Live Blog: The Democratic Debate

Photo from AP

The Democratic Debate is about to begin. This should be a very interesting format - it's certainly one that reflects technology's growing impact on our political process. I'm glad the debate is being hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper (above, rehearsing for tonight).

It's about to begin, so here we go...

7:09: The first weighty question of the night is about the war, and Kucinich, Obama and Clinton all take their turns. If you are a "peace-at-all-costs" voter, Kucinich is your candidate. However, I'm not a one-issue voter, even though there will be a great many of them in the '08 election, and that one issue will be Iraq.

7:11: Uh oh - a "liberal" question! How would Hillary define liberal? "In the last 30-40 years, it's been turned on its head, and twisted to mean 'big government,'" says Hillary. Not a bad answer. She goes on to describe herself as "Progressive."

7:11: Gravel and Obama get in a little testy exchange, but, to me, it falls flat. Gravel has about as much name recognition as a presidential candidate as I do. Although, I'm in favor of having all of these candidates here. The more candidates we have, and the more voices we have to choose from, the better.

7:12: Joe Biden sounds a bipartisan note by saying he would pick Chuck Hagel as a running mate. Hmmm. An interesting choice, and remarks like that aren't going to court any more Democratic voters, I suspect.

7:14: A Chris Dodd white hair video is sort of funny, and I'm not against humor, but c'mon - there isn't enough time for all of the serious issues that need to be covered.

7:15: I cannot believe that CNN chose to air a question about reparations for slavery. I'm a true, dyed-in-the-wool liberal, but this is the most ridiculous question I've seen yet during any debate this year. I'm not saying this because I'm white - I'm saying it because I'm an American who wants issues that are relevant to Americans who are living today. Is there one survivor of slavery today? A son or daughter of someone who survived slavery? No. The only candidate who is for reparations is Kucinich - what a surprise - a desperate candidate who will pander to anyone who could vote for him. A truly pathetic answer to a patently absurd question.

7:19: Good - a Hurricane Katrina question. Richardson is kicking butt and taking names answering this question. He slams President Bush for "posing for photo ops," that more should have been done, even before the storm.

7:20: A question to Clinton and Obama about gender and race. It's a fair question, but really, Cooper phrases the question to Obama by asking him, "What about the charge that you are not black enough?" which is outrageous. Honestly, I didn't hear how the questioner phrased the question, so maybe Anderson was just repeating it, but that's despicable. Just because someone asked something stupid doesn't obligate CNN to repeat such a question.

7:21: Hillary responds to a similar question about her gender by saying, "I can't run for anything other than as a woman." Slam dunk - that's right, and I'm really getting tired of her gender and Obama's race being an issue. I realize these questions aren't going away, however, so I'm just going to have to deal with it.

7:23: Edwards and Hillary and having a virtual love fest when Edwards is asked a question about what his wife Elizabeth said last week, that John Edwards would be a better advocate for women's issues than Hillary would.

7:27: Kucinich just crashed the boards and came up with a nice rebound about gay marriage. Well said, Dennis - he believes gay marriage should be legal. Good for him.

7:29: "I would advocate full civil unions with full marriage rights," says Bill Richardson in response to the same question. It sounds like Richardson is for gay marriage, just not for calling it gay marriage. From my point of view, that's acceptable - he's just differs with language use. It sounds to me that in the Democratic Primary in 2008, gays have another candidate they can look to who are for their getting full rights, benefits and civil unions, and that man is Governor Richardson.

7:31: John Edwards is answering a question about using religion to justify his opposition to gay marriage. He seems to be answering it, but they go to the questioner, a Southern Baptist minister seating in the audience, who feels Edwards "didn't really answer the question." Interesting - it's the first time I can remember someone getting a chance to come back at a politician for not answering a question.

**
A commercial break. I'd love to see a question about Bush's new Executive Order giving him virtually unlimited powers in the event of another terrorist attack or national emergency. I'm completely outraged by this action, and I'll be blogging about it later tonight. I'd also really like to hear a question about media conglomeration, especially with the likely sale of The Wall St. Journal from the controlling Bankroft Family to Rupert Murdoch. I seriously doubt I'll hear either question, but it never hurts to hope.

Okay, back to the debate...

7:39: A Darfur question, and it goes first to Bill Richardson. "It's called leadership," is how he begins. I also like how he mentions that it shouldn't be just about our interests. Yes. (Read: Is there any oil there? If there were no oil in Iraq, we wouldn't be there, and if you don't believe that, you know nothing about American foreign policy during the last 30 years.)

7:42: "We haven't owned up to our responsibilities to a sense of global governance," says Gravel in response to the Darfur crisis. He tries to keep talking, presumably about another topic, and Cooper cuts him off. Some of the lesser candidates have complained about not getting as much time as the leading candidates. No debate format is perfect, but I don't believe they deserve as much time. Anyone want to hear Gravel talk for as much time as Clinton or Obama? I dunno, but I don't think I would want to.

7:45: Anderson Cooper acknowledges all of the people who have served from The Citadel in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is over 1,100 troops. That's a nice touch.

