Last NH debate

[opebo]

Of course Lieberman 'won' the debate.  He's the only Democratic candidate that's fully reasonable, rational, and honest.  To Kerry's credit, he's perfectly sane, just a closed-minded left wing elitist.  Dean and Clark are outright loons.  Edwards on the other hand is a Clinton clone - a slimy, trumped up fraud.  The only distinction is he's nowhere near as intelligent, and is further to the left.  During the debate, and in fact all public appearances I've seen of the man, he seems like a bad, hammy actor.

[opebo]

...And a Lieberman/Edwards ticket, with those in either order, would be hard to stop even for Bush. I might even vote for it, especially if Joe heads it. They are the only candidates who consistently advocate a fairly aggressive and pro-democracy foreign poicy, compared to Kerry and Clark's James Baker policy of 'stability' over freedom, and Dean's incoherent mutterings. That scores with people like me.

From today's NY Times, about Lieberman:
"He is a man, he often argues, who can build a coalition broader than the Democratic base in order to defeat President Bush. 'We beat him by running as an independent, center-out Democrat,' he says. 'You unite the party and then pick up support from independents and even from some disgruntled moderate Republicans.' Describing himself as 'a bridge-builder,' he adds that when the party won the national election in 1992, Bill Clinton 'worked from the center out and so that's what I intend to do again.' "

Looks like that approach works for at least one Republican in this forum, and probably more than one.

DEMOCRATS: THIS IS THE GUY!

Of course any Republican is going to find Lieberman the least offensive of the Dems - but its a huge stretch from there to voting for the man over GW.  No, Republican support of Bush is rock solid.  Winning independents is not going to be accomplished by decency and substance (Lieberman).  They're more likely to be swayed by the flash and good looks of an Edwards.

[opebo]

Opebo, I am a little surprised by this. You have always struck me as one of the most realistic Reps in the forum, despite your far right winged views, you are usually able to make unbiased predictions and analyses. But this post on the debate seems a little too Republican in perspective...of course Lieberman looks best to you, he does to all Republicans.

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Well thanks for the 'realistic' compliment.  Its true I vented my spleen a bit in the above posting.  I just feel bad for Lieberman and dislike the others.  A more dispassionate analysis would be Kerry won, and Lieberman did well but couldn't win because he's too moderate for a Democrat audience.  I'm honestly not very good at figuring out how the viewers will respond to debates - its very much about personality.