So who won the debate last night? What's the DU consensus?

[Unsane]

I wasn't here last night to partake in the insanity.

[Kittycat]

1. Obama

He won a few points, but pretty much maintained grace. Clinton on the other hand threw in that SNL line and it just made her look petty and immature. Then she fumbled a couple questions - nothing horrible, but just not enough to pull her in to the lead.

[underpants]

2. I watched it with the sound off an I agree-Hillary had a mix of rage and almost crying

Neither one really had a good answer on NAFTA


:shrug:


I went to sleep I had to get up early this morning

[Demagitator]

3. Hillary n/t

[Unsane]

8. Really? Was it when she couldn't remember the Russian president's name?

"Whatever his name is"

[ORDem]

12. I thought Obama won but I think criticizing her on not knowing

Medvedev's name is unfair. It was clear to me that neither HRC or BHO had a grip on the answer to this question. Hillary got an extra point for doing a better job talking around it, but their answers really were disappointing.

[enid602]

25. Medved

It's Medved. And he's a candidate for Russian President, although it's universally felt that the elections are fixed to ensure Medved's win, who will int turn appt Putin to a Prime Minister Position.

[splat]

15. She came close. Obama skated again!

We'll never know if the name was known by Obama, who is running for president, because Russert chose to put Clinton on the spot. And she blew it. Although the official transcript partially covers up her mistake. It has Clinton replying, "Medvedev -- whatever."

What a tape actually shows the senator said was, "Meh, uhm, Me-ned-vadah -- whatever."

Russert then turned to Obama, who during a forum last summer referred to the president of Canada which, of course, has no president; it has a prime minister. "Do you know anything about him?" Russert asked.

Obama, who looked genuinely relieved not to have gotten the Russian name question, took the easy way out. "Well," he said in his 163-word response, "I think Senator Clinton speaks accurately about him..." and continued to also criticize the Bush administration.

Phew. On such chances do lasting voter impressions rest.

-- LA Times

It would have made more sense journalistically to ask Obama the question first, since he's the one whose foreign policy credentials are at issue, but Timmy never misses a chance to go after her.

[ORDem]

24. Neither did well on that question, but it's spilt milk at this point.

Or will HRC supporters forever say that if Russert had just asked Obama to pronounce Medvedev's name HRC would've have snatched the nomination from him?

:dem:

[splat]

34. I'm more concerned that Republican voters are crossing over to vote for Obama to set him up, actuall

[mkultra]

39. you should be more concerned about the polling data that shows

Hillary behind McCain in a GE

[jlake]

46. Would that be the same polling data that shows Obama behind as well?

[LisaM]

47. He's not the President, he's the candidate, and if they were going to put her on the spot

they should have put him on the spot on a name, too! (She basically knew it, anyway).

That made Russert look really foolish.

[Tarc]

22. What gives a fuck what his name was? Anyone that Czar Vlad installs

will be a carbon copy of himself anyways.

Seriously, start caring about important things please, rather than this type of retarded nonsense.

[Emit]

4. I missed it, but, MSNBC on line poll says Obama 64%/Clinton 21%

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4791116&mesg_id=4795448

[sallyseven]

27. MSMBC is full of bull.

They have been working for Obama for over a year now. I hate them all. I will even include KO. NBC is just an extension of the GOP. Obama will be easier to beat. Watch Tweety start kissing McCains butt every night from now on. I am truly disappointed in KO. I though he was a real person.

[JBoy]

It was a poll. People went to the site and voted.

I'll agree the poll has some self-selection bias. Many of Hillary's demographic wouldn't be able to find the internets.

[Robbien]

5. Signed on a few minutes ago myself

and quickly took a look at the right side of the web

They feel the race is finished. Clinton lost. RedState: Turn out the lights, Party's over.

Her whining throughout the debate was a big issue over there.

[Unsane]

7. Interesting

[Robbien]

11. And over at Yahoo, a scathing review about the whining

All in all, it was a rather ignominious, belittling way to almost certainly close out the Clinton Era.

. . .

Clinton, in her best moments, is certainly capable of something more than a torrent of peevish, petty, picayune, and intellectually dishonest bickering and parsing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080227/cm_huffpost/088634

[k8conant]

6. Obama...

Clinton was OK but petty at times.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. I probably am in the minority but I think it was a draw

They both had strong and weak moments. If you liked one more than the other going into the debate the odds are nothing changed.

[ORDem]

19. I think that's the main point. HRC didn't make any headway last night.

She's basically toast relative to the nomination.

:kick:

[JimGinPA]

10. Obama Was Presidential...

Hillary didn't gain any ground, and she needed to.

