Tonight's Democratic Debate Thread

[Sensei]

I guess i'll have to catch it some other time. I wonder if they'll show it on C-Span.

[7,052,770]

Following Killary's "Bring the troops home" response

!No, she's Pro-War!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[/eraserhead, etc.]

[MODU]

Not a bad debate.  First of all, the questions and the moderation were far superior to those of MSNBC.  I'm sorry, but MSNBC's democratic debate has been the worse so far of all debates, and they should be ashamed of that.  As far as the format goes, the format did allow for a better dialogue and actual debate on the topics, but with no time moderation, some of the candidates were short-changed and therefore didn't get a fair chance to answer the questions.  Lastly, here is how I ranked the performances:

1 - Biden
2 - Killary
3 - Edwards
4 - Obama
5 - Richardson
6 - Gravel
7 - Dodd
8 - Dennis

[Eraserhead]

I guess i'll have to catch it some other time. I wonder if they'll show it on C-Span.

No but I'm sure CNN will run it again later tonight or something.

[12th Doctor]

I love Gravel... he'll say almost anything to grap a soundbite.

As usual, half of them didn't really answer a single question.

[Eraserhead]

Following Killary's "Bring the troops home" response

!No, she's Pro-War!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[/eraserhead, etc.]

She is.

[Eraserhead]

Oh great...now we get to see Larry King and that monsterous cranium of his bug Elizabeth Edwards about how long she has to live. I can't stand this freak.

[Eraserhead]

Clinton's spin doctor seems pretty defensive.

[MODU]

Clinton's spin doctor seems pretty defensive.

Yeah, he answers questions as well as she does.

[Akno21]

I liked Richardson's answer to the budget question - "We've got to grow the economy".

[TheresNoMoney]

I thought the first hour was great, the 2nd hour was mediocre.

The health care section of the debate was the most specific and informative.

[Eraserhead]

I thought the first hour was great, the 2nd hour was mediocre.

I agree.

[TheresNoMoney]

I still won't vote for her, but I think Hillary did very well in this debate.

Obama was very strong in the 1st hour and somewhat weak during the 2nd hour.

[Sam Spade]

Hmmm...  Not much difference from the first debate in my mind. 

My one piece of advice to Democratic candidates other than Hillary and Biden for the most part:  Tighten your responses.  Even if you're not going to answer the question.  For example, most of the time Edwards and Obama were so meandering and vague, they lost me after the first 10 seconds.  I cannot stress this enough. 

I thought Biden was the best, simply b/c he was the only one (well, probably Gravel too) on the stage who exuded some form of passion.  Second, his answers were for the most part clear and to the point.

Hillary finished a strong second.  Her robotic debate style can be kind of annoying, and she should stop laughing.  But after Edwards simply punted the last question, she gave the stock-in-trade, but correct answer and got the points.  In a debate like this, where there were no major exchanges or memorable lines, the first and last points are often the most important. (e.g. Obama's first answer was pretty much terrible; fortunately, he got better)

The other six candidates are harder to distinguish in terms of quality, b/c none stood out that strongly in my mind.  The beginning Edwards/Obama flourish was perhaps the most entertaining part of the debate, and was probably the best part of the debate for both candidates.  Overall, I say Edwards performed worse than Obama, simply b/c his last answer was so vague and wishy-washy, it simply left a bad taste in my mouth.

Richardson needs to learn to stop answering every question with, "As governor of New Mexico,..."  Dodd was ok, but nothing special, and in order to get out of the last tier, you need to be something special.  Kucinich was being Dennis Kucinich and Gravel was simply looking for soundbites (I do agree with that).

Oh, and I thought Wolf Blitzer was a fairly good moderator, all told.

[Eraserhead]

There are internet polls going on at Drudge Report and Dailykos... not that they mean much but here are links for anyone interested.


Obama has a huge lead here.
http://drudgereport.com/

Edwards and Obama are very close together here (and Clinton is doing better than she usually does here).
http://dailykos.com/

[TheresNoMoney]

I wish they would discuss economic matters more in these debates. Not one question on trade, not one question on tax policy, not one question on balancing the budget.

At least the health care part of the debate was excellent.

[Gabu]

As usual, half of them didn't really answer a single question.

Politicians rarely do.

[TheresNoMoney]

I thought this was the most specific debate thus far (on either side).

I think the debates will continue to get more substantive as we go along.

[Eraserhead]

Well it looks like the pundits are declaring Hillary the winner again. What a shocker! All I know is that if she is the Democratic nominee, I won't vote for her and may even consider leaving the party.

[TheresNoMoney]

Well it looks like the pundits are declaring Hillary the winner again. What a shocker! All I know is that if she is the Democratic nominee, I won't vote for her and may even consider leaving the party.

I'd vote for her over any Republican candidate, but I don't trust her to help the middle class in this country. She is best described as a "corporate Democrat".

[Conan]

Well it looks like the pundits are declaring Hillary the winner again. What a shocker! All I know is that if she is the Democratic nominee, I won't vote for her and may even consider leaving the party.

That's totally irrational and childish.  Why not?

[Eraserhead]

Well it looks like the pundits are declaring Hillary the winner again. What a shocker! All I know is that if she is the Democratic nominee, I won't vote for her and may even consider leaving the party.

That's totally irrational and childish.  Why not?

...because I can't stand her and don't believe she would be a good President. She is just another Bush as far as Iraq and the "war on terror" are concerned. That is my opinion. I don't see anything childish about it. You are entitled to your own and that is mine.

[Eraserhead]

Interestingly enough CNN asked some actual voters who they liked and one said Clinton "because you get a two for one deal with Bill" (uggh) and the other two actually liked Richardson quite a bit.

[Angel of Death]

Well it looks like the pundits are declaring Hillary the winner again. What a shocker! All I know is that if she is the Democratic nominee, I won't vote for her and may even consider leaving the party.

I'd vote for her over any Republican candidate, but I don't trust her to help the middle class in this country. She is best described as a "corporate Democrat".

And this is not a pleonasm how?

[Eraserhead]

I wonder if SurveyUSA will release another one of those instant reaction polls.