Stylistically, Jim Webb (who was one of three candidates who were cheated on minutes) was one mustache away from running as Ron Swanson.
Martin O'Malley now knows what it's like to be black in America. Or, at least, what its like to be black and trying to hail a cab in America. (Excuse me. Anderson. Anderson. I'd like... Excuse me. Anderson.)
Bernie Sanders was very good. He did nothing to make any Bernie Sanders supporters unhappy, and came across as intelligent, sincere and far too sketchy on guns. He had the best laugh/applause line of the night -- "...the American people are tired of hearing about your damn emails" -- which elicited the only (partial) standing ovation from the audience. He's not a pacifist. He will not apologize for being a Democratic Socialist or a conscientious objector in Vietnam, and has worked closely with his friend and Vietnam vet, Jim Webb, on veteran's issues.
Hillary Clinton was very good. Tough, good-humored with well-prepared, substantive responses to to most of her points of highest vulnerability (Iraq). She appreciates Martin O'Malley's endorsement for President in 2008, blew a big kiss to Kevin McCarthy and was far too sketchy on trade and her cozy relationship with Wall Street criminals.
Anderson Cooper was enough of a pissy dick to everyone to be able to be called "fair" by his bosses.
Overall, the Democratic candidates comported themselves honorably and substantively.
Any Democrat should be proud to have this field to choose from.
And any America should be horrified that the alternative to the eventual Democratic nominee will not be an honorable and substantive public servant, but a demagogue leading a mob of imbeciles, bigots and lunatics.
9 comments:
You're priceless.
And more than worth it.
~ I'm running some of these jewels this morning!
Hope you get a few more readers.
Love you guys!
A couple co-workers and I watched it and the one thing we all noticed was Bernie being the only one not introducing himself at the beginning but instead going straight into his platform pitch. That's a nice way to distinguish yourself right there. He also doesn't smile like HRC and O'Malley. It's not in his political make-up to do so.
When Bernie built up steam he reminded me a couple times of Jerry Stiller as George Constanza's father on "Seinfeld". The longer he talks the louder he gets, and then the pointer finger comes up. But unlike George's dad he catches himself and shows the ability to smooth back down in tone. He's a disciplined person. That there alone inspires a great deal of trust. But he's wrong about guns. My big complaint on him.
Matt Taibbi said Chaffee looks like a Keebler elf. Ouch. And he [like Webb] would make a great moderate Republican. His line about the party moving away from him, not the other way around, was pure Reagan-speak.
Jim Webb looks like an uncomfortable football coach who grew his hair out cuz his handlers said only Repubs had buzz cuts. And he talks like the assistant coach who's always looking for the head coach job.
Hillary said some stupid things, some very smart things, and some pandering things [which might either be smart or stupid, depending on where you squat]. Regardless of how anyone else did in debate* she has nothing to worry about. Given the cameras surrounding her afterwards, I'm surprised her staff didn't dump a cooler of Gatorade or the back of her head.
They should play some Robert Palmer as the intro whenever & wherever O'Malley is introduced - "Sneakin' O'Malley In The Alley". Cuz he snuck in the back door on this one. He started cold, someone had to pull the choke on him so he would build up to a warm idle, but once he was there he revved fine.
It was remarked upon by the candidates themselves but I think the most amazing thing was the way all of them are so markedly different from any of the Repubs and that they're proud to take progressive if not downright lefty stands on a number of issues. On one hand it gives the Brooks of the world reason to say "Both sides are moving to the fringe! Waah!" but I say it gives voice to the notion that there's a large part of the public center that is moving to the left. One side is only spewing obstructive and destructive bullshit. The other side is talking about constructive solutions.
And this should be in the other thread, but....David Brooks is a weasel.
*the opening of the debate terrified me. It felt like someone had hired Elisabeth Murdoch to produce a "Master Chef" styled reality show competition. And Anderson Cooper....like Hillary, sometimes smart, sometimes stupid.
And why didn't Repubs get moderators asking real questions like this? (rhetorical, I know....)
