Well, CNN hosted a Democratic Presidential Candidate debate tonight. It ended around 6PM, I think (PST), and I still have not seen any threads on it yet.
What are the Doper’s first impressions?
I don’t have cable, so I couldn’t watch it…but I’ll bet it will be on YouTube by tomorrow evening. So, I guess I’ll come back here then 
All I know is that Bill Richardson’s performance on Meet the Press last weekend was absolutely pathetic. If I had any positive thoughts of him before that, Russert quashed them. Did he redeem himself at all in the debate?
Not according to the CNN interactive (online) poll.
I don’t think that any drastic reshuffling of the Democratic deck is in store for us, except maybe in the case of Obama over Edwards. Maybe.
I recall a lot of promises (Universal Healthcare, cheaper post high school education, a balanced Federal budget, reduced special interest influence in government, withdrawal from Iraq, investigating the oil companies for gasoline price fixing), but no real details on how all that would get done in a bipartisan way. (I dont think they could do most of that without a bunch of Republicans signing on.)
They split on what to do about Darfur.
I tuned in after they talked about the Immigration issue. Sorry.
Hope it’s ok to link that…
Does anyone else think CNN has lost all claims to neutrality by having one of their own anchors host the debate?
I missed it :smack: I’m having trouble finding either a complete text transcript, or complete video of it (all I can find on you tube is random clips). Can anyone point me to either a complete transcript, the entire debate on online video, or info on when it might be rebroadcast on tv?
Not really. If it wasn’t for CNN it would have played to only a local audience. I don’t think CNN or the other legitimate cable news network, MSNBC, would put their own political bias into moderating the debates. Wolf wasn’t afraid to ask the hard question, such as asking Hillary if she regretted voting for the AUMF without having read the intelligence report herself.
I thought Edwards did very well last night, starting to get in some licks on Hillary for deciding at the last minute about voting for the funding bill and refusing to admit that her vote was a mistake. Biden and Dodd also did well and looked presidential.
??
I can’t think of a debate in which the hosting network didn’t have on of its own anchors moderate. Chris Matthews did the MSNBC one and Brit Hume moderated on FOX. The networks aren’t doing these things out of charity, part of the point is to promote the network and it’s personalities.
And I can’t think of what that has to do with neutrality in anycase.
That’s a good point. I take it back.
I couldn’t believe they let Gravel in there. He seemed deranged.
I really liked Kucinich. I agreed with most everything he said. Too bad most other people don’t feel the same way. 
I heard everyone mention how strongly Senator Clinton performed. Do you guys think so? I wasn’t particularly impressed at all. I was more impressed with Senator Edwards coming out after people. I think Richardson looked real bad.
I also think Wolf did a good job of asking difficult questions. I would have liked to hear Gravel and Kucinich more though. Is Wolf also hosting the Republican debate Tuesday?
Kucinich did look and sound good, but alas will never get passed being odd looking. If he were handsome and taller, he’d have a shot.
Biden sounded the best, but I think he’s too unknown to most of country.
Richardson looked and sounded stupid, especially when asked about Iraqi genocide and said something like “we’re not sure that will happen when the US leaves” :rolleyes:
I totally understand why Hilary can’t admit to the mistake- damned if you do, or don’t. In the first place, she would have been slammed for not voting for it, and now she’s slammed becasue she did. But maybe she could have said, yes I was wrong, I trusted GWB, which would make her look bad for trusting an indiot and a liar. The Republicans would say, in effect, you idiot, you believed us. But she sounded nuts when she implied it is the Iraqis fault that they have allowed their country to go to hell.
I think Biden did the best, he was forceful. The guy on the far left to the viewer with white hair looked like he was up there by mistake. And Edwards- maybe trying to change his nice gee whiz golly Southern boy image?
Last time I voted in primaries, I voted for Kucinich. This time, I’m still voting for Kucinich (unless something else comes up. Edwards is a number 2).
He’s been pretty close to right on a lot of these things so far and might be a little more “left”, but he’s been spot on.
Also, his wife has a touch of RatherCute.
Or if he could get in to see John Edwards’ stylist. His hair is awful. I like him too. He’s the only candidate who doesn’t come off as robotic.
I didn’t see the debate. My opinion’s based on an NPR interview and a guest shot on a talk show (forgot which one).
Moved from IMHO to GD.
Yeah, well, here’s a different view on that.