7:46: A question from Barry Mitchell right here in Philadelphia - "How do we pull out now?" he repeats over and over. First to Obama, and Cooper gets a little testy with him when he sense that he's not answering the question. Obama gets his footing when he cites White House Press Secretary Tony Snow excusing the Iraqi Legislature for taking off the entire month of August because "it's hot." Nice job, Obama.

7:48: Biden says it will take "one year" to withdraw all American troops from Iraq if we started right now. I'm not a member of the military and I'm anything but an expert on military strategy, but this seems patently absurd. A year to remove 165,000 troops? Maybe if they are walking to Paris. That just seems stupid to me.

7:50: Hillary is talking about a timeline for bringing the troops home, in response to a question from a mother of a son who's about to go back to Iraq for the second time.

7:50: Kucinich rightfully says that Congress does have the power to stop the war - "tell the president no more funds." Absolutely, but the Democratic Congressional leaders do not have the courage to "cut off funds" because of the GOP PR machine, period.

7:52: Hot diggity - a question to Mike Gravel from someone who was offended at his saying that our troops in Vietnam "died in vain." To Gravel's credit, he stands his ground and defends his comments. I think there's a pretty big difference between a candidate with zero hope of winning the White House, and the front runners, including John Edwards and Barack Obama, who won't risk offending a significant number of voters by saying any of our troops die in vain.

7:56: Should women register for the draft? I say yes, and just about all of the candidates agree. Women have proven that they can be every bit as effective in military combat as men, and that includes driving tanks or flying jets. Just as there are some men who aren't fit for combat, there are some women who are not, either, and the opposite also holds true for both genders; many men and women are more than fit and capable of doing extraordinary things in combat. One gender should not be included.

8:00: A question from California that mentions that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat travelled to Israel "in 1982." He was assassinated in 1981. Oops. Someone needs to fact check these questions, but it's a fair question. Clinton courageously states that she "will not pledge to meet with these leaders in the first year of my presidency" and "I will not be used for propaganda purposes," in response to a question about meeting with enemies of the U.S. such as Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, etc. A good question.

8:04: A powerful question by Gary Berry, who has three flags over his shoulders that covered the coffins of his grandfather, father and oldest son, and he wants to know when the troops will be home.

8:05: An irrelevant grammar observation - Chris Dodd doesn't know the "that/who" rule when referring to a person. (It's who, Senator.)

8:07: Biden is very strong on foreign policy - probably the strongest of all the candidates on the stage tonight. This guy should be secretary of state if a Democrat wins the White House. If I were president, that would be the first call I'd make, because Biden knows foreign policy, and he knows the value of diplomacy. Will he be president? Fat chance. But, I love how he highlighted the fact that funds to send IED-proof Hummers to Iraq were not approved, which I find just incredulous.

8:10: Thus far, Kucinich gets the zinger of the night (and the most powerful, accurate one) when he says, "It's not right to say that you were against the war from the beginning when you've voted to fund the war," and he's absolutely right.

**
Another commercial break - thank God. I don't like it when these networks go for two straight hours of debating with just one short break. If I remember right, CNN had one break in the middle of a two-hour talkfest last time. Okay, they're back...

8:16: "Who is your favorite teacher today, and why," is the next question. Really? This is lame - just a chance for the candidates to give a shout out to people from their past. I'm all for education (I'm a professor, so I'd better be), but a better education question should have been selected. Okay, looks like I'm getting one - a No Child Left Behind question.

8:18: Richardson wants to scrap NCLB, and I agree. It's a half-baked attempt by the Bush administration to address education, with a title that sounds like it was selected by a PR Agency. Let's put it this way - the best thing about NCLB is the name, but plenty are being left behind.

8:20: Public or private school? A good question. Edwards has sent all four of his children to public school, and Chelsea Clinton went to public school from grades K-8. Obama gave the best answer about this question - that "any U.S. Senator can get his or her child into a good public school, but I want to fight for people who can't game the system." Score a direct hit for Obama.

8:25: A sex education question, and I think it's an important one. It's very illustrative about the sexual repression in our country - Mitt Romney accused Barack Obama of "wanting sex education for five-year olds." I guess Romney has a lot of time on his hands. I loved Obama's response - that "Romney supported the same program while he was running for governor of Massachusetts."

8:27: Some global warming questions - excellent. "How do you get Americans to conserve energy?" Gravel mentions reversing the tax structure - snore. The government must do more than changing the way it taxes people by how much energy they consume - it has to entice alternative energy source development.

8:29: I like Dodd's answer about global warming until he mentions a carbon tax. I don't support the idea of "tradeable carbon credits" - I think it's a total crock. But, more on what I think about global warming at another time.

8:32: I'm delighted to hear Edwards slam the idea of liquefying coal - another horrible idea that the energy companies have come up with to use the internal combustion engine. It's time to come up with something completely different.

