# PA Democratic debate tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 16, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621 "2008-04-16T18:37:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/101 "2008-04-17T15:19:58Z")
I think that they are both trying to play a balance between interests and to not directly contradict positions they have taken in the past. While the view that there is an individual right that may be regulated may be the view that the Supremes end up taking, I do not think that either of them used the opportunity to make that point well and to explain how they each think that will play out. Net no gain for either of them and a lost opportunity to define a position well before the general match-up. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/102 "2008-04-17T15:27:22Z")
Thankfully I missed the deabate but someone please tell me they did not ask Obama the ridiculous question, “Do you think Rev. Wright is patriotic?” I mean seriously, what? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/103 "2008-04-17T15:28:19Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] Thankfully I missed the deabate but someone please tell me they did not ask Obama the ridiculous question, “Do you think Rev. Wright is patriotic?” I mean seriously, what? [/QUOTE] Oh yes. And also, “do you love the flag?” ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/104 "2008-04-17T15:28:32Z")
I caught only the tail end, starting with Gibson going on about raising taxes on those making over $200k, or some amount up there, and capital gains. He kept pressing the issue like he was pissed off about their responses. From what I gathered, the candidates both pretty much said that they would have to evaluate the revenue streams, they would consider raising those taxes if it looked wise to do so, that we have things we need to pay for, and they both wanted middle class tax relief. It’s almost as if Gibson was saying, “So you’re going to raise taxes, _aren’t you_?!” (completely ignoring the middle class tax relief part). “History _proves_ raising taxes on the rich is stupid, you don’t want to be stupid, _do you_?!” I also can’t recall what was said toward the end, but Hillary had made a point about what she would do about something, and she said a number of people agree with her on it. Then Gibson interrupted her, chiming in with “like John McCain.” So much for neutral moderators. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/105 "2008-04-17T15:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] Oh yes. And also, “do you love the flag?” [/QUOTE] Not to mention demanding in effect that he denounce and reject a '60s radical he’s only tangentially associated with. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/106 "2008-04-17T15:35:18Z")
The moderators were way too argumentative – how can you interrupt the candidates in the middle of their answers not once but multiple times? It really does make me realize what a sterling job Tim Russert does in moderating the debates. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/107 "2008-04-17T15:37:31Z")
How do we know, when Hillary tells these stories about her grandfather teaching her to shoot and her father the millworker teaching her whatever it was, that these tales even remotely resemble the truth about what happened? Any time she goes into one of those “Ya know, when I was a little girl…” stories, I can’t help but roll my eyes, wondering if it’s another pathological lie. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/108 "2008-04-17T15:40:04Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Any time she goes into one of those “Ya know, when I was a little girl..” stories, I can’t help but roll my eyes, wondering if it’s another pathological lie. [/QUOTE] You can stop wondering. Of course it is! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/109 "2008-04-17T15:44:19Z")
Q: Do you know how you can tell if Hillary is lying? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/110 "2008-04-17T15:52:14Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] Oh yes. And also, “do you love the flag?” [/QUOTE] Actually, [the question was](http://www.cfr.org/publication/16044/): “I want to know if you believe in the American flag.” Good thing I’m not running for President. My answer would have been, “I not only _believe_ in it, I’ve _seen_ it - many, many times!” ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/111 "2008-04-17T16:01:01Z")
What a dumb fucking question. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/112 "2008-04-17T16:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=Gadarene] What a dumb fucking question. [/QUOTE] Then you’d have loved “Senator Obama, do you think Rev. Wright loves America as much as you do?” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/113 "2008-04-17T16:09:45Z")
Wow, [This](http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/An_open_letter_to_Charlie_Gibson_and_George_Stephanapoulos.html) about sums up the debate for me. Harsh but right on the money. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/114 "2008-04-17T16:15:23Z")
Does anyone know if the US flag lapels are made in China? IMO, that would have been a much more relevant question on that particular issue. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/115 "2008-04-17T16:16:51Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Does anyone know if the US flag lapels are made in China? [/QUOTE] I would bet money that they are. Most of the actual flags are made there. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/116 "2008-04-17T16:18:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Then you’d have loved “Senator Obama, do you think Rev. Wright loves America as much as you do?” I did not. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/117 "2008-04-17T16:27:33Z")
Currently, I am not wearing a lapel pin with my mom’s face on it- you may conclude from this that I must hate the shit out of her. Conspicuously absent is my lapel pin featuring a cold bottle of beer and a cheeseburger sitting on a picnic table in the hot sun after ten days in-country. I also do not wear a brace of sparkly lapel pins featuring lithe, blonde Icelandic twenty-somethings with a charmingly incomplete grasp of english. I am waaaay behind in displaying what I care about- it’s so bad that as I speak I lack even the lapels to adorn. I am a poor, poor American. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/118 "2008-04-17T16:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Then you’d have loved “Senator Obama, do you think Rev. Wright loves America as much as you do?” [/QUOTE] I wish he would have answered, “Are your referring to the Reverend Wright who served his country as a Marine in Vietnam, forgoing his student deferrrment? Is this the same Reverend Wright who entered corpsman school with the U.S. Navy where he graduated as a valedictorian? Or maybe you are referring to the Reverend Wright who graduated as a salutatarian at the National Naval Medical Center? I think that was the same Reverend Wright who served on President Johnson’s medical team and recieved three letters of commendation from the White House? Honestly, I have no idea how to answer that question, but I think the evidence would seem to point to the fact that Reverend Wright loves his country very much.” ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/119 "2008-04-17T16:37:29Z")
I wonder if **Mr. Moto** is going to come back to defend his entirely baseless post above. As best I can tell, Stephanopoulos has been discussed in exactly one thread before this election, the one he cited. And in that thread the only “defense” of him we see is that he is a commentator, not a newscaster. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621/120 "2008-04-17T16:42:04Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I would bet money that they are. Most of the actual flags are made there. [/QUOTE] That’s some delicious irony right there. In order to be “patriotic” you need your national symbols outsourced; otherwise only the upper classes would be able to fly the flag and/or wear lapel pins. Golden ones with diamond studs no doubt. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-democratic-debate-tonight/445621.md?page=7)