*This is a temporary departure from my normal topics - Indulge me for a sec…
Its 36 minutes into the democratic presidential debate on MSNBC - This is an open thread for those watching while logged on…feel free to comment with your thoughts:
Quick impressions so far.
Hillary Clinton is clear, sharp and looks very confident and comfortable dealing with the questions from the Giant Head of Brian Williams (mini joke from Daily Show - he makes satellite appearances where Jon refers to him as the giant head for this post his abbreviation will be GHBW). Would have her minimize the shoulder shrugs when describing the poor in her state if i were her advisor. - She was being asked about Hedge funds when she did this, but she answered the question really well, sounding like she would regulate the hedge fund industry. Edwards did not do too well on the hedge fund question. He didnt recover from the $400 dollar haircut flap sufficiently, acknowledged that they are rich and lived a priviledged life…then went into a story about his humble background - weak example of his dad not being able to pay for a bill at a restaurant and his resulting embarrassment.
Obama - Floundering abit, he appears to be getting his feet wet with this debate.
Kucinich - Anti war (esp. war as a tool of foreign policy)
Biden - Funny use of 1 word answer regarding the comment abt him being a gaffe machine (this refers to his gaffe where he referred to Obama as articulate bright and clean)
Gravel - First thought was heh wacky! wanted to tell him ‘chill abit’, After afew minutes, i think he comes off as passionate, abit on the bleeding edge, and extremely clear about his anti war and anti nuclear stance (He is a long shot as a candidate, but quite a strong character. They should have him on the next debate)
Bill Richardson - when asked why he was last to ask for Alberto Gonzales’ resignation was honest abt saying that he knows Mr. Gonzalez and wanted to give him time to answer, plus felt kinship with Gonzalez because he is also Hispanic.
Email Q: what mistakes have them made?:
Edwards sorry for voting for war.
Obama: Not staying in senate during the Terry Schiavo vote
Hillary: Healthcare - not being able to get it sorted in 93 ‘94, and how she handled it.
Richardson:Impatient with implementing change (didn’t choose his words carefully here)
Oh havent mentioned Chris Dodd, seems like a confident guy but i don’t get the sense that he is a strong contender on this one.
Hillary is looking better and better each minute. She is handling the debate deftly!
They tried to cram too much into the first hour rushing them through questions.
7pm CDT
GHBW - Who are the 3 allies for US?
Obama - Long winded answer not being specific though mentioning Japan, asia - follow up Q by GHBW on his stance abt Israel, obama acknowledged the issue of palestine and Israel (sorry i missed part of this)
3 important enemies:
Gravel - No enemies, military industrial complex is controlling culture and pointed to the fact that Iraq was not a threat to US.
Edwards - Russia, dissent being squashed suggests that America can change the underlying relationship with the rest of the world by providingprimary sch education, clean drinking water, microfinance, reposition US as caring abt humanity.
Richardson: How would you deal with Russia? His answer - control nukes, humanity towards chechnya, give energy to US, promote russian democracy within. He passionately pointed to the Darfur problem and poverty.
The myth of Dem’s being soft on Defense-
Hillary - great answer on bad foreign policy feeding into this myth.
Dodd- Absence of diplomacy and turning away from diplomatic tools - great answer.
GHBW - Part where they had a show of hands. Is there such a thing as War On Terror? - No one raised their hand.
GHBW: What would you do if there was a terrorist attack?
Hillary - Very strong IMO very presidential answer - Be swift as is prudent.
GHBW: Would you join Kucinich in calling for impeachment of Cheney? - No one bit. Kucinich pulls out a pocket copy of constitution pointing to constitutional transgressions by Bush Admin.
GHBW: Hard choices on Climate change as quoted by Friedman of NY times
Biden - legislation, fuel cells etc
GHBW: Gay Marriage Vs Civil Union - How are these things different?
Dodd - Looked at it from the parent point of view - civil unions ok, same sex marriage not
Gravel changed subject from a q asked by GHBW to address Iraq war - Terrorism is mischaracterized, invasion of Iraq has created more terror.
What have you done personally to deal with climate change - Obama - organized others to plant trees. Taught his daughters about changing light bulbs to low energy consuming ones (CFL’s i presume is what he meant though didnt mention CFL’s by name) He could have answered this better.
IRAN - Abit of sparring btwn Obama and Kucinich. Obama reiterating that a nuclear threat must be met with seriousness
GHBW: Who is your moral Leader?
Edwards - Took time thinking - Prays to God, His wife source of great conscience, his father these are the people with most impact on his views on morality.
GHBW: Is walmart good or bad?
Hillary - mixed blessing - goods to rural arkansas, with growth responsibility on discrimination provision of healthcare…points to buddy buddy relationship between corp and current bush admin.
90 minutes went by very fast.
My opinion: I would say HILLARY WON THIS ONE. by far. The talking heads on TV will deconstruct this further in the news
Update: If interested in more commentary, see what John Dickerson has to say over at slate.
4:52 
