The Democratic Candidate Debate

I didn't watch it, but I read it. The YouTube question format was a brilliant stroke and is yet another example of the Left trouncing the Right in use of new media.

The debate was fairly dull and tame until the crazy climate change questions, which always get me worked up. I'm struck by how well Obama is able to stay on message ("I'm the guy who's really different and isn't connected to corporate or other special interests"), how disappointing Bill Richardson was, how good Clinton is at being relatively centrist, and how not-crazy Gravel actually sounds in some of his answers (see below - and my opinion omits his crazy inside-baseball complaint against Obama using bundlers). I'm also impressed by the increased nuance some of the candidates - particularly Biden and Clinton - showed on their answers about Iraq.

Overall, though, despite the benign nature of many of the answers, I am more convinced than ever that these people are not the right people for our country. They are for solutions that punish the job-makers, that pick winners and losers while patting themselves on the back for not doing that, and that bring more people into dependence on government instead of encouraging self-reliance.

Honest and Awful:
Hillary Clinton, when asked if she would describe herself as a liberal:

You know, it is a word that originally meant that you were for freedom, that you were for the freedom to achieve, that you were willing to stand against big power and on behalf of the individual. Unfortunately, in the last 30, 40 years, it has been turned up on its head and it's been made to seem as though it is a word that describes big government, totally contrary to what its meaning was in the 19th and early 20th century.

And right here, she could come out against big government and that she trusts people to make decisions for themselves instead of bureaucrats and politicians - a truly progressive idea - but instead, she shifts back to the Village...

I prefer the word "progressive," which has a real American meaning, going back to the progressive era at the beginning of the 20th century. I consider myself a modern progressive, someone who believes strongly in individual rights and freedoms, who believes that we are better as a society when we're working together and when we find ways to help those who may not have all the advantages in life get the tools they need to lead a more productive life for themselves and their family.
So I consider myself a proud modern American progressive, and I think that's the kind of philosophy and practice that we need to bring back to American politics.

Answers That Make You Pause and Shake Your Head Hoping That Will Make The Answer Make More Sense:
Barack Obama, as part of his answer to a question on paying reparations for slavery, which he opposes:

Unfortunately, we've had a White House that hasn't invested in the kinds of steps that have to be done to overcome the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in this country.

Most Respectable Answer:
Mike Gravel on a question about whether he sent his kids to public or private school:

My children went to public school and private school, and I'm recommend that we need a little bit of competition in our system of education. Right now, we have 30 percent of our children do not graduate from high school. That is abominable, and that is the problem of both parties.

Most Respectable Statement that Didn't Answer the Question:
Also from Mike Gravel, responding to a question about how politicians can use their power to make Americans conserve energy:

Very simple, change our tax structure. Have a fair tax where people are taxed on what they spend rather than what they earn. And our tax system is totally corrupt right now. And so if we now have a retail sales tax, you'll take this nation of ours from a consuming nation to a savings nation. And that's the most significant thing we can do to alter climate change.

Did You Want To Prove Ann Coulter Right?:
John Edwards, responding to the final question where each candidate had to say something they liked and didn't like about the candidate to their left. This is from the CNN article; the transcript omits this for some reason:

Edwards said he liked Clinton's service to the country, as well as her husband's. But Edwards looked at the salmon-colored jacket Clinton wore and said jokingly, "But I don't know about that jacket."

Read the debate and know what we may getting ourselves into.