I think this guy explains last nights debate pretty well. Not exact. But close

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13612.html

I watch debates, so you don’t have to

* Obama has really grown as a candidate in recent months. In the early debates, he’d respond to every question with generalities, painting every issue with a broad brush. There were a lot of “ums” and “uhs,” as he collected his thoughts. He’d start almost every sentence with, “Look…” Not anymore. Last night, I thought he missed a couple of opportunities, but he demonstrated a lot of policy expertise. Gone are the generalities; Obama backed his opinions up with details.

* You know who had a good night? Dennis Kucinich. In the other debates, I could practically recite his soundbites along with him as he robotically repeated them for the 400th time. Last night, he actually sounded like a human being. When Wolf Blitzer noted that he was the only person on the stage to vote against the Patriot Act, he didn’t hesitate: “That’s because I read it.” He even mixed it up, effectively, with Edwards on China policy. It was the first time this year when I was marginally glad Kucinich was on the stage.

* Bill Richardson said at one point that human rights are, at times, more important than American national security. That probably wasn’t a smart thing to say. Chris Dodd followed up with the right answer: “Well, obviously national security, keeping the country safe. When you take the oath of office on January 20th, you promise to do two things, and that is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and protect our country against enemies both foreign and domestic. The security of the country is number one, obviously, yes, all right?”

* If most of the attacks were geared towards Clinton in Philly, most of the attacks were geared towards Edwards last night. He can reasonably make the case that this was a positive development — he’s important enough to go after.

* The last question of the night was whether Clinton preferred diamonds or pearls. I like the occasional off-beat query, but c’mon. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

* Watching the Dems debate is a reminder of just much more impressive these guys are than the Republican presidential field. These seven knew policy, cared about details, and engaged in substantive back-and-forth discussions, without mindless soundbites. If Dems are the New England Patriots, the Republicans are a Pop Warner team.

Ultimately, last night was largely forgettable. There were no huge mistakes, no knock-out punches. It’s hard to imagine the debate changed anyone’s mind about who to support.

[SharkSquid]

1. I think that the two best debaters in the race

are the two "fringe" candidates on each side. Dennis and Ron Paul. They are both well read and details guys with alot of experience and their own brand of disarming charm. I think that is always the story though and just proves that no body but us junkies actually pay attention to the debates.

[ThomWV]

3. I think you are half right

Dennis, yes - Ron? I have seen him on C-Span at local campaign events and calling Ron Paul either well read or a detail guy might be technically true but what he makes out of his reading and the detailed things he recalls come together in some of the most absurd nonsense ever uttered by a candidate for office - with the exception of the other absurd nonsense uttered by the other dozen or so Republican wanna-be Presidents.

[Dhalgren]

2. Well, Dodd made a fairly big mistake, if you have him quoted right.

The oath is not in two parts (unless you count "foreign and domestic" as two) and "country" is not mentioned. It is to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic." Dodd should know better. The question is simple there is no difference between Human Rights and national security - they are the same thing...


edit to add - here is the Oath of Office for the President of the United States:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."


http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pioaths.html

[monmouth]

4. Many people decided to look a second time at Joe Biden..He was great.