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MSNBC Democratic Debate - October 30, 2007
By Bill | October 30, 2007 | Email This Post
On October 30, 2007, MSNBC hosted a debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia featuring the candidates for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. The moderators were Brian Williams and Tim Russert. I’m watching and blogging this as it happens, so my reactions are coming out as they happen with minimal editing - my apologies for any grammatical or other similar errors. I don’t claim that this represents everything the candidates said, but I believe this is an accurate summary of the major points. My editorial comments in italics.
Joe Biden:
- Said declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard “emboldens” the president, and hurts the American cause with Islamic moderates around the world.
- Biden, alone among the candidates, did a good job of trying to illustrate the complexity of the Iranian nuclear question by way of explanation why he couldn’t unequivocally say he would attack Iran to prevent them from gaining a nuclear weapon. Good for you, Joe. That was a cut above the other candidates.
- Biden says that Rudy Giuliani is not qualified to be President (with a line something like “the least qualified person since George Bush.”) and that all his sentences are of the form “SUBJECT-VERB-9/11″
- Says he is not running against Hillary Clinton but running to be the leader of the free world.
- Called for a minimum 16 years of education.
- Would completely shut down toy imports from China.
Hillary Clinton:
- Defended herself on the charge of flip-flopping on issues by inviting people to consider her 35 year record. (Really, Hil? Careful. Nobody’s consistent over 35 years) and says she stands up to special interests. (Interesting, given her recent comments on the valuable role of professional lobbying in the political process.)
- Took a great deal of heat for voting for the recent bill that declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, which (maybe all?) the other candidates view as playing into the hands of the Neocons. Clinton disagrees.
- Took issue with Giuliani’s suggestion that she lacks experience.
- When asked whether or not she would encourage the National Archives to release the records generated by her tenure as First Lady, suggested that she could do little about it and that the process was going as fast as appropriate (Weak answer Hillary. You could have taken the opportunity to publicly say you want them to do it, whether or not your comment would do any good. But maybe you don’t want them to do so? I don’t blame you for that - I wouldn’t, either - but just SAY so.)
- Had a problem explaining her consistency on her statements on Social Security, saying that her comments that she would consider raising the tax cap was in the context of the possibilities that might be examined by a “bipartisan commission.” )
- Complained that Bush has built up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to enormous levels (Hey, it’s not like the major oil producing region in the world is in the process of going to hell or anything.)
- Wants to freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels.
- Supports giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens…. or at least I thought she did, more on that later. Chris Dodd disagreed (because it’s a a “privilege” rather than a right.) Hillary broke in the middle of Dodd’s statement and said she doesn’t necessarily support it… Russert followed up, and Hillary refused to be pinned down. Edwards also pointed out the inconsistency, as did Obama. This is my problem with Hillary… I’ll listen to your explanation for either yes or no, but PICK ONE.
Chris Dodd:
- Questioned Hillary’s wisdom in voting for a recent bill declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
- Said that 50% of the American people will not vote for Clinton, and that’s a serious issue since at the end of the day, electing a Democrat is essential.
- Called for a corporate carbon tax as a cornerstone of his energy policy.
- Believes that education is the single most important issue facing America (and solving it helps solve all the other issues.)
- Dodd is for decriminalizing marijuana.
John Edwards:
- Accused Hillary Clinton of “doubletalk. “
- Suggested that perhaps the Republicans are looking forward to running against a Hillary nomination (I think he’s right.)
- Promised to legally investigate the behavior of oil companies as part of his program to reduce energy costs.
- He’s doing a lot of squinting and blinking… bad lights? Contacts?
- Made corruption and future generations central themes.
- Called for universal pre-K, a national teaching university, and second chance schools.
- Edwards is not for decriminalizing marijuana.
Dennis Kucinich:
- Believes that “planning for the war against Iran is illegal” (I’m sorry, I want my Department of Defense to have a plan for war against every other country in the world, even the friendly ones.)
