DEMS DEBATE IN PHILLY

>>>SPECIAL NOTE: "INTRODUCTION TO JINGOCONSERVATISM" CAN BE FOUND BELOW THE REVIEW OF LAST NIGHT'S DEMOCRAT DEBATE<<<


Seven Democrat candidates for President of the United States participated in an MSNBC debate Tuesday evening at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Brian Williams of NBC's Nightly News and Tim Russert of Meet The Press moderated the event. It was a two hour marathon that showed us nothing new and was essentially a forum for those trailing in the polls to bash Billary. Unfortunately, once again no one landed a solid blow despite all the wild swinging.
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The Dems are remarkable in their uniformity of rhetoric and approach to policy. They share an approach to problems that sees government as the solution to every problem under the sun. Health insurance, the airlines, education, energy, cancer, you name it, and the Dems want to fix it with a broad expansion of government involvement and bureaucracy. They all think Bush is a buffoon, an idiot, an incompetent, a distorter, and a liar. They all support drastically raising taxes to fund various federal programs of dubious effectiveness. They all think "diplomacy" is the cure for all that ails us abroad, and it was touted Tuesday night as just that. Their proposed solution to Iran all starts with diplomacy, none of which has been successful by any measure so far. They all think the United States actively seeking to prevent a nuclear Iran is "saber rattling". The Dems have spent these events arguing around the edges because there is very little actual difference among them on major issues. They argue about who is most experienced and who has taken money from whom instead.
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Each candidate had their moment. Billary successfully and surprisingly parried attacks against her recent vote to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization by pointing out that the option of doing nothing is worse. Hussein Obama tried to attack Billary on several issues, but none of his attempts were huge splashes. Little Lord Fauntleroy John Edwards continued his ironic campaign for the poor. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson incomprehensibly jumped to Billary's defense, saying some of the attacks bordered on personal (oh, no!). Senator Joe Biden, in one of the most accurate statements of the entire evening, joked Rudy puts three things in a sentence: noun, verb, and 9/11. Senator Chris Dodd seemed reasonable, wrong, and a little lost. Crazy Dennis Kucinich admitted he thinks he saw a UFO and called for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. You can always count on Dennis bringing a little spice of insanity.
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The issue of drivers licenses for illegal immigrants came up late in the debate, and Billary attempted to soften her recent support for New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's plan to do that. She gave a fuzzy answer to the direct question twice, a nugget to demonstrate her doublespeak Edwards and Obama jumped on with both feet. Only Dodd came out in outright opposition to licenses, but none of them advocated what should be done with illegals: arrest and deportation. Republicans must sincerely hope the Democraps continue to support licenses for illegal immigrants. That could become a major national security issue in the general election. Brian Williams asked Obama directly about his experience for the office, and Hussein actually admitted to strictly legislative work only, but claimed he's good at "bringing people together".
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The only KUDOS of the evening goes to Senator Joe Biden for suporting a ban on toy and other imports from China. That's it.
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We learned nothing. The format involves too many candidates to be a true forum of ideas. The "lightning round" is really a "sound bite round" and limits candidates to generalized answers. The same can be said of the Republican debates so far. Debate organizers should establish a minimum standing in designated polls for participation. We all know Billary, Hussein, and Edwards should have been the only three involved. Only then would the potential exist to compare differences and differentiate between candidates espousing the same socialist approach.
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JINGOCON