You know that personal ad with the fill-in-the-blanks, "
_ is sexy,
_ is sexier?"
Debate is sexy! Democratic debate is... Kind of surreal! But fun to watch!
Report Card
Kerry: A-
Edwards: B
Sharpton: B+
Kucinich: C
Larry King: C
Janet Clayton and Ron Brownstein from the LA Times: D
It was surprisingly placid and friendly. Edwards wasn't bad, but he pulled his punches (and was a bit shaky through the middle, but more on that in a moment). Kerry came across as serious and strong, and gave a solid performance punctuated with more strong sound bites than rambles (though there were certainly some rambles), and generally didn't yield Edwards any ground. Sharpton had the best lines, as per usual--he's a nutcase, but he's great. Kucinich made some interesting, if annoying, points, but he lost his pissing match with Larry King.
Weirdest. Format. Ever.
So we get the four candidates seated on one side of a square table (Kerry, Edwards, Sharpton, Kucinich) and two annoying LA Times reporters on the far side, with Larry King at the head like the Pope Of Suspenders. I don't even know who came up with this. However, it was interesting because cameras were positioned so you could see, as one candidate answered questions, the expressions and reactions of the others. I think the seated format hurt Edwards--he's better on his feet, his body language didn't come across.
The reporters took turns asking questions, and interrupting, and getting on my nerves, then got lost in the back-and-forth between the candidates, so it was pretty informal, and again, I think that worked in Kerry's favor--Edwards is much better with soundbites, but when there's a fluidity of exchange, he's not always as 'on.' However, the questions were clearly orchestrated to give him the best chance to articulate himself and establish his case.
It was amusing that Kucinich was all down at the end so Larry could pretend he wasn't there.
Gray Davis was in the audience. Nobody wants your endorsement, Gray. He's got worse cooties than Gore.
Title Fight: Kerry v. Edwards
Kerry wisely aimed his punches consistently and aggressively at Bush--aside from a single swipe on Iraq. It was far and away his best debate performance this year. He did have a few lawyerly rambles--someone has got to teach him not to step on his own applause--but he did pretty much everything right. Edwards emphasized the economic and geographic distinctions, tried to attack Kerry's fundraising, and differed politely on the death penalty, but it seems like Kerry was really well prepped--he put down each question with relative grace. Came back with the Vietnam experience, countered that Edwards raises over half his money off trial lawyers--"and yet he's gone against them, he's supported the Patients' Bill of Rights" and definitely came off better, overall. Edwards wasn't aggressive enough. He started strong, faltered in the middle and didn't get enough back at the end. His biggest out of the box moment was when he argued that he's won more independents and can continue to do so, and Kerry can't. Kerry put it down by saying there's no evidence for that, and going back, natch, to the blah blah blah Vietnam-cakes. Which worked, enough to diffuse the situation.
Overall? Kerry was on, and Edwards wasn't on enough. Not that it was a bad performance but he needed to make a killing. The questioners were absolutely desperate to make Kerry and Edwards go negative on each other, and both of them completely turned down the chance in any serious way. Bad for Edwards, perhaps, but good for the party.
Man on Dog with a US Senator: Gay Marriage
As per usual, Sharpton owned the soundbites. Kerry sounded too semantic and lawyerly talking about DOMA--but he was actually legally correct--and he did bring the Bush bashing, but a bit mildly. Edwards had a great line: "The President is proposing an amendment to address a problem that doesn't exist...we amended the Constitution to end slavery, to grant women the right to vote. This is political." Decision to Edwards for sounding the most effective in the smallest number of words.
Liberals Can't Write Funny Headlines about the Death Penalty
"A person kills a five year old. Can you oppose the death penalty?"
Dude! Larry King totally tried to Dukakis Kerry's ass. Kerry handled it excellently, I thought: "My instinct in that case would be to strangle him with my bare hands," he said, and then went on to quietly demolish the case for the death penalty, on the grounds of A) DNA evidence leading to acquittals and B) that it's wrong. Which surprised me. He pobably should've gone with the race/class inequity argument--and Sharpton, of course, did bring it up--but he really nailed the right tone.
