Democratic Debate

Am I blind, or has nobody started a thread?

Who won?

I thought Obama scored on some general points... He made a good case he'd be the better guy to go up against McCain.

Hillary scored on her command of policy once again. As one analyst put it (paraphrasing)... "She'd make the best damn Health and Human Services Secretary this country has ever seen."

She did seem uncomforatble at times discussing her old vote on Iraq.

I loved how Obama helped her with her chair at the end.... I don't know why I feel that way... I just loved it.

 

The one thing I came away with: I'm going to be so happy having a Democrat as President in '09.

 

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/52341/

 

Thank you - my bad.

 

BO's right. The nation deserves better than a Mac/HRC matchup, resulting in
legislative gridlock and more business-pandering judges.

 

Exactly, Breaker of Leopold and Loeb. The country does deserve better than that. Especially since that matchup will result in John McCain answering to the words "Mr. President" come Jan. 20, 2009.

 

It was a good night for the Democrats - both of them.

Some people around here (Fens comes to mind) have expressed the thought that all the candidates basically suck this year.

I don't know about you all, but I saw two highly qualified candidates last night. Things don't look so bleak afterall.

 

Agreed, from both sides actually.

Obama and Clinton have done well so far, both in keeping their back-and-forth (mostly) civil and in recovering from the inevitable self-inflicted wounds that naturally come with the early campaign season.

I have to credit Mitt Romney, whom I in no way felt would get this far. Though he probably can't compete with the wave McCain is riding at the moment, he's come a long way from being the quirky Mormon flip-flopper who was being overshadowed by the likes of Guiliani and Huckabee.

McCain's credentials are admirable, and while I think his "we'll get Bin Laden" rhetoric is nothing but outdated pandering to the uneducated pickup truck set, the rest of his efforts are solid. I do think he looks like what you'd get if you stuck the Gerber baby in an age-acceleration chamber, though.

It seems very, very clear to me that both sides are quite aware that the stakes haven't been this high in a long, long time.

 

Could it be we have a convention worth watching this time?
Could we have the night of voting that isn't just a formality this time?
I really hope so.

 

Well said, Kaylee. Dead-on nails, especially with the Gerber Baby remark on McCain.

The reason the stakes are so high is two-fold. This is the first election since 1952 (don't bother looking it up, folks, trust me) where there is no sitting president or vice president running. So it's wide, freakin' open.

The second and more substantial reason is what this country has gone through for the last seven years (well-chronicled on this board ad infiniteum), combined with what it will face in the coming decade.

Whoever wins this election has not only a lot of cleaning up to do on numerous fronts, but a load of issues he/she will inherit that are looming on the horizon.

 

Stat of the day provided by Birdscribe.

Very interesting.

 

And this is better than '52, as '52 kicked off as essentially a bidding war between the parties for Ike. Ike told the Dems to kiss off, and the Dems settled for their very, very special Don Quixote.