The Democratic Debate

The debate last night was interesting, amusing and sometimes painful to watch. I think Howard Dean came back really well and did the best.

Kerry was about a yawn away from being in a coma. He is so not inspiring. The only thing he inspires me to do is catch a few winks of sleep. Sorry, but if he's got an ounce of passion in him, he really needs to break it out. Otherwise, he ain't gonna beat Dubya.

Lieberman was a freaken lunatic. Horrible, horrible performance. He came off as impotent, uninteresting, yammering on and on almost becoming incoherent and shreaking. Total war-monger, also. He might as well go join the Republican party, cuz he's neo-con all the way. After New Hampshire: Don't go away mad, just go away.

Clark came off no better. Every word he said sounded totally rehearsed without an ounce of true thought and reaction. Sound bite city. And he didn't talk about ANYTHING other than defense. He sounded like that General in "Dr. Strangelove" (played by George C. Scott). I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would vote for the guy. He is not qualified and by all accounts, he does not have the character, temperment or brains to be the president. He's even attacked Kerry by pulling rank and saying basically Kerry was nothing but a navy lieutenant. That's just wrong. Despite my reservations with Kerry, I would not attack his service. I think he served admirably. For the General to say such a thing is below the belt - exactly the point Gen. Hugh Shelton made about Clark.

I don't think Edwards distinguished himself. I actually think he stumbled over a few of his positions. But he wasn't nearly as bad as Lieberman and Clark. So so performance.

Sharpton.. good ol' Rev. Sharpton. He actually did exactly what I've been hoping he'd do. He gave a nice nod to Dean. When he began his first answer, he looked over at the Dr. and said, "Howard, don't be so hard on yourself. If I had come in with 18% of the vote in Iowa, I'd still be hootin' and hollarin,' too!" Big laughs. "Thank you Reverend," Dean replied, smiling broadly. It was a nice tip of the hat. When asked about fiscal policy, however, Sharpton clearly showed how in over his head he was. That's where he broke down. That's ok, though. He's come a long way and has played an important role in speaking on certain issues. Hopefully he'll steer his constituants toward Dean in the end. That would be excellent and much needed.

Dennis Kucinich was his usual good-natured and sensible self. He's an honorable man. Small in stature, yet has the courage of a lion. Maybe he'll have a place in a Dean administration. He'd be a good one to have on your team. Ok - maybe not over the Department of Defense! But definitely something on the domestic side of the house. He'd be a good attorney general, actually, because of his integrity. He was good until he broke out his policy of removing the troops from Iraq in 90 days. I think that's naive and highly unrealistic. But, that's ok. He bravely and correctly opposed the invasion and for that he has my utmost respect.

Dean threw a real zinger at Kerry, Edwards and Lieberman when he said all three of them voted for the war. So true. And ya know what, he is right to point that out. Don't think for a second those guys voted for it for any other reason than they did not want to appear weak. It was totally political. Covering their own A$$e$. Funny how Kerry and Edwards are now singing a completely different tune. At least Lieberman admits he STILL supports it. Neither Edwards nor Kerry can honestly say "Bush lied to me, so I voted for the war." If I knew before the invasion Bush's line was false, those two damn sure knew he was lying.

Dean won that debate. I hope he can pull off a win in New Hampshire. I think he's got a good shot.

Yes it was good to see Howard Dean supplying the facts in plain talk. Kucinich was on message.

But it was even easier to see why the others were not really cut out for the Presidency.

Aside from Clark, who'd make a fine occupant of the WhiteHouse, the Senators Liberman, Kerry, and Edwards looked as if they were scripted and packaged.

Especially when asked questions from the moderators they didn't expect, each of those candidates vacillated for a moment, temporarily changing the subject to address some previous issue, and then shifted back to answer the question at hand after breifly distracting from it.

It may seem trivial but it did expose them as being less than genuine, just as certain candidates answered certain questions by not answering them at all.

Howard Dean and his wife did an interview on PrimeTime Live w/ Diane Sawyer. They came across
as someone who could be your next door neighbor.
The real common folk. It wasn't manufactured either.

Of course Sawyer asked them all the wrong questions, about the media slander etc. It showed they were genuine and regular folk.

[Edited on 24-1-2004 by darkwraith]

I saw that. Ol' Diane wasn't bein her usual charnming self. She was all hard edged. Kind of felt bad for Mrs. Dean.

It sure is nice to see real people have a shot at it for once. Dean won that debate. No two ways about it.

Clark is a joke. He's Clinton's boy.