Talk Elections

Is tomorrow's debate between the Dems or the Reps?  What channel and what time?

Dems. South Carolina. MSNBC. 8 PM (I think) but there will be coverage all night (before and after).

IIRC, it's 7 PM.

7PM ? That´s 1am at night here... but I´ll watch it anyway. I even sent a question to MSNBC. Maybe i get picked, lol. It´s about development aid. Obama recently said he wants to double the amount of US developing aid, therefore I wanna see the positions of the other candidates on this issue. But we´ll see ;)

I'm going to bet $20 in Vegas that Biden offends some minority group with an off-the-cuff statement, Hillary mentions her husband at least 40 times, Dodd will be unmemorable by tomorrow, Edwards will exaggerate his southern accent, Gravel will play the white Al Sharpton, Kucinich will be blah, Obama will be pronounced the winner by the media, and Richardson will just talk and ramble on a whole bunch.

Kucinich will be fiery and entertaining but ultimately absurd. Otherwise, I agree.

Bolded is the only part i disagree on. From what I've seen Dodd is a very intelligent speaker and will leave an impression.

As we learned from Al Gore, intelligence is not always a good thing. I remember his line from his monologue when he hosted SNL.

"People told me my campaign had problems and that I was patronizing. You see, patronizing is where you explain things to people as if they are dumber than they really are." (laughter)

My guess on tonight's menu of events that the candidates will talk about:

War, Bush sucks, plans for Presidency, war, Bush sucks, economy, any of them: "People in America are poor!" war, Bush sucks, Kucinich: "Impeach the bastard!", civil rights, Hillary: "I'm the blackest candidate in this race!", war, Bush sucks, health care, Edwards: "Quality health care costs too much, more ambulance chasing will fix that.", war, Bush sucks, closing speeches.

The debate hasn't started yet, but the AP is already reporting on it in the past tense!:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3084894

sh**t!  I just realized we don't get MSNBC here!  Is there any way I can watch it online?

I think it's supposed to stream live from msnbc.com.

Poor Dan Quayle.

The Bentsen clip and "potatoe" will be all he'll ever be remembered for.

yeah. www.wistv.com is now live streaming the debate. I´m watching right now. it starts in 6 minutes.

Ooh, lightning round! :D

Clinton now on Iraq ;)

First question: Obama sounds like John Edwards 2004.

I missed the first 5 minutes.  Did Biden speak first on Iraq?

Second.

This is now like the fourth time Clinton has gotten a chance to speak.  The first tier candidates are getting "rebuttals" when there's the slightest offhand reference made to them.

I'll post a generic scorecard after it is done.

Best response so far: "Yes." :)

Gravel: "They frighten me !" (to Clinton, Obama, Edwards etc.) ;)

Biden--funny

Gravel--o sh**t!  That was a zinger!

I'm on a university message board as well, and a lot of people on there are loving Gravel so far.

Was Clinton the only one that did not raise their hand on having a gun ever?

Edit: Obama and Edwards also.

Richardson does not strike me as being comfortable.

Yeah, he looks kind of sick. For me Clinton and Obama are the most solid so far.

Clinton, Obama, and Biden have done the rest so far.

Kucinich has been good as well, but he's not playing to win.

Dodd, Richardson, and Edwards have done poorly.

Biden actually comes off pretty well when his answers are limited to 60 seconds.  He should speak in 1 min. intervals for the rest of the campaign.

Gravel: "Barack, who are you going to nuke ?" :P

They sound like a bunch of nuts.

Not even one question about trade or the deficit. Not one question about the decline of the middle class.  Not one question about poverty in America.

Almost a half an hour on guns and abortion. So much for the liberal media......

final ratings:

Obama--A
Biden--A-
Clinton--B+
Dodd--C+
Edwards--C
Richardson--D

I was pretty surprised at the poor performance of Richardson and Edwards.

Obama has definitely moved up on my list after tonight, but I'm still rooting for Biden.

Also, Kucinich would get an A himself, but I can't really give him that since he's not playing to win.
Gravel...WHY was he even there.  Yes he was funny, but I wanted a serious debate.

I thought they both did fairly well. I liked Edwards' performance especially.


Obama did not quite live up to my expectations. He needs to speak in a more direct manner and show more confidence in the coming debates.


Kucinich defintiely livens up the debate and I enjoy his straightforward talk.


