Yet One More Democratic Presidential Debate LiveBlog

Here comes the "bitter" meme. (0.00 / 0)

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:13:01 PM CDT

Charlie Gibson quotes the Constitution (4.00 / 1)

citing the original provision for the second-place finisher to become Veep.

"If it was good enough for them, why not for you?" on each choosing the other as running mate.

That was the earliest-recognized screw-up in the Constitution. It was changed in 1804. (And of course, it's different than the running mate question anyhow.)

Thanks for the insight, Charlie.

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by: elwood @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:15:28 PM CDT

This campaign has gone on for so long (0.00 / 0)

that I expect the debate will be all about the campaign.

So far, this is true.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:26:40 PM CDT

Just once, I'd like to see a debate worth watching. (0.00 / 0)

I want to see a debate run by a non-partisan non-profit and a moderator who isn't paid on ratings.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:29:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

9/11 happened (0.00 / 0)

"in my city of New York." - HRC

I don't like that possessive - it's weird.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:28:54 PM CDT

Dear Hillary, (0.00 / 0)

You have never lived in New York City.  Barack Obama has.  Sit down.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:29:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Is this the stupidest, most offensive question (4.00 / 2)

of the debates so far?

George Stephanopoulos:

Senator Obama, do you believe Rev. Wright loves this country as much as you do?

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by: elwood @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:33:00 PM CDT

Also, (0.00 / 0)

I'd like to know what percent of Americans care about the answer to that question.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:35:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Senator Obama, (0.00 / 0)

is Jeremiah Wright as patriotic as he should be?

When did Stephanopolos become Joseph McCarthy?

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:33:02 PM CDT

13 years ago (0.00 / 0)

When he left the Clinton White House to become an unvarnished media whore.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 22:37:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bosnia (0.00 / 0)

She says she knew when she said it that it wasn't true?  I thought she was tired at 11 PM in the morning those six times?

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:34:20 PM CDT

did not handle that one well (4.00 / 1)

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:37:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hmm whats more important.. (4.00 / 1)

hillary vs obama

or Red Sox vs NYY....

im gonna go with baseball :)

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by: sdoyle @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:35:19 PM CDT

Agreed (0.00 / 0)

I'm sorry, I can't get up for watching my party SCREW IT ALL UP AGAIN.  Even John Kerry looks like an appealing candidate at this point.  Depressing, depressing, depressing.

Of course, the Sox weren't exactly inspiring tonight. . . .  

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 22:40:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

These questions should be screened based on the following filter: (0.00 / 0)

"Does anybody care about or need to know the answer to this question?"

If it's only worth asking for ratings, and the moderator asks it, the moderator has no business moderating.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:37:22 PM CDT

"I want to know if you believe in the American flag?" (0.00 / 0)

Correcting myself, the filter should be: "Does this question have any basis in anything that matters? If so, is there any ambiguity left on this in the eyes of people who are paying attention?  Is the question just stupid and/or a waste of time?"

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:39:52 PM CDT

OMFG (0.00 / 0)

A question about flag lapel pins.

ABC has become FOX News.

I didn't think it could get more stoopid than the patriotism question.

Un - freaking - believable.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:40:23 PM CDT

Manufactured, distraction issue. (0.00 / 0)

Yes, yes, yes.  A million times yes.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:41:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Here comes Georgie's Hannity question (0.00 / 0)

on the Weather Underground.

Yes - it can get worse. It just did.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:42:25 PM CDT

Weather Above Ground : Hot Air and Dysfunctional Apimpriation (0.00 / 0)

If I don't miss my guess Twomey tweaked on that one.
Oh yeah we're back to Hillary forgetting her association with the ACLU and Panthers leading up to Bobby Seale Trial in New Haven 1970. If you weren't part of the solution you were part of the problem. She was triangulating then for now.

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:48:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And Goldwater in 1964 (0.00 / 0)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:50:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

My new policy: (0.00 / 0)

At this point, I don't respect anybody who questions Barack Obama's patriotism.  See my filter policy above.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:44:06 PM CDT

Hillary more than happy (4.00 / 1)

to follow Georgie's sewage right down the toilet bowl.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:45:47 PM CDT

Excellent blow dealt by Obama on Clinton pardoning some of those connected. (0.00 / 0)

Did she get experience from the 11th hour pardons?  You know, during that 17-day giant conflict of interest when a Senator was married to the sitting President?

