In the Democratic debate in Philadelphia, the gloves finally began to come off as the rest of the field began to directly confront Hillary Clinton. She did not react particularly well, giving evasive non-answers on two issues upon which she was directly challenged: New York Gov. Spitzer's proposal to give state driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and her own plans to reform Social Security. Roger Simon of The Politico:
We now know something that we did not know before: When Hillary Clinton has a bad night, she really has a bad night.In a debate against six Democratic opponents at Drexel University here Tuesday, Clinton gave the worst performance of her entire campaign.
It was not just that her answer about whether illegal immigrants should be issued driver's licenses was at best incomprehensible and at worst misleading.
It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.
Read the rest at the above link. Jim Geraghty of The Campaign Spot also "live-blogged" the debate, but the best comment on it came from his wife:
Mrs. CampaignSpot: "Obama looks and sounds like he needs a Red Bull. Hillary looks and sounds like she had two."
I wouldn't say Hillary "lost" the debate. As I've said before, with her solid lead in the race, she wins any debate she doesn't clearly lose, and this wasn't completely clear as a loss. She did, however, show signs of vulnerability for the first time in the long series of debates, and in two of the very areas she's always beem thought to be potentially vulnerable: speaking out of both sides of her mouth, and running on raw ambition rather than a platform or principles.
As far as who won, I thought Edwards gave his best debate performance ever, showing his trial skills for the first time I can remember. He was also the most directly confrontational, although even he only indirectly spoke of the ethics questions:
Who is honest? Who is sincere? Who has integrity?
I doubt there is a single sane person in the world who first thinks of Hillary Clinton when those attributes are mentioned.
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Primaries, debates
Tags: debate, Democrat, Hillary Clinton, presidential campaign, primaries
Comments (3)
I'm not sure anyone thinks ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by COgirl | October 31, 2007 9:06 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I'm not sure anyone thinks of John Edwards either when those questions are asked.
When I lived in Australia, there was something referred to as the tall poppy syndrome, basically it meant cutting someone down to size. I think we saw the tall poppy syndrome at work in the Democratic debate.
1. Posted by COgirl | October 31, 2007 9:06 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2007 21:06
2. Posted by Glenn Koons | November 1, 2007 1:54 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I want to see the GOP put a 50 state ad on the Hildabeast's confusion, waffling on driver's lic. for illegals together immediately. Go on the attack. She is not the smartest woman in the world. My wife is .
2. Posted by Glenn Koons | November 1, 2007 1:54 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 1, 2007 13:54
3. Posted by Brad Marston | November 2, 2007 9:27 PM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Are you kidding me? I don't know how many tens of millions of yen...err, I mean dollars she has in her campaign account, but she needs more because she got her more than ample ass handed to her in a debate? PUUUUUHHHHLEEAAAAZE!!!
One caller from Oklahoma said the questions put to Hillary "were designed to incite a brawl," and that Russert's and fellow moderator Brian Williams' moderating was "an abdication of journalistic responsibility," according to The Hill newspaper.
Another caller said Russert "should be shot."
PERSONAL SAFETY NOTE TO TIM RUSSERT..."Do NOT use Ron Brown's mechanic to pre-flight your airplane next time you have to fly somewhere."
3. Posted by Brad Marston | November 2, 2007 9:27 PM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on November 2, 2007 21:27