Who Scared You the Most in Democratic Debate?

[magerette]

Forgive me , all our non-U.S residents for drawing attention to yet another American media event.

Just finished watching the Democratic candidate debate on msnbc. Which of the band of lunatics auditioning for the presidency caused the deepest misgivings? Who would make you pack your bags and get on the bus to the nearest foreign country? I know it's hard to pick....

Edit: Equal opportunity will be given to the Republican candidates when it comes their turn to make asses of themselves

Also feel free to be serious and say who didn't scare you, of course.

 

[Ammon777]

I didnt watch it... But I am sure as hell not voting republican.

 

[txa1265]

OK, I've only seen snippets, but the bit ones for me were Obama and Gravel. Obama because he looked clueless up there and Gravel because he was a hilarious nutjob!

Edwards I really don't like very much, but that just might be residual ... and I fear that a 'loser label' might stick (though certainly not like Kerry!). Biden I have liked since '88 but if he had too much baggage then what would it be like now!

Hilary is a good speaker and a very smart woman, but I fundamentally don't trust her - she has revealed things that matter to her, and they are not what she is talking about now.

I'm really a libertarian, socially liberal and fiscally conservative, and often lean more conservative, but haven't voted Republican since Reagan ... oh, wait, I did vote *against* Dukakis in '88

 

[magerette]

For those who missed it you can catch the screaming...er,streaming video here; just scroll down to the videos section on the right.

Mike I have to agree on most of your obervations. Since it's pretty obvious that one of these individuals will most likely be our next president, I tuned in for a few seconds just to see the circus and ended up fascinated like a cobra in front of a snake charmer.

A deep look into several of the candidates eyes caused me to come up with the title to this poll.

That said, I thought Hillary came off much better than I would have expected. She was quite up front in her Steel Magnolia persona, not really attempting to cover up her own agenda. They all have them, and no one could possibly believe she doesn't, so perhaps that was mostly expediency dressed as honesty.

The scariest for me was Richardson, who apparently learned his political delivery from Ross Perot. I live in the West, and guns don't scare me, but he certainly does.

Anyway, this is just for fun. If you didn't catch the debate, you're still welcome to air your views.

 

[txa1265]

That said, I thought Hillary came off much better than I would have expected.

I was stuck in a Sears getting a new tire in January and saw her 'town meeting' and was amazed at just how far she has come since '92 ...

 

[dteowner]

I missed the show, so I guess I really can't offer an educated opinion on this one. My politics run similar to Mike's although I vote Republican. I'm more confident in the liberal courts stifling the Republicans' oppressive social agenda than I am with anyone slowing down the ridiculous spending and BOHICA foreign policy of the Democrats.

Given Hillary's previous push for universal health care (better known as a check we can't cover for product we won't want) is enough to earn her my vote.

 

[chamr]

I'm more confident in the liberal courts stifling the Republicans' oppressive social agenda

In case you haven't noticed, the NeoCons have made significant headway in this arena in the 6 years Bush's been in office. I wouldn't be so confident anymore

BOHICA foreign policy

WhosyWhat?

 

[dteowner]

Sorry, should have used that abbreviation tag Arhu set up.
BOHICA= bend over, here it comes again

 

[magerette]

Sorry, should have used that abbreviation tag Arhu set up.
BOHICA= bend over, here it comes again

That's not their foreign policy, it's their tax plan. Or--could be both.

Well, I did get some reassurance out of the debate, though. It makes it pretty clear that Clinton and Obama are indeed Tier One candidates, because the tier 2 guys were more like tier 97.5. (It's pretty scary when you can make Hilary look like the most reasonable one in the group. ) Obama looked green but game, and certainly the country could do far worse, though I think he may be unaware of just exactly what he's letting himself in for.

Or maybe someone Totally Different will come along. There's plenty of time.

 

[chamr]

Or maybe someone Totally Different will come along. There's plenty of time.

I wouldn't hold out hope for that. With the insane amounts of campaign money raised these days, anybody starting now would be so far behind, they'd have to be Jesus to catch up, and I doubt he'd want the job.

BOHICA= bend over, here it comes again

Oh please. Another Republican myth. Inept foreign policy has plenty of friends on both sides of the aisle. Whether a president is strong/good in this area has much more to do with the person and the teams he/she puts in place than it does with the party he's/she's from.

And with the way the NeoCon knuckleheads in the Bush Admin have FUBAR'ed anything and everything while putting our country and it's citizens at MORE risk rather than less, I'd think we'd all be pulling for a change in party at least until the NeoCons are mostly purged from the GOP.

 

[dteowner]

You know, a creative person could probably have a great deal of fun with that concept, chamr. "If Jesus Ran for President" You could pull in alcoholism allegations (why else turn water into wine?), exhaustive background investigation (what did he do from age 13 to 30?), seperation of church and state, citizenship problems (born to homeless vagrants, yes?), allegations of graft from fishing and breadmaking companies, meetings with known prostitutes... BADGER, where are you?

