Similar Plotlines In Dem Debate Sequel

Vaughn Ververs: Tension Increased In New Hampshire Debate, But Story Remains The Same

(CBS) 
Again, it was Obama with the last word when he pointed out that former Intelligence Committee Chair Bob Graham voted against the war specifically because of information in the NIE. "Obviously there was some pertinent information there," he said.

It was a microcosm of the debate which has been a part of the Democratic campaign since the first fund-raising calls were made. But while Edwards has effectively kept Clinton on the hot seat for refusing to apologize for her 2002 vote -- as he does every chance he gets -- Obama's presence helped to relieve that pressure by reminding voters that he alone of the major candidates opposed the war from the very beginning.

Obama and Edwards also squared off over the particulars of their health care proposals, debating what constitutes universal coverage and whether mandatory participation is a workable model. Taxes, energy policy, immigration, and the ongoing genocide in Darfur were among other topics which came up, both from the journalistic moderators and members of the audience, but Iraq and terrorism are likely to continue dominating the race for the foreseeable future.

Like the previous debate, the five other Democrats mostly played the supporting cast, unable to break into the top tier. Delaware Senator Joe Biden was passionate and pragmatic, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd once again demonstrated that he has the policy chops on a range of issues and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson displayed his executive and foreign policy experience. Representative Dennis Kucinich continued making his case as the peace candidate and former senator Mike Gravel was on hand once again to chastise the rest.

Next to Iraq, Darfur brought out some of the most passionate discussion, with Richardson advocating a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics if China fails to step in and cooperate in stopping the war in Sudan. Raising his voice, Biden said there is little time for U.N. discussions, warning: "by the time all these guys talk, 50,000 more people are going to be dead."

As was the case in South Carolina, nothing happened on stage last night to transform the race in any meaningful way. Obama improved on his earlier performance, making no big mistakes and coming through with some of the most memorable lines.

Last time, Obama struggled with a question about a tough response to terrorism, leading some to question his toughness. But when Kucinich said he would not "take out" Osama bin Laden if he had the opportunity, Obama wasn't about to repeat that mistake. "When you've got a military target like bin Laden, you take him out," he said.

Clinton again turned in a solid performance, unwilling to bend too far to the left in her positions. It's a trait that could prove helpful in the New Hampshire primary, where independents are allowed to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary and constitute a large segment of the electorate. And her approach would certainly be beneficial should she make it to the general election.

Edwards, who leads in Iowa - where liberal activists are more influential in the process - continued aggressively pushing the other frontrunners on everything from the war to taxes to health care. His direct attacks are aimed as much at Obama as Clinton, as Edwards is seeking to become the "not-Hillary" candidate in the field. That's one reason why much of the back-and-forth came between those two and not the front-runner.

Like any sequel, this one left a clear path for part three – and five, and seven and however many we will end up with. There could yet be some twists and turns in the plotlines of those debates to come, and the rhetoric is certain to become more heated. But those Academy Award-winning performances are best saved for the fall. Summer is the time for predictable entertainment. Sunday night's affair had far more of the former than the latter.

[madash3ll]

I guess some of these posts prove just how useless polls are. Small snapshots of just a sampling of our society can bring some strange results. In reality, the only poll that matters is when we're all asked to participate.

Watching that debate left impressions on those who actually paid attention...to me:

Obama was lifeless...he may be Presidential material when he ages, but only time will tell.

Clinton is a fence-sitter...can't trap her into specifics on anything but criticism of others.

Edwards is so fake he's annoying.

Most of the rest of the field might as well not have been there except for Biden...he really did well and came across as knowledgeable, honest, and decent. If the choice were down to those on that stage, Biden would have my vote.

Tonight there are 10 other voices to be heard. I for one am hopeful that there will be one other voice out there that can match the integrity that Biden has shown. In picking a President, I prefer a choice%u2026and I feel if you've made up your mind already, you're actually part of the problem with today%u2019s political environment.

P.S. As a veteran also; I apologize for our 71 model...the logic appears flawed.

