Last night’s Democratic presidential candidate debate was my least favorite so far. The event was a bit of a mess. CNN’s Judy Woodruff seemed incapable of running the show, she couldn’t figure out how to keep the candidates from going past their allotted time, and at times she seemed to think the debate was more about her than the actual competitors. I don’t think we’ll be seeing her host any similar events for a while.
As predicted, the candidates went after Wesley Clark with a vengeance, but I doubt there’ll be any lasting damage. Substantively, the attacks were nothing new, and Clark’s responses were more than adequate. I’ve seen some media reports that say Clark was “on the defensive” during the debate. Of course he was on the defensive; his rivals were coming after him.
The criticisms against Clark may ultimately work in his favor. Dean was the subject of attacks in early debates, but this only reinforced his position as a leading candidate. Moreover, it’s hard to condemn Clark as insufficiently loyal to the Democratic Party when he spent his time in the debate going after Bush while his rivals spent time going after him.
Other random thoughts:
* Gephardt earned some strong early applause by saying, “If you want to live like a Republican, you’ve got to vote for the Democrats.” I hope the audience realized it was a Harry Truman line.
* The funniest moment in the debate came towards the end, when Kerry was asked about prescription drugs. “There are two ways for you to have lower prescription drug costs,” Kerry said. “One is you could hire Rush Limbaugh’s housekeeper, or you can elect me president.”
* The prescription drug question was raised by a local woman who admitted that she couldn’t afford the medication she needed and has been forced, at times, to choose between medication and food. When Edwards rose to respond, he asked her about how much the medication cost and how long she’s needed it. You probably had to watch to understand, but it was down-right Clintonesque.
* Gephardt went back to using the “miserable failure” line. He even threw in a similar line, calling Bush an “abysmal failure.” It’s gotten to the point that I’m rolling my eyes every time he does this.
* Lieberman patted himself on the back for his “willingness to stand up and take on some interests like Hollywood and say that the entertainment industry is putting too much violence and inappropriate sexual matter in front of our children and affecting their lives and ours.” I guess he’s not counting on competing in California’s primary.
* Sharpton did Edwards a huge favor (just as he did for Clark in the last debate), by praising the Senator’s personal narrative, saying it can give “hope” to those who came from modest means. “[A]s someone that came out of the projects that needs to hear somebody like him say, ‘I rose from being a mill workers’ kid to being a successful lawyer and a presidential candidate,’ it may mean that I will to choose a different route in life, and [Edwards] ought not be criticized for that,” Sharpton said. “I think he ought to be saluted.”
* Gephardt came across looking pretty silly when a local restaurant owner talked about the taxes and bureaucratic hurdles she faced starting a small business. Gephardt launched into a lengthy discussion about how his health care plan would help her and millions just like her. Kerry quickly followed up by noting that the woman didn’t pay health care costs for her employees and said that everything Gephardt explained “doesn’t even apply” to the questioner. Ouch.
* Kucinich seemed most anxious to attack Dean, questioning the governor’s opposition to Bush’s policy in Iraq. What I don’t think Kucinich understands is, he’s doing Dean a huge favor — getting criticized by the most liberal candidate on the stage makes Dean look more moderate and mainstream. If Dean’s lucky, Kucinich will continue to go after him at all future debates.