Glad I'm not the only one to make the Ron Swanson connection.
No gaffe's except for Chaffee getting butthurt because he doesn't read bills he voted on. Kudos to Jim Webb for not killing Anderson Cooper (who remembered this wasn't a GOP debate, so decorum). Hillary flubbed Cooper's flip-flop query, and Sanders mismanaged the gun thing. But they both did well, and the Bern killed the email thing (and then he and Hilz played footsies).
But Cooper. Did he just hippie-punch the audience? When the pot question came up, he said most of them smoked Mary Jane?
Hi Driftglass! Hope you are well. I chime in to give you a hard time! You cover the Dem debate with some bland both-siderism! Iraq = gun control? I'm proud of one member of this field, and that is Senator Sanders. The big-money bomb-them-all monster that has swallowed the GOP whole has made plenty of inroads into the Democratic party. Clinton voted for war in Iraq, she has no problem with her friends on Wall Street getting off free after nuking the economy, and she is just fine with letting vicious torturers of the Bush regime go free. Clinton and Obama betray America by allowing the parasites to keep sucking our life-blood, even if they are infinitely preferable to any Republican. The rot in American politics is rising corporate control of the state, and it must be understood as a move towards fascism. The Democratic party is not the bulwark against fascism, merely the political vehicle for those who wish to oppose it. It is severely compromised, and would be well served by the occasional tongue lashing from the great and mighty driftglass! To do so wouldn't be both-siderism!
I read some mainstream analysis of the debate and it mostly reflected what I already knew (yawn) but I knew I'd get some proper bile and spit from you DG. Liked the Ron Swanson/Jim Webb facial hairs breadth difference remark and do agree that he looks like an assistant football coach looking to be head coach but to me he looked like a guy who was in a bad car accident who was in traction for 8 weeks and just got out and made to stand at a podium. That said I found myself sympathizing with him because, well, he's just a little lost elephant in a sea of donkeys. Sanders most of the time held my attention every time he opened his yob but Clinton, especially at the beginning drifted into Charlie Brown adult noise speak when she found herself acting like a politician only to find some fire with that jab about Fiorina, republicans in general and planned parenthood which was a surprising dose of 'real' from her. Chaffee...gosh, isn't it so wince worthy and adorable when they insist on the purity of their public service? What did he stand for again? That Maryland governor guy seemed to have some good things to say. His handlers need to code his program to blink more than once/hour so voters won't get suspicious. Overall I was really impressed that CNN didn't try to create the circus of the GOP debates and it gave voters a chance to hear, you know, opinions on actual issues 'n shit. That said, Cooper starting off with criticisms of the candidates made for a sucky beginning and overall his slightly badgering injections and insistence on being critical made me wonder where this kind of scrutiny was for the republican idiot brigade debate and how the dems are held at a different standard than repubs. Love ya DG.
I understand legitimately Lincoln Chaffe is officially running.
A fools errand, realistically.
Yet, on the other hand Larry Lessage might have been better suited for debate and issues than Chaffe.
In my humble opinion,
My only complaint is that Hillary didn't follow Trump's lead and start the debate off by mocking Rand Paul.
Is it just me or was Anderson Cooper really butthurt about the applause to "enough with the emails already" line?
He kept alluding to a silent majority out there that isn't like "this audience" who still cares about that stupid faux-scandal.
@DeistPaladin:
The Village/Beltway media think the voters care about it because everyone THEY know (ie fellow Village twits and politcal junkies) care about it. Alternatively, if those moron voters don't care, DAMMIT THEY SHOULD BECAUSE WE SAY SO.
I think, at long last, thanks to Kevin McCarthy's ill-advised decision to state the obvious-but-not-acknowledged, the winds have shifted on that topic and it's fizzling. But the media has invested so much in the story that they're not going to drop it without a fight, and there will be dead-enders, such as Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier, who will keep flogging the dead horse until he's pushing daisies. But they'll look stupider and stupider in so doing. I think the worse is behind Hillary unless the not-yet-seen emails contain something genuinely scandalous, which I doubt is the case.
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