« Previous | Main | Next »

Debate recap

April 27, 2007 10:51 AM

Last night's 90-minute MSNBC debate between the Democratic presidential candidates was lively, well moderated by NBC's Brian Williams, and enlightening.

For those of you who would like longer answers than that format allows, I steer you towards our "March to the White House" series on the ABC News Shuffle weekly podcast. Having featured interviews in the past with Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, Joe Biden, D-Del, Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo, this week we spoke with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio (CLICK HERE) ...

That said, here are some highlights from last night...

BITE (of the tongue) OF THE NIGHT:

WILLIAMS: Senator Biden, words have in the past gotten you in trouble, words that were borrowed and words that some found hateful. An editorial in the Los Angles Times said, "In addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, Biden is a gaffe machine." Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?

BIDEN: Yes.

pause, laughter

WILLIAMS: Thank you, Senator Biden.

*

HANDRAISING QUESTIONS:

Who has ever had a gun in his or her house? -- Biden, Kucinich, former Sen. Mike Gravel, R-Alaska, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Who believes there is a global war on terror? Clinton, former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois….seemingly everyone except for Kucinich, who says "the global war on terror has been a pretext for aggressive war."

*

WHAT THREE NATIONS OTHER THAN IRAQ ARE THE BIGGEST THREATS TO THE US?

Biden - North Korea, Iran, Russia

Gravel - "We have no important enemies."

*

WHO IS YOUR MODEL SUPREME COURT JUSTICE?

Richardson -- Whizzer White or Ginsburg

Dodd -- Brennan, Ginsburg

Edwards -- Ginsburg, Breyer.

*

GRAVEL V EVERYONE

GRAVEL: After standing up with (these fellow candidates), some of these people frighten me! They frighten me! When you have mainline candidates that turn around and say that there's nothing off the table with respect to Iran, that's code for using nukes, nuclear devices...I would say the top tier ones, the top tier ones. (Laughter.) They've made statements -- oh, Joe, I'll include you too. You have a certain arrogance. You want to -- you want to tell the Iraqis how to run their country. I got to tell you, we should just plain get out. Just plain get out.

*

OBAMA V GRAVEL:

OBAMA: I'm not planning to nuke anybody right now, Mike, I promise you.

GRAVEL: Good, good, we're safe then for a while.

*

RICHARDSON V EDWARDS

RICHARDSON: They don't want blow-dried candidates with perfection.

*

EDWARDS V CLINTON:

WILLIAMS: Senator Edwards, you made a high profile apology for your vote in favor of the Iraq war resolution. You have said, quote, "We need a leader who will be open and honest, who will tell the truth when they made a mistake." Was that not a direct shot at your opponent, Senator Clinton?

EDWARDS: No, I think that's a question for the conscience of anybody who voted for this war. I mean, Senator Clinton and anyone else who voted for this war has to search themselves and decide whether they believe they've voted the right way; if so, they can support their vote. If they believe they didn't, I think it's important to be straightforward and honest.

*

EDWARDS v OBAMA

EDWARDS: If you want to be president of the United States, to tell the American people what it is you want to do. Rhetoric's not enough. Highfalutin language is not enough.

*

BIDEN V GRAVEL/KUCINICH:

BIDEN: You guys can have your happy talk, there's real life.

*

CLINTON (HEARTS) OBAMA:

CLINTON: I think what Barack said is right. I mean part of our challenge is to put together the political support throughout the country, particularly within the Republican party, to join with us to bring an end to this war.

*

OBAMA (HEARTS) CLINTON

OBAMA: Hillary mentioned earlier, this is going to be a change election; people are hungry for change. And the question is, who is going to be the most effective agent for change?

*

BIDEN (HEARTS) EVERYONE BUT HILLARY ESPECIALLY

BIDEN: I'm looking at a bunch of winners right here, number. And whoever wishes for Hillary is making a big mistake on the Republican side.

*

CLINTON FUZZES A FACT

CLINTON: (President Bush) threatens to veto the legislation we passed, which has been something that all of us have been advocating for a number of years now.

(In fact Clinton has been advocating a specific timeline for withdrawal for only a few months.)

*

OBAMA ON REZKO

OBAMA: We have thousands of donors. This donor engaged in some ethical (sic) behavior, and I've denounced it.

*

EDWARDS WANTS YOU TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD A $400 HAIRCUT

EDWARDS: That was a mistake which we've remedied. It was simply a mistake. But if the question is, Brian, whether I live a privileged and blessed lifestyle now, the answer to that is yes; a lot of us do. But it's not where I come from, and I've not forgotten where I come from. Many people in the audience and the viewing audience know that my dad worked in textile mills all his life, and I can remember vividly -- my dad's here tonight, and I was born here in South Carolina -- I can remember vividly my dad after church one Sunday when I was about 10 years old taking us, just our whole family, into a restaurant -- I was dressed up; I was very proud to be there -- and we sat, got our menus, looked at the menus. And the waitress came over, and my father said, "I'm sorry we have to leave." I didn't understand why. Why did we have to leave? I was embarrassed. I found out when we got out the reason we had to leave is he couldn't pay the prices that were on the menu. The reason I'm running for president of the United States is so that everybody in this country can have the same kind of chance as I've had.

*

RICHARDSON'S AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR AG GONZALES

WILLIAMS: Governor Richardson, you were one of the last people on this stage to call for the resignation of the attorney general, Attorney General Gonzales. When asked by a journalist why you were taking long to make up your mind about this, you replied, quote, "It's because he's Hispanic. I'm honest." Is that the right way to make personnel decisions?

RICHARDSON: That's how I felt. Now, what I said, too, Brian, was that I wanted to await Alberto Gonzales's testimony before the U.S. Senate, before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He hadn't had a chance to fully explain ...So, yeah, you know, he's -- came from nothing. I know the guy. Did it affect that he was Hispanic in what I said? Yeah, it did, and I said so. I think the American people want candor.

*

HUH?

Asked about health care, Kucinich says "the house that I live in right now, that I bought in 1971 for $22,500, connects me very strongly to middle-class communities."

*

WILLIAMS HELPS OBAMA WITH JEWS

Asked who are the U.S.'s three closest allies, Obama says the European Union, NATO, Japan.

WILLIAMS: I didn't hear you mention Israel...

OBAMA: Israel has been one of our most important allies around the world.

*

DAUGHTERS:

DODD (on same-sex marriage): Well, I always begin this question, Brian, by asking people to consider what they would do in the case of their own children. I have two very young daughters who one day may have a different sexual orientation than their parents, how would I like them treated as adults?

OBAMA (on the environment): We've also been working to install light bulbs that last longer and save energy, and that's something that I'm trying to teach my daughters, 8-year-old Melia and 5-year- old Sasha.

***

What did you guys think?

-- jpt

April 27, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

User Comments

Posted by: chuck | Apr 30, 2007 8:56:50 AM

Posted by: dav_0107 | Apr 28, 2007 9:02:48 PM

Posted by: Willis | Apr 27, 2007 4:00:19 PM

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: