Dems Play Nice

when i originally typed in this blog heading i mistyped "dams play nice." it gave me a warm fuzzy inside thinking about the hoover dam getting along so well with grand coulee dam after so many years of jealousy between the two.

anyway... the democrats did debate tuesday night and, well... it was more of a discussion really.

it was actually very nice.

the top three democrats were seated at a round table with brian williams and tim russert and what followed was two hours of nice, polite banter. things occasionally got pointed. brian williams was booed when he welcomed everyone back to los angeles, as opposed to las vegas.

but it was good, clean fun.

and john edwards must've felt so nice finally sitting at the grown-ups table. with only the three of them - he looked like an actual contender for the nomination still.

of course, we all know better.

right outta the gate
as predicted, race was the first question asked. it was martin luther king jr's birthday, after all.

i thought hillary gave a really great answer - both unifying and humble.

We’re all family in the Democratic Party. We are so different from the Republicans on all of these issues in every way that affects the future of the people that care so much about. So I think that it’s appropriate on Dr. King’s birthday, his actual birthday, to recognize that all of us are here as a result of what he did, all of the sacrifice, including giving his life, along with so many of the other icons that we honor.

sadly - obama's response sounded as if it came right out of his stump speech. which, in part, it did.

Well, I think Hillary said it well. You know, we are, right now, I think, in a defining moment in our history. We’ve got a nation at war. Our planet is in peril. And the economy is putting an enormous strain on working families all across the country.

not too inspirational.....

and johnny boy...well, what's the lone WASP male to do?

Well, the only thing I would add is I had the perspective of living in the South, including a time when there was segregation in the South. And I feel an enormous personal responsibility to continue to move forward. Now, we’ve made great progress, but we’re not finished with that progress.

and it pretty much went along these lines for the first 20 minutes. a love fest, really.

hill takes the lead
i thought hillary clearly won the debate. no one seems to agree that there was any winner at all when you listen to the pundits...but let me lay out my argument.

sure, obama and edwards were able to talk in long, inspirational brush strokes... but we've heard it all before.

hillary laid out specifics. she had facts and numbers at her fingertips that she just reached out and grabbed whenever she needed. she spoke directly to issues people are concerned about by quoting the problem, including how many people are suffering from it, and then laying out plans for how to fix it.

and she benefited in often being asked the questions first or, at least, laying out specifics first. the other two candidates mostly followed with, "i agree with hillary" or "senator clinton makes a good point."

she looked like the party leader with the other two onboard to support her.

the best moment came when she asked senator obama to co-sponsor a bill with her:

I’ve introduced legislation that clearly requires President Bush to come to the United States Congress. It is not enough, as he claims, to go to the Iraqi parliament, but to come to the United States Congress to get anything that he’s trying to do, including permanent bases, numbers of troops, all the other commitments he’s talking about as he’s traveling in that region.

I want to ask Senator Obama if you will co-sponsor my legislation to try to rein in President Bush so that he doesn’t commit this country to his policy in Iraq, which both of us are committed to end.

obama fumbled for a moment before he said, "well, i think we can work on this, hillary."

it was a great moment and one that takes away obama's argument against hillary and her stance on iraq. he's on record of agreeing to her future plans for iraq.

it was brilliant.

getting back to fighting the real enemy
something else happened during the debate. sure, the candidates took some sharp jabs at each other... trying to best distinguish themselves from each other even though they're all so similar on policy.

but they mostly returned to attacking the man who truly deserves it: george w. bush.

here again, i thought hillary had the best moment. at one point she explained:

President Bush is over in the Gulf now begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil. How pathetic. We should have an energy policy right now putting people to work in green collar jobs as a way to stave off the recession, moving us towards energy independence.

calling bush "pathetic" is a heavy blow... and it puts her in the top spot for most democrats favorite past-time: bush bashing.

i really think edwards' and obama's lack of specifics made her clearly come ahead in this debate... er, conversation.

nevada debate quick hits
these are my quick hit thoughts on the debate tuesday night.

--the way obama slouched for the first part of the debate made his suit seem ill-fitted. watch broadcast news, barack. always sit on the bottom of your coat. it gives you good, clean lines.
--obama's drug past should not be part of this discussion and it was shitty and uncomfortable when russert brought it up.
--poor johnny boy... hillary stole his thunder when she mentioned he was the son of a mill worker in her opening answer. he had nowhere to go after that.
--interesting heckler in the audience: "these are race-based questions!" ummm, yeah - we were discussing race, sir.
--was edwards' weakness really a weakness?
--speaking of the russert strength/weakness question... i think it would have been better as the last question of the night.
--people may think it was a bizarre question to ask obama about those ludicrous emails floating around but i know a very smart person who honestly thought obama was muslim and sworn in on a qur'an. oy!
--quoting the countrywide CEO's severance package was sheer genius on hillary's part and is a perfect example of her use of specifics being a plus.
--did edwards really regurgitate his "veterans will be sleeping under a bridge or on a grate" line again?
--and what is with john edwards and his squinty/confused eyes all the time.
--you know how i feel about hillary's body language. stellar, again.
--the countrywide CEO received a $100 million severance package...i know you were wondering.
--when obama was asked about polls showing latinos would not vote for an african american his response was great: "not in illinois. they all voted for me."
--hillary bringing up police deaths on the rise again after the ban on assault weapons expired was a nice argument.
--chris matthews actually complimented hillary after the debate and said she was incredibly strong.

hillary won the debate and she won michigan that night (a pointless victory, but still). oh - and romney won michigan, too.

chris matthews postscript
clearly, after all the pressure that rained down on chris matthews after my blog criticizing him.... he has apologized.

on his show last night, matthews said:

Was it fair to imply that Hillary's whole career depended on being a victim of an unfaithful husband? No. That's what it sounded like I was saying and it hurt people I'd like to think normally like what I say, in fact, like me...I will try to be clearer, smarter, more obviously in support of the right of women, of all people, to full equality of respect and ambition.

now, granted, these comments came the same day gloria steinem and the heads of four prominent women's groups complained in a letter to NBC news president steve capus... but i'm pretty sure chris was also pretty distraught over my "fuck you, chris matthews."

words hurt, people. i'm glad chris got the message.

e.