The Democratic Candidates debated last night, and here's my report....
Brian Williams kept his dignity, but Tim Russert disappointed me, first by asking if they'd "Make a pledge to do everything in your power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."(as if they would heartily endorse nuclear weapons from anyone!)After Hilary Clinton repeatedly explained she would "take the pledge--I just DID...", he then went on to Barack Obama, who deftly explained, to giggles from the crowd, directed at Russert,"Look," he began with a smile,"We can short-circuit this right now..."

Russert continued a bit later, with ridiculous questioning of the candidates on what it would take to cause them to attack Iran.(Which implied, of course, that such action may/could be imminent. It was irresponsible, and could be discounted as downright silly--if it weren't so SCARY!)
Dennis Kucinich addressed my concerns when he lobbed a few words at Mr. Russert, and took the media to task for "the drumbeat of war" which he says they did with Iraq(and I wholeheartedly agree with him!)and are now doing, with Iran...

John Edwards slammed(with reason!Yaaa Edwards!) opponent Hilary;Bill Richardson "defended" Hilary from what he called "personal attacks"(they weren't) by all other opponents, and urged the competitors to "Save our ammunition for the Republicans...."
Barack Obama was quietly confident, and reminded viewers that he is good at mediating conflict, and could do well in terms of resolving conflict;
I found I agreed with Dennis Kucinich on nearly EVERYthing--end the war/war funding immediately; restore our Constitution;start impeachment hearings against Dick Cheney and George W....
but of course, Tim Russert/media love(s) to make fun of him--and that was done, near the end of the debate-- since he(Kucinich) believes he saw, long ago, a UFO.

Kucinich demands impeachment hearings against President Bush and Dick Cheney because of the illegal invasion and illegal war against Iraq, violating our Constitution, etc..he brought it up, THREE TIMES last night--and he slammed ALL the other candidates by saying "The Democratic Congress got elected by promising to end this war, and they haven't done it."
Tghroughout the night, he was the ONLY person who got immediate, loud applause, and that was when he urged that the Constitution needed to be restored...

Joe Biden came off as VERY well-spoken, and intelligent, but he's perceived as a bit old(71 I think?).
It's definitely going to be John Edwards/Barack Obama, unless Al Gore gets in there( I personally would LOVE Al Gore/Barack Obama, or Al Gore/John Edwards(but Edwards won't settle for second-spot this time)).
Hilary's days are done, if not numbered......
When she said "Well, why are the Republicans [talking about] me all the time?They must feel I'm making a case..."
One competitor said "They WANT to run against you.."
And Joe Biden pointed out(or was it Chris Dodd?) "We need a Democrat in the White House..... 50 % of Americans have already said they WON'T vote for Hilary. ... I'm not saying I agree, but if that's the case, we need to think about electability."

Kids, Hilary Clinton VOTED FOR THE RESOLUTION(on Sept. 26th of this year) THAT GIVES GEORGE W. THE KIND OF LATITUDE THAT COULD EASILY LEAD TO HIM DECLARING WAR WITH IRAN!
She was the ONLY one of the Dem.candidates to do so--which puts her directly in line with Guiliani and other Repubs in terms of support for the President, and WAR
(no matter what she SAYS, I'm going by her actions--and her VOTES say she's a warmonger)
I think the Republicans are THRILLED she's been doing well in the fundraising--if they go up against her, they could easily win-- since she's so polarizing-- but frankly, even if she somehow WON, they could rest easy knowing she'd continue the SAME war policies that George W. instigated, and that she has --yes, Hilary, you have, and you know you have-- authorized, and supported......
Is Hilary Clinton's voting record on the war what we Progressives really want? I don't think so!

Stand-out moments:
John Edwards urging, after talking about Americans learning to sacrifice by using less fossil fuels, etc...
"I want to be the President who urges Americans to be patriotic--about something other than WAR."
Just brilliant, Mr. Edwards, brilliant!

A hilarious quote from Joe Biden, in referring to Rudy Guiliani:
"Let's face it, every sentence[that comes out of his mouth] has in it: a noun, a verb, and 9/11."
that got the biggest laugh of the night...

with the possible exception of the peals of laughter at Dennis Kucinich nodding affirmatively to the fact that "Yes", he'd seen a UFO....(I mean, what is the big deal here? Does he have to "marginalized" so, by the media??)



If you have not already done so, sign the "Draft Al Gore" pledge, at:
www.moveon.org

I'll be posting another entry, later today, to update ya'll on "Lend Me An Ear", the radio-play being performed on Monday, November 12th,at Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern, to benefit Atlanta Community Food Bank!

Have a great Wednesday morning!
Happy Halloween!!