Maybe I'll take a swing at it sometime. Would probably look good on my resume for my next job-- "Hi, I'm dteowner, welcome to hell." "Welcome to hell, can I get you a shopping cart?"

 

[Corwin]

Good one Dte, go for it!! Haven't seen Badger in ages; we used to chat a lot on Skype. I think he's had some PC problems.

 

[chamr]

You know, a creative person could probably have a great deal of fun with that concept, chamr. "If Jesus Ran for President" You could pull in alcoholism allegations (why else turn water into wine?), exhaustive background investigation (what did he do from age 13 to 30?), seperation of church and state, citizenship problems (born to homeless vagrants, yes?), allegations of graft from fishing and breadmaking companies, meetings with known prostitutes... BADGER, where are you?

Maybe I'll take a swing at it sometime. Would probably look good on my resume for my next job-- "Hi, I'm dteowner, welcome to hell." "Welcome to hell, can I get you a shopping cart?"

I wonder what kind of nasty, covert, back-channel smear campaign Rove would work Jesus over with? For Rove truly is the devil....

 

[txa1265]

I wonder what kind of nasty, covert, back-channel smear campaign Rove would work Jesus over with? For Rove truly is the devil....

I dunno ... there are pretty long lines on all sides of the political spectrum vying for that job, but he's definitely not paying long odds

 

[Maylander]

Something tells me the republicans will win yet again. Why? Because it seems to me the ones actually deciding the outcome are all in low populated areas where they still think Jesus Christ was born on the back of a pickup truck behind a barn in Nowheresville (yes, those people do exist, they're not a myth).

The "blue" states will probably vote for one of the candidates mentioned here, but they did so in the last two elections as well, yet Bush still won. I personally think the same thing will happen again, only with a different republican representative (obviously).

 

[dteowner]

Although that would be my preference, Maylander, I don't have much confidence. The Democrats will have one plank to their campaign: "Yeah, but what about Iraq?" Ask them about the economy and the answer will be "Yeah, but what about Iraq?" Ask about deficit spending..."Yeah, but what about Iraq?" And so forth.

That single issue will be used to avoid any of the issues the Democrats don't want to discuss. Not good for America, but certainly an excellent campaign strategy.

 

[chamr]

Riiiightt.... 'cause the Bush Admin and the GOP has done everything else SO WELL! Let's see...

- Disengagement from the North Koreans and the Isreal-Palenstine conflict was brilliant strategy! Both those hot spots sure have cooled down since Bush took over.
- Kyoto: good call! What good will saving the planet do if it drags profits down, huh?
- The gap between the rich and poor in the US: bigger is always better, I say!
- Deficit spending!? Deficit spending?! The Republicans sure can one up that! How about growing the Deficit to record-setting levels? Becuase, as every good NeoCon knows, the Deficit doesn't matter, right Dick?
- Clean Air and Water Act: what an unecessary drag on the shareholders. We can trust companies to do the right thing. Who needs regulations?
- Party Ethics: with the Republicans setting the pace, there's no way the Democrats will catch up in corruption convictions. Take that, Nancy!
- and so on...

Yep. Democrats must be thanking their lucky starts they've got Iraq to hang their hats on, because without it, they've got nuthin'!

 

[txa1265]

Yep. Democrats must be thanking their lucky starts they've got Iraq to hang their hats on, because without it, they've got nuthin'!

You can add accountability and hubris to that list and a host of others ... but there is a problem. It is the identical list that you could have compiled in '04, and there wasn't a huge positives list for Bush to begin with ... yet he won - again.

I look at '04 not so much as Bush winning as Kerry & the Democrats losing. '06 corrected some of that, and it is nice that they have started to actually do something ... but they really need to get off their butts and present a compelling vision of why they need to be voted in other than Iraq - one that can actually resonate with people. The economy worked well for Clinton in 92 ... perhaps adding the possibility of a draft and an increasing tax burden will help.

 

[chamr]

there wasn't a huge positives list for Bush to begin with ... yet he won - again.

Sad, but true...
However, I said the day after that the silver-lining to his re-election was it gave the NeoCons enough rope to hang themselves with. And hang they did, with style. I think things are demonstratively worse now than they were in 2004.

it is nice that they have started to actually do something ... but they really need to get off their butts and present a compelling vision of why they need to be voted in other than Iraq - one that can actually resonate with people.

True again.

 

[txa1265]

Sad, but true...
However, I said the day after that the silver-lining to his re-election was it gave the NeoCons enough rope to hang themselves with. And hang they did, with style. I think things are demonstratively worse now than they were in 2004.



True again.

Chamr - here is a non-sequitur: get thee to the Video Game Trivia thread ... I have a treat for you