Union.

They are openly hostile to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates; and the person who had that brilliant notion to book them to host the debate should clean out their desk.

But god-damnit, riddle me this Batman...

Why the fuck would anyone in the state Democratic Party even consider letting FAUX have a chance to tear down all of our candidates en masse?

If I knew the identity of that genius, I'd have a Wanker of the Week.

Instead, in Edwards, we have a strong contender for Mensch of the Month.