The Debate

I watched it last night. I give the candidates a C+ over-all. It really wasn't a very good performance.

Hillary Clinton - I can see why her unfavorable ratings are high. She totally lacks the charm that her husband has. When Bill Clinton speaks about an issue, you feel that he really does care. When he says "I feel your pain", it sure as hell seems like he does. She said "this administration" and "this president" over and over. Yes, we know Chimpy sucks. What we want is someone who has the presence to lead in a reassuring way. In other words, Al Gore. If you saw An Inconvenient Truth, you'd have seen what a wonderful presence he has that goes far beyond the debates in 2000. His natural demeanor is exactly what the country would respond to. D-

Barack Obama - I thought he did pretty well. He didn't distinguish himself particularly, but then he didn't say anything overly stupid either. Once again, like Hillary, he didn't seem natural. B-

John Edwards - I thought he did the best job over all. There was one question that he paused far too long to answer, "Who do you get your morals from?" When he finally did answer, it was very well done. I liked his demeanor, his presence, and his answers. B+

Bill Richardson - Timmah! Seriously, he was spastic. Richardson doesn't know what to do with his hands during a debate, and his answers were rushed, overly excited and uninspiring. I was surprised to see him look that nervous considering how much political experience he has. C

Joe Biden - "Yes!" Biden didn't say anything stupid. C+

Dennis Kucinich - "I'm craaaaazzzzzyyyyy!!!" Looking really pissed off is no way to conduct a debate. Kucinich actually does have a lot of valid points, and out of all the candidates he's the closest to a true progressive, but he came off looking like a nut. D-

Chris Dodd - His answer about homos was half right... which is the same position as most of the other candidates except Kucinich. Civil unions, okay! Real marriage, bad! Logic, missing! B-

Mike Gravel - "Who am I? Why am I here?" Seriously.. wasn't that Ross Perot's ex-running mate, Admiral Stockdale? F


Global criticism - not answering the question asked. It is also highly annoying for a candidate to respond to a new question by first answering the last one. That question is over, move on and give your best response to the issue at hand. That is, unless the last question was something like "You were responsible for Vince Foster's death, right?" and you didn't have a chance to respond yet. Somehow I don't see that happening.

I think any of the top candidates, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, will easily beat the Republican challenger. I'd just like a little more Jack Kennedy and a little less Al Gore circa 2000. The one person who might be able to do that is.. Al Gore circa 2007.