[Maddy McCall]

14. Yeah, by saying, "I second what she said" every time she responded to a question...

He looked very presidential. :eyes:

[JimGinPA]

20. I Guess I'd Be Bitter & Small-minded If I Supported Hillary Too

:eyes:

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Abacus]

13. Obama

My post from last night:

I honestly thought Obama won. It looked to be swaying towards Hillary on the open with the health care discussion (despite the first question nonsense). Then Obama scored on NAFTA & foreign policy helping to shift the debate momentum. Hillary's parsing of "rejection" versus "denunciation" was awkward and a little petty, followed by a classically deflating response from Obama. She should know by now not to walk into those. Her strength is policy discussion; Obama makes her look silly when she starts getting into tit-for-tat. I thought it was a good finish for both, but overall Obama maintained the lead.

To add:

Hillary's attempt to take on a "fighter" identity -- as suggested by Gergen after CNN's debate -- was overall a good decision. Unforunately for her, I think it is too little, too late. The down side of the "fighter" identity is that the coincidence of the recent volley sent towards Obama makes causes her to be perceived as fighting her own party. Obama successfully pressed her on this when he spoke of waysided Democrats during her closed door meetings for her failed 90s health care initiative.

[Independent-Voter]

16. Mostly a draw, which really means Obama took care of what he needed to without a fuss.

[goldcanyonaz]

17. Why do you even ask? If anyone replies with anyone but Obama you bust a nut.

[Eric J in MN]

18. They both did fine. Tie. NT

NT

[rox63]

26. I only watched the first hour

But I found Hillary's whining and complaining tiresome. That said, I agree that Russert was a major asshole, and quite a few of the questions were unfair "gotcha" traps.

[mkultra]

40. ruusert was kind of prickish

But to be fair, she tried to force time onto the moderator which is what resulted in them cutting her off. In contrast , i felt that the Texas CNN debate treated Obama unfairly by cutting him off an not giving him rebuttals in equal measure.

it was very close, i thought she was doing a great job of focusing on her own abilities and records and only started to slip when she got petty. Thats when he flipped it on her.

[The Anti-Bush]

28. Obama hands down...

And I got over 60% of people who watched to agree with me.

[totodeinhere]

29. I'd call it a tie.

But remember, we're not electing a debate team coach. We are electing the next president. I have always believed that these debates are way over rated.

[JackORoses]

30. Obama by a mile. Hillary looked like a frantic howler monkey up there.

My favorite part was when she tried to bully Brian Williams into letting her keep talking, but he said "Television doesn't stop" and went to commercial.

[WinkyDink]

42. Yeah, electing a President isn't like watching a white Bronco on a freeway, for Pete's sake!

Priorities!

[MadAndy]

31. A tie on substance but Hillary lost for 3 reasons

1. Her makeup was horrible
2. Her snarky comment on getting Barack a pillow.
3. Her whining about always getting the first question.

[JBoy]

32. Are you kidding? Her makeup was amazing.

Agree with #2 and #3.

[Unsane]

33. Lipstick on one's teeth is "amazing"?

:crazy:

[MadAndy]

38. Not unless it was Halloween. She looked like raggedy ann.

[mkultra]

41. its possible

Its hard to say what she started with so it could have been magnificent.

[JBoy]

43. Not from last night, but representative

The lighting helps too.

[totodeinhere]

44. We don't need your sexism.

[MadAndy]

45. You can't be serious. Was it sexist to point out that Gore's makeup looked

hideous in his debate with bush? Are you so foolish to think that appearance in a debate is not important? Richard Nixon would disaree with you. Knee jerk charges of sexism are counter productive.

[totodeinhere]

50. Maybe I jumped to a conclusion.

I didn't stop to think that in debates everyone wears makeup, men and women both. I guess with all of this talk at DU about sexism I might have got too carried away.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

35. It Was As Close To A Draw As You Can Get Really.

Anyone saying a strong endorsement one way or the other is simply not being objective and doing so through clouded lenses.

[anamnua]

36. hillary

[DavidDvorkin]

37. The candidate I support!

It was a blowout. The other candidate is worthless.

(Generic, all-purpose answer. Suitable for daily use.)

[Iggo]

48. Was it on during the Laker game?

[MadBadger]

49. At best for Hillary, it was a tie, and tie goes to the frontrunner

[Mass]

51. Tied. They both had weaker moments and strong moments.

Now a draw is always good for the person who leads.

[AtomicKitten]

52. For the first time Obama won a debate last night.

[BlueGirlRedState]

53. I thought it a draw

Good points and bad points for both.

Hillary's SNL comment was snarky. The "denounce/reject" interjection was not called for. Most of her other answers were well thought out. I thought her appearance was very attractive, if I may say so.

Barack had too many "me too" answers. I wish he'd be a little more forceful -- he's almost too gentlemanly. I was glad to see him insisting on rebuttals.

When Barack was speaking, Hillary often looked at him as if she had steam coming out of her ears.

Tim Russert seemed like he was out to prove he was tough... taking lessons from Chris Matthews, I guess.

But all in all, not much that was memorable.

BTW, I've already voted for Barack.

[quakerboy]

54. I think you have come to the wrong

place, if you are looking for consensus.