8:34: I'm very, very happy to hear a question about elections, and why there isn't a standardized way for people to vote. Richardson is calling for universal paper trails, same-day registration, and de-politicizing the justice department that has been used under this administration to suppress voters. A great answer, but the topic gets short shrift, because after Richardson answers the question, CNN cuts to commercial. That sucks, because it's an issue that has gotten shockingly little attention by the mainstream media. In fact, it's a miracle the question was aired at all tonight.

**
Another commercial - back in a minute. Waiting for CNN to come out of commercial. Again, it's too bad that election reform didn't get more coverage, because I will go to my grave believing that the 2000 and 2004 elections were hijacked by the Republican Party. And there's a very good chance that 2008 could be, too - Bush, Rove and Co. have had eight years to put the machinery in place to insure that a Republican wins the White House in 2008. Okay, the debate is back.

8:41: Would the candidates work for minimum wage if elected president? Most said they would. Hmm, store that footage away.

8:43: I'm delighted that a question has been asked about Social Security - why are earnings not taxed above $97k? Obama dodges the question - raising the limit is "an important issue on the table." It should be done, immediately. It's a burning question - why in the world do the rich get off without paying FICA taxes, other than their first $97K earned? The limit should be $5 million or maybe even $10 million. Or, how about no limit? It's outrageous that there's a cap.

8:45: Biden wants to eliminate the tax cuts to the top one percent. Good - and that's a matter of semantics (take that, Howdy Doody Frank Luntz) - it's not a tax increase, it's ending unnecessary tax breaks for the rich. A very good answer.

Now we are getting a buffet of health care questions. Let's see how the candidates handle these...

8:48: Obama states his plan does provide universal coverage. Anything has to be better than what we have now - 45 million people are without coverage. Obama rightly criticizes the lobbying effort on the part of the health care industry.

8:50: Edwards says that Obama's plan "is a very serious proposal," and that he's "not casting dispersions on his plan." It's a love fest tonight - the candidates are not attacking each other. I guess that's a good thing - I don't want to hear fights; I want to hear ideas, and we are hearing some of that tonight. Edwards, voice rising, nearly shouts that "it's about time we stand up to these insurance companies." That sounds good during a debate, but there's nothing to stop the insurance and medical industries from the same misinformation campaign that they did in 1993-1994. The way to stop that? Real, meaningful election finance reform - public financing of elections is the answer. If I live to 100, I doubt we'll see it, but we need to fight for it.

8:54: Another great answer from a candidate - Dodd mentions stem cell research, a topic that is firmly in the corner of the Democratic Party.

8:56: Gravel has a good point - that the Democratic Party has sold out and is not really about the working man (and woman) any longer. He's right - the Democratic Party doesn't take marching orders nearly as much as the GOP does, but that's because the GOP takes much more money from big business than the Democratic Party does.

8:57: A great question about a potential Democratic president "paying lip service" to the religious faction of the American public. I love Edwards' answer, that he will not let his religious views influence what he does as president. (I'm paraphrasing here.) In other words, I took that to mean that he won't try imposing his religious views on America, something that has become so commonplace under Bush that it barely even registers with anyone any longer.

9:00: Biden's got balls - a question from some loon who boasts that his gun is his "baby." Biden slams him and brags that he helped author the assault weapons ban that President Clinton signed into law. Well said, Senator Biden.

The debate is ending on a light note - what do the candidates like about the person to their left? Again, I like the light-heartedness, but why not one more issue question? I liked the exchange between Kucinich and Cooper - Kucinich joked that CNN didn't put anyone to the left of him, and Cooper gibes that "we couldn't find anyone to the left of you." Witty, Anderson, witty. I liked it.

Anyway, that's it - I'll have a little bit more in a minute. I'm going to be watching the "Wrap-Up Show" with Wolf Blitzer, but not for the analysis, but for the usual interviews of candidates, which I always enjoy - it's a chance to hear more from the candidates, and that's what this is all about and that's why we watch, right?

I forgot to mention this, but the ad of the night was, without a doubt, from Edwards, who poked fun at himself about the hair issue, but poked even more fun at the media coverage of this idiotic, moronic story. I've written it before, and it bears repeating - I'm already tired of the mainstream media's coverage of these non-story stories, and that's been on both sides - from the Edwards haircut to how much Mitt Romney spends on pre-debate cosmetics. Enough of this crap.

I did like the format though. However, this still has the stench of the mainstream media; after all, CNN still gets to pick which questions make it on the air. I realize that some moderation is necessary, or you would have ridiculous questions and even some pranks would get asked. In the end, though, I think the format is much better than a moderator picking and asking questions.

Anderson Cooper did a pretty good job keeping the candidates on topic, too; on more than a few occasions, he chided candidates to stay on message. I'm off to watch the post-debate interviews - hopefully there will be plenty of candidate interviews, and not just talking heads.

A little more quick analysis - the questions, for the most part, were pretty well-versed and appropriate, but again, the light-hearted stuff could have been 86'd. After all, we got nothing specific about stem cell research, immigration, impeachment or election reform (other than the one question election reform answered by Richardson right before a commercial).