Talking about dead children in front of John Edwards is just plain mean. He sounded choked up while trying to defend the death penalty, and following this question he seemed a bit shaky in his answers for a while. Did it throw him off? Hard to say. It sure didn't help.
WWFDRD?
"What would your first executive order be?"
Kucinich would reinstitute Big Block of Cheese Day. He does so love a piece of cheese. A pungent ghastly STINKY piece of cheese!
Heh. Sorry. No, he rambled about NAFTA.
Kerry would rescind the Mexico City gag rule to promote "responsible discussion about family planning." Hoo-hah! Edwards didn't get a chance to answer.
Iraq and the Screw
This is where Edwards seemed most off his game. He rambled like Kerry often does when he's at his worst, and refused to directly answer why he voted for it and whether or not he regrets it. For once, Kerry took the reins and sounded forceful: "Let me return a favor from the last debate to John. You asked a yes or no question....No. I don't regret my vote, I regret we have a President who misled America and broke every promise he made."
Now, I still wish one of them or both of them would just say, "Yeah, I regret that." But Kerry's response was effective, the best he's ever made. See what I said before about prep.
Port-Au-Prince, I Wanna Catch a Glimpse
On the Haiti situation, Kerry blew Edwards away, sounding much more authoritative, informed, and aggressive on what should be done. This is where he really beats Edwards--he loses on personal charm, perhaps, but he definitely wins on foreign policy, and it's not just 'cause of his biography.
For the record, Kerry says he would grant political asylum to Haitians, and Edwards gave a shoutout to Jimmy Carter.
Kucinich Heal Thyself
Okay, so, health care. First they asked Kerry whether Edwards' less ambitious plan was adequate (He answered: "No". Heh) and whether his own was too expensive. Edwards didn't really take him on the way he could've--sensing a theme here?--but he sounded good and on-message talking about our "moral obligation" to lift Americans out of poverty, and how health care ties into that. There was a bit of a scramble over how you pay for all this, but they came out of it well, turning it back on Bush. Good for both of them. They sound like they have positive vision on this issue, which is something that Democrats are often accused of lacking. Yay positive vision.
Kucinich: "What we have now is predatory capitalism. One's in danger of getting bubbles up one's whoopsadaisy!"
They Outsourced My Face: Trade
Edwards always sounds great, and really personal on these issues--"These people have done the right thing, been responsible, and all of a sudden they have nowhere left to go."--but Kerry was prepped and solid and authoritative--and he came out of the free trade closet, saying, "We don't want to put up a wall," and so forth. Trade is so important, but it is also boring to recap. There was a sidebar on immigration where Edwards sounded lovely. And which lead to a hilarious exchange reported below. And really, you know, apart from some additional blather on the same subjects, that's the night.
Money Quotes
"The issue is not who you go to bed with, it's do you have a job to go to work in the morning?" -- Al Sharpton. (Amen, Rev!)
"Let's make a Constitutional amendment against Presidents that lie." - Sharpton. (Preach it!)
King: Bush says you're a flip-flopper.
Kerry: Oh, he does, does he? [cracks knuckles] I'm not going to listen to President Bush tell me I have two positions on every issue when he has the wrong position on every issue.
Kucinich: I think--Larry? Larry?
Larry King: I'm paying attention. I can hear and look over there at the same time. It's a Jewish thing.
Sharpton: Let's not get ethnic!
[on whether foreign-born US citizens should be allowed to run for President]
Sharpton: As long as they don't have a record of being terminators.
Kerry: I've never really thought about it that much.
King: Think about it.
Kerry: It's worth thinking about...That would entitle my wife to be President, it's a good idea.
Edwards: I'm in the same place, I haven't really thought about it.
Sharpton: I would support Mrs. Kerry becoming President.
(hallelujah!)
"I think an Edwards/Kerry ticket would be a great thing." -- Edwards.
Me too.