Proof and the Pudding

A not-so-brief follow-up to my endorsement posting...I do have to say that even after going out late last night, I managed to watch all two hours of the Democratic debate in the wee hours of the morning without falling asleep.

The reason for this was because I found myself cheering and giggling and completely setting myself up for heartbreak with these candidates. I love this collection of people. They are talking over the next 14 months, around the next 14 months, talking about what is going to be done the moment that January 20, 2009 arrives and not relying on the populism of anti-Bush rhetoric or only trashing the GOP like explaining the case for Coca-Cola in the Pepsi challenge. This is not how I felt in 2003.

There were a number of moments that were engaging and inspiring, even for a slightly drunk, jaded, and and at that point, sleepy viewer. The majority of these candidates are (for politicians or human beings) intelligent and well-spoken (dare I say articulate). They imbue, quite simply, the beauty of democratic values, the open exchange of well-considered and differing positions on how to govern, analyzing the flaws in the arguments, (mostly) calmly appealing for change (mostly) without fear-mongering. They were also patient enough to survive Wolf Blitzer's mumbling, nervously digressive, Larry King-esque dementia, which is an insufferable chore in and of itself.

Things worth recounting:

1: Everything Dennis Kucinich says, however wacky at times, is said like a candidate who is not afraid. This is probably because he is not taken seriously, but as a candidate of the lost cause, he adds a vitality to the consortium of ideas in the party in a much more effective way than the outsider role that he and Sharpton took in the 2004 campaign.

Example: At one point early in the debate, the candidates are all asked to say 'yes or no' whether he or she would support the Democratic nominee no matter who it