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:49:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nice Pivot with the Clinton Pardons (0.00 / 0)

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:55:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

thanks for confirming my suspicions (0.00 / 0)

I'd rather pour hot lead in my ear than watch/listen to this.  

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by: susanthe @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:49:18 PM CDT

Have fun with the hod led, but I hope you have health insurance. (0.00 / 0)

Because President McCain won't give it to you.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:50:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ditto (0.00 / 0)

Again, I'm down South in Nashville and totally forgot that the debate was on.  Is it over now?  Must be, because I'm on Central Time (weird).  I've gone since Saturday night without NPR or BBC radio.  Feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world.... have caught some CNN here and there, so know about FLDS.... nothing else newsworthy as I can tell--- except, Kristy Lee Cook has finally been sent home from American Idol.  Which is making the sting of Michael Johns being sent home last week hurt a little less...  But not much.

Feeling hopeful since 2004...

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by: Kelly Nordstrom @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 21:17:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is a stupid question. (0.00 / 0)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:53:27 PM CDT

i'm amazed (0.00 / 0)

the old "won't your plan to leave iraq be terrible and make everything go chaotic" question is sadly the best question so far.

Go 'Bama!

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by: alexwill @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:55:33 PM CDT

Over and over and over and over with the same crap that's been done to death. (0.00 / 0)

I've concluded that the sole motivation for everything the moderators say in this debate (and most others) is trying to get one of the candidates to screw up so they can sell the sound bite to CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC to use thirty seven times an hour for the next month.  There's no other reason for exploring these stupid questions whose answers have already been covered plenty.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 19:58:40 PM CDT

Hillary goes Joe-mentum n/t (0.00 / 0)

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:03:02 PM CDT

George to candidates: (0.00 / 0)

Will you take the Pledge?

Mel Thomson is our host this evening.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:06:20 PM CDT

Here's a new debate component: (4.00 / 2)

Play clips of the other Party's nominee attacking the debaters!

Remember when the networks played footage of the Dem candidates during the GOP debates? Me neither.

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by: elwood @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:09:52 PM CDT

this debate made a few things a lot clearer (0.00 / 0)

1.  Fox News looks more objective than ABC news.

2.  ABC really underestimates the intelligence of its audience.

3.  Hillary and Barack both need long vacations.  Both look tired and drained.

4.  This was the worst debate- by far.

5.  Really weird set- camera work distracting- especially the behind the back cut aways to show the crowd- not even faces in the audience.

6.   The only thing that had kept my attention  is Hillary's earrings.

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by: Kathleen O'Donnell @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:28:32 PM CDT

Senator Obama, (0.00 / 0)

How will you assure white America that African-Americans who might have money don't get into college if they shouldn't?

SOMEBODY PUT THIS DEBATE OUT OF ITS MISERY.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:36:26 PM CDT

Yankees 11- Red Sox 9 Top oF The 6th (0.00 / 0)

A slugfest in the Bronix.
Many punches thrown, more to come and viscerally more fun than
whatever that was.

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:50:10 PM CDT

Zero (0.00 / 0)

How many World Series have the evildoers won this millenium?

Oh yes, that's right.

By the way, George Steinbrenner and A-Rod both maxed out to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 22:42:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

George Steinbrenner and A-Rod both maxed out to the Bush-Cheney campaign. (0.00 / 0)

So it's true that all bad things go together?

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 01:16:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

26-3 All time... (0.00 / 0)

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 06:13:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wrong (4.00 / 1)

The Red Sox have won eight World Series.  And, unlike the fascist Yankees, we did it without loading up on anabolic steroids.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 07:30:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

lies all lies (0.00 / 0)

see you make a simple mistake and the invective starts flowing...oh yeah the comment that Doug made was about the decade....I gues I was referring to the cursed period from 1919 till just this deacde...
:-) see ya again soon

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 16:52:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Another reason NH earns first primary spot: (4.00 / 1)

We don't let the national bigfoot idiots moderate all the debates.

We have some local talent that actually tries to ask some questions local voters care about.

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by: elwood @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 21:00:47 PM CDT

Also, (0.00 / 0)

Regular people in NH, not just political junkies, know when an issue is a nonissue, and when moderators are doing a crappy job.  Many New Hampshirites, unlike the rest of the country, have in mind to think "If I had two hours with these people, what would I ask?  Would I ask THAT?"