[toddpw01]

With the amount of time they wasted on Wolf repeating questions to spin them, and letting the top-tier candidates yammer as much as they wanted, it's a wonder the other 5 candidates were able to get much of a word in at all!

It's obvious the media wants to favor the front-runners already. ***, we have a year and a half to go!!

[bigdadpatrio]

It's so sad that the Democratic Party has become a party of "give-a-way" programs and is comprised of so many different small factions of far left groups. Each group has its own agenda and its own wants and special needs. Truly, it has become a Party of "ask not what you can do for your country, but ask what my country can do for me". I only pray that the MAJORITY of Americans wake up before the next Presidential election and refuse to elect a Democrat into the White House. We no longer can afford the war nor can we afford to give away everything to their supporters. We need to focus on things like crime, true social needs, homelessness, and taking care of our elderly. It's time we quit supporting the "takers" of this great country. That will never happen if Democrats are elected.

[lestb35]

The Democrat Debate consisted of nothing but promises, promises, promises. I heard a promise for universal health care, universal daycare, universal preschool, elementary school for 100 mil kids around the world... let's see what else, I may have heard universal health club membership but I'm not sure, universal 6wk vacation (may have been dreaming) and universal weekly night out on the town (my idea and a very good one). That's all I can think of but there must have been more promises. What the Dems don't realize is that a broken promise is worse than none at all.

[processor2]

Whatever happened to the DEMOCRAT party concept of:

"Ask NOT what your party can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

?????

Hillary sounds to me like she is plagarizing the "communist manifesto"
Hillary also sounds like Venezualan's communist president, Hugo Chavez, when she speaks of nationalizing the health industry and energy, too.

LET'S BRING BACK
"Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

...

[hypnotoad72]

There's a terrific poll about Hillary here:

http://yitbos96bb.mydd.com/story/2007/6/1/104448/6146

The peoples' comments are eye-opening too.

[opfor311]

Recent polling shows that an election held today between ANY of the GOP Candidates and a Democratic head of lettice, tomato, or dead squirrel, would result in a loss by the unnamed GOP Candidate by at least 40%.......I wonder why that is????..........can you say, Bush/Cheney Crime Cartel????.....I knew that you could.....
Posted by veteran71

However, the same poll showed that every Democratic presidental candidate was 60 to 80 points behind any given Republican candidate and the the most likely winner of the 2008 presidental race if the election were today was a 6 year old female Chocolate Labrador Retriever from Nebraska.

Seriously, it is MUCH too early to make any informed predictions in the 2008 presidential race. There is still a lot of time for any of the candidates to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Let's just use this time to find out the positions of the candidates, and decide who would be the best choice for our votes.

[realpatriot1]

infidel_US,

That's interesting about the oil companies making 8 cents per gallon. What's your source?

Even if you're right the operating statements show that the oil companies are currently making the largest corproate profits in history. My sources are Business Week, NBC, CNN, and ABC.

The first President to propose a windfall profits tax on the oil companies was Nixon. Was he a socialist?

[winsors1]

Why am I wasting my time???? Here we are going into one of, if not, the most important political elections [decisions] this country has had in three to four decades and people using this forum don't get it! HELLO!!!!! These individuals running for office are going to decide our future as a country. Not just during their tenure but for 4-8-12 years after their gone. This is not some High School political debate. It's our future we're putting in their hands. We are going to be putting our economy, our heritage, our history as a world government, and our childrens childrens future at state. We need to focus folks... Not only is our freedom as a county at stake, but the freedom of counties around the world. Please do not take this election lightly, or the people wanting to run this country. Your life may depend on it!

[heartlight3]

I find it so interesting how these comments reflect the personal bias and preconceptions of the person writing the comment. You almost wonder if we all watched the same debate. It indicates the number of people who seem to have their minds made up prior to the presentation of the facts. Why do you even bother to watch the debates if you are not interested in what the candidates actually have to say?
And what's with the multiple posts of the same comment? Do you think it emphasizes your point? Sorry, but it causes me to just disregard your entire post as a senseless rant. I thought this was supposed to be commentary on the article. What does it serve when it gets off onto subject matter that isn't even peripherally related to the subject at hand?