- Would not only encourage Iran to give up any quest for a nuclear bomb, but also all nuclear power (because he doesn’t believe it’s sustainable.)
- Said that this debate “will flop” unless it addressed concerns that are personal to Americans.
- Says he’s the only one that stands for a not-for-profit health care system.
- Will cancel NAFTA and the WTO, and formulate trade agreements based on human rights, worker’s rights, and environmental principals.
- Said (several times) that articles of impeachment should be initiated against Bush and Chaney.
- Said under a Kucinich administration, students would know they would have a 2- or 4-year college education paid for (I have too many issues with such a blanket statement to go into here.)
- Kucinich has seen a UFO… not necessarily an alien, but an Unidentified Flying Object. But so did Jimmy Carter.
Barack Obama:
- Being in Philadelphia, tried to lead off the debate with a Rocky/Apollo Creed joke, but the crowd wasn’t in a laughing mood. (Note to Obama: next time, go with Clubber Lang instead. That’s money in the bank.)
- His first point was (very mildly) accusing Hillary of siding with the Republicans on some issues. Hillary, surprisingly (or maybe not… she may be trying to avoid being cast, yet again, as overly shrill) didn’t hit back, but tried to deflect the charge by saying that Bush and Chaney are probably not aware that she is on their side.
- Attacked Clinton for continually bringing up her record, but then refusing to help in getting the National Archives to release the documents that would properly illustrate that record.
Bill Richardson:
- Said he would negotiate with Iran without any preconditions, but that Iran could not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.
- Said he would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons “through diplomacy.”
- Richardson said the comments about Clinton were bordering on personal attacks. (An early bid for a VP spot?)
- Pointed out that in recent history, Governors get elected, not Senators.
- Favors an Apollo-style program to find solutions to the energy crisis.
- Favors extending the school day. (Then rattled off the names of every high school subject as something of which we should teach more.)
Summary/Comments:
- None of the candidates would pledge to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon during their Presidency, other than Bill Richardson who pledged to prevent it “through diplomacy,” thought they all promised to do their best. Expect the Republicans to try and get all the mileage they can out of trying to make the Democrats seem weak on this issue.
- It was clearly pile-on-Hillary night; she’s got a lead and the other candidates have started to try to close the gap. I believe their comments had some effect, and despite early attempts to shrug it off Hillary seemed to ruffle a bit near the end.
- Iran and Hillary’s electability/trustworthiness were the central topics of the night.
- Either by design or political acumen, Clinton, Obama, and Edwards seemed to get the bulk of the camera time, though I didn’t actually measure it. The others seemed to rotate in infrequently enough that they had trouble really getting on a roll.
- I want to like Hillary - honestly, I do - but I keep finding myself being frustrated by her answers, particularly when she falls back to saying there’ll be a bipartisan commission to investigate this, or a blue ribbon panel for that. That’s not what a leader says, even if that’s part of the process. What do YOU think?
- Kucinich and the UFO… whatever your personal beliefs on the topic, I can’t believe this will help his candidacy. Expect every candidate to be asked the UFO question in the upcoming days.
- This felt like a long debate, without many blockbusters.
- My analysis: Overall winner, Biden. Obama didn’t do anything to help or hurt himself. Hillary did not fare well… I expect her to fall a bit, and the illegal immigrant license question waffle in front of a live studio audience will come back to haunt her; her opponents tried to attack her all night on being inconsistent, and there she goes and provides them with a gift-wrapped example. Kucinich… UFO. Enough said. Richardson was okay. Dodd was generally not remarkable, though the marijuana thing may grab some headlines.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Why is everyone saying Hillary has the race in the bag when she can barely speak coherently in these debates. Either Obama or Edwards needs to drop out–it is the only way to take this away from Hillary.
November 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Go Colbert! As wacky and wierd as he is, I’d vote for him.