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 21:27:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Was the debate as bad as everyone is saying? (4.00 / 1)

I engaged in one of my guilty pleasures - watching episodes of the old "Buffy" spinoff, "Angel", since I had a bad feeling about the Red Sox and an equally bad feeling about what inane questions the moderators would come up with.
From what I have heard this morning, Stephanopolous and Gibson were brutal, with a capital Brute. Next time, there needs to be a policy about presidential primary debates: you need to have one print reporter and one local reporter in addition to one network person, and if the network person acts like too big a jerk, his seat explodes.        

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 08:05:26 AM CDT

yes (4.00 / 1)

We've seen a lot of inappropriate debate moderators, but these two, two of my favorites in TV journalism,  proved things can always get worse.

I like the exploding seat idea.

The debate: one hour of meaningless sideshow trash about Rev Wright, Bosnia, and the Weather Underground; 45 minutes of "why won't you admit your plan for Iraq will fail and cause chaos" and "why won't you admit you secretly want to raise everybody's taxes"; 10 minutes of a couple relevant questions with 30 second responses; and finally closing by asking the candidates to beg to superdelegates.

disgusting

Go 'Bama!

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by: alexwill @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 08:43:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Remember the Bond movie where the head of the table would press a button and a person's seat would incinerate him? (0.00 / 0)

How about this one: the debates should be moderated by representatives of print media and broadcast by C-SPAN commercial free, offering the other networks a free simulcast.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 13:34:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Exploding Chairs... (0.00 / 0)

Exploding chairs, Spectre incineration chairs, wired chairs.  This is sounding like a conservative pro death penalty blog!  How about just that reporters who ask those kinds of questions at Democratic debates have to watch tapes of all this past year's Republican Presidential candidate speeches?  ALL of them, end-to-end.  

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 16:29:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'd take Blofeld or Dr. Evil over these moderators we've been having. (0.00 / 0)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 18:22:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Despicable (4.00 / 2)

It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

Tom Shales in the Washington Post -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

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by: JimC @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 08:35:13 AM CDT

Quick, Go To The Doctor (4.00 / 1)

Kathy missing a debate?  Quick! -- check for fever and get to the doctor.  

I watched it while multi-tasking on other things I need to do, answering dozens of E-Mails from pros and cons on the impeachment resoltuion for one thing, trying to calm people down.  But I didn't watch Buffy OR Angel.

I do like the "exploding chair" idea, though my peaceful nature and anti-death penalty position suggests more like just a few heating wires to make the seat uncomfortable, perhaps up to 120 degrees or something.  

And actually, I thought the debate had some positives for each candidate.  It's good to see these two great people talk with us and one another.  They're still my dream ticket!

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 08:38:43 AM CDT

talking to each other (0.00 / 0)

It's good to see these two great people talk with us and one another.

It was good that they eventually talked to each other, but during that first hour or so, neither one would look towards the other at all while answering a question. It looked very uncomfortable for both of them.

Go 'Bama!

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by: alexwill @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 08:45:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Trap door to shark pool. (0.00 / 0)

Cleaner and more symbiotic

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 16:54:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sharks with frickin lasers attached to their heads? (0.00 / 0)

Or perhaps ill-tempered, mutated sea bass with lasers attached to their heads, as sharks are now on the endangered species list.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 18:24:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The next debate (4.00 / 3)

should be moderated by Bill Ayers, formerly of the Weather Underground.

He wouldn't waste time on inane questions - in fact, I'm sure he'd ask questions that were never asked in the carefully scripted media events that have mistakenly been called debates during this election cycle.  

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by: susanthe @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 17:17:41 PM CDT

Daley defends Ayers (4.00 / 2)

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, whose pedigree is on the other side of their generation's cultural divide, defends Bill Ayers in a statement to the Tribune:

There are a lot of reasons that Americans are angry about Washington politics. And one more example is the way Senator Obama's opponents are playing guilt-by-association, tarring him because he happens to know Bill Ayers.

I also know Bill Ayers. He worked with me in shaping our now nationally-renowned school reform program. He is a nationally-recognized distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois/Chicago and a valued member of the Chicago community.

I don't condone what he did 40 years ago but I remember that period well. It was a difficult time, but those days are long over. I believe we have too many challenges in Chicago and our country to keep re-fighting 40 year old battles.

This still skirts the issue of Ayers himself defending the bombings. But it's a mark of how complete his rehabilitation is, at least in Chicago.

Via Ben Smith

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 18:05:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm for Jon Stewart to moderate the next debate. (0.00 / 0)

No, seriously.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 18:25:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]