[processor2]

Whatever happened to the DEMOCRAT party concept of:

"Ask NOT what your party can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

?????

Hillary sounds to me like she is plagarizing the "communist manifesto"
Hillary also sounds like Venezualan's communist president, Hugo Chavez, when she speaks of nationalizing the health industry and energy, too.

LET'S BRING BACK
"Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

...

[processor2]

Whatever happened to the DEMOCRAT party concept of:

"Ask NOT what your party can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

?????

Hillary sounds to me like she is plagarizing the "communist manifesto"
Hillary also sounds like Venezualan's communist president, Hugo Chavez, when she speaks of nationalizing the health industry and energy, too.

LET'S BRING BACK
"Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

...

[processor2]

Whatever happened to the DEMOCRAT party concept of:

"Ask NOT what your party can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

?????

Hillary sounds to me like she is plagarizing the "communist manifesto"
Hillary also sounds like Venezualan's communist president, Hugo Chavez, when she speaks of nationalizing the health industry and energy, too.

LET'S BRING BACK
"Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but rather, what YOU can do for your country"

...

[jsilver2th]

lars: Oh well if you are going at it like that then you should realize many of the common Christmas practices are Pagan rituals as well...

[lars008-2009]

Hey lars008:

Whatever kind of rituals they practice they are not "pagan" rituals-
Posted by jsilver2th at 02:14 PM : Jun 04, 2007

yes they do... they practice many of their same arab pagan rituals they did beofre muhammad ali baba decided to worship only the moon god allah...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=arab+paganism rituals islam

[jsilver2th]

For your edification here's an excerpt from Wikipedia: "Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "an old country dweller, rustic") is a term which, from a Western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of spiritual or cultic practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of historical and contemporary polytheism religions in particular.The term can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam."

See Paganism broadly means religions OUTSIDE Judaism, Christianity and ISLAM...

There is no need to insult Paganism linking it to your laundry list of evils...

[jsilver2th]

Hey lars008:

Whatever kind of rituals they practice they are not "pagan" rituals-

[lars008-2009]

what do you call an organization that:

kills you if you don't join it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=82201&ln=eng&txt=islam%20law%20kill%20kaafir

kills you if you leave it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=696&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you don't do what they tell you to do..

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=6035&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you speak against it%u2026.

http://islamqa.com/index.php?QR=22809&ln=eng

kills anybody that is not a member of it...

http://www.hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/koran5.html

still practices slavery

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=12562&ln=eng&txt=slavery

still practices pagan rituals...

http://answering-islam.org/Silas/pagansources.htm

allows the r a p e of babies and animals...

http://www.homa.org/default.asp?TOCID=2083225445

a. satanic cult???
b. islam???
c. all the above???

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

[jsilver2th]

Boy Wolf really let us down on the big debate-

(1) Why the put up job on the so called questions from audience members? No sooner did one or two speak and Wolf totally re-ask the question changing it entirely- hope those people enjoyed bring your props. Also, what's with the set up first two questions with people with family members in Iraq and their little speeches- So it wasn't questions from the public at all it was what Wolf thought they should have asked if you had his brains.

(2) Then Wolf talks right over a lot of answers thanks to lousy electronic or manipulation- you could almost understand it and I can't wait until some blogger picks it up to show how old Wolf completely manipulated things. They owe Gravel and Richardson apologies especially. All in all it was a big let down but when some bloggers get done trandscibing your "off the air" banter CNN is going to be exposed as real manipulator with its own agenda- can't wait.

[stevepdx1]

Lars008

thats all you've got, seriously? The old trick of trying to say that Dems like terrorists, so better vote for republicans is getting stale

Of course the Dems want to protect us from terror and they will probably do a better job of it when we restore our credibility throughout the world.

Trying to say that only the repubs can protect us is tired, smacks of desperation and is simply not true

No run along back to the sean slannity message board