He was really entertaining, and I really liked his answer concerning the military-industrial complex in this country.

Edwards was so...without substance at times.  Richardson just looked really uncomfortable.

Wait til the Republican debate. ;)

One man's opinion:

Helped themselves from position before-

Biden (he got a lot of questions, I'll post them below)
Gravel (from nothing to a person that made himself stand out)
Obama (did okay and he did not hurt himself, which some were expecting)

Hurt themselves from position before-

Richardson (that Hispanic comment with Gonzales...my God that sounded bad)
Edwards (just didn't seem there, and he missed an easy pitch with his moral leader)

Same position as before-

H. Clinton
Dodd
Kucinich (I think his thunder got stolen by Gravel)


Found it very interesting that none of them would support Kucinich's impeachment proceedings against Cheney, not even Gravel. Expected of course, but I was hoping Williams would ask one "why not?"




List of questions. Did my best, might be a bit wrong.

Questions/Follow-up/Audience Questions

Clinton 8/2/2
Biden 8/0/3
Obama 7/2/3
Richardson 7/1/3
Edwards 7/1/2
Dodd 6/0/2
Gravel 5/2/1
Kucinich 5/1/2

Coming from a Republican, I thought Biden and Clinton were rather strong, Richardson and Edwards were kind of less than I expected, Gravel was an insane nut, Kucinich was his typical wackjob do nothing for Ohio congressman and Obama was in the middle.

The democrats' whole problem is that they have the opinion similar to Hillary Clinton's "Why won't the President respond to the will of the people?" AKA...Be like Bill and lead based on polls. A president is elected to put forth his vision for leadership, and the congress' job is to keep the government occupied and busy while solving legislation problems. This new Democratic Congress is trying to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces...which only George Bush is.

I thought his answers were more specific than most of the other candidates. And he is the only one who has proposed a detailed universal health care plan at this point.

See you for the Republican debate next week.

Verrrrrrrrry interested to hear the President's hopeful successors and their views on what he has done and what they would continue. It will show us how much of a lame duck the President is in his own party.

I think Biden did the best, with Obama second.  Richardson was definitely dead last.

I actually think Hillary Clinton did very well and was the most polished candidate.

Obama needs some work before the next debate.

Except Mike Gravel.

I agree with pretty much everyone else that Obama did pretty well. I was thinking he might do something bad but he was solid. Clinton was good and I was really impressed with Biden. Edwards sucked and while Richardson had good answers, he lacked stage presence. It was kind of gross when he sweated. Dodd was decent and Gravel and Kucinich are jokes. Obama did a pretty good job fending off attacks from Kucinich and Gravel.

I just made this thread for you to vote and discuss this:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=56573.0

Perhaps we can get a bit more in depth there.

I was too. I thought both would do well going into the debate and unfortunately they were both rather underwhelming.

the whole debate was an utter embarrasment for the Democratic Party, from beginning to end.  *shakes head* 

Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait for 2012 and hopefully some viable Dem candidates like Bayh, Mark Warner, or Ed Rendell will step up to the plate and topple the 12 years of Republican rule

I'm SHOCKED you would say something like that (sarcasm intended).  Republican rule! Democrats drool!

yeah, Mark Warner, Evan Bayh, and Ed Rendell are Republicans! 

TheresNoMoney: tinfoil hat alert!  lmao

What about your man Bill Richardson? You've been praising him in the past. Now that he's running, he's horrible.

And I would bet good money taht even if Bayh, Warner and Rendell were running, you'd be saying the same thing. You should really just drop the whole "I'm a Democrat" act for good.

Bill Richardson is a Republican!  Its all a conspiracy, I tell ya!  JFK, 911, Marilyn Monroe, all the work of evil white males!

OBAMA/HILLARY 2008!

lmao

Seriously thought, Bill Richardson is the only Democrat you haven't consistently bashed the past couple months. I'm curious as to why you think he was an embarrassment tonight.

richardson is a cool guy.  seems to have his head on straight.  pro-growth, moderate governor....I would totally vote for him, but he doesnt stand a chance in hell at winning the nomination

but then again i'm an international affairs major and I intern at the State Dept during the summers so its hardly an objective opinion.   he's a pretty well respected figure here inside the beltway, dunno if his diplomatic statesman persona matters much in middle American

Richardson has some seriously huge ears.