Here is what I learned in the debate, and spin appearances after the debate, about each of the candidates that I didn’t know before:
Chris Dodd is for decriminalizing bong-hits and John Edwards thinks that sends the wrong message to children. Edwards is a wimp on this issue, as were several others that raised their hands as opposing the decriminalization of bong-hits.
Bill Richardson is running for vice-president (which is why he leaped to defend Hillary Clinton from a tag-team led by Edwards, Obama, and Dodd).
Dennis Kucinich saw something in the sky once that he could not identify and this makes him insane in the view of all serious people.
Obama will not throw out any red meat no matter how hard he is prodded, but he will go after Hillary Clinton. He’s also for giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in New York State (Dodd and Biden are against it).
Joe Biden thinks very little of Rudy Guiliani.
Hillary Clinton is trying to have every side of every argument: on the war in Iraq, on confronting Iran, on Social Security, and on giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. She got nailed tonight on all those issues and clearly lost the debate BADLY.
As for who won the debate? That’s not clear. Obama helped himself by getting aggressive and making clear distinctions on Iran. Edwards did quite well, although he took some shots. Biden had the most memorable zinger and was relaxed and confident. Richardson and Dodd, as per usual, struggled to get noticed.
And Kucinich is now officially ‘nuts’ in the eyes of the punditocracy. He is about to get the Dean treatment.
So, where do we stand? The one thing that needed to happen, happened. Hillary bled all over the carpets from beginning to especially the end. If there is any movement in the polls from this debate it will be away from her. Yet, no one set themselves up to be the main recipient of her loss of support.
As for the issue of drivers licenses for illegal immigrants: regardless of the merits, it will now be used against Hillary with a breathtaking relentlessness not seen since they found out that her husband let his peter out of his pocket. Clinton, if she supports this initiative, needed to stand tall on it, be aggressive, and explain the rationale…which is certainly a hard one to explain in a sound byte. Instead, she said she was for it even though it is a really bad idea, but she is not for it, but it is a gotcha question, but what the hell else can we do, but she doesn’t endorse it. It was the worst of all worlds. And it will make Kerry’s flip-flop look like peanuts.
If I were advising Hillary, and I’m not, I’d get her out front tomorrow to give a speech about the urgent need to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, because there is no going back now. Either she convinces people she is right, or she is going to get destroyed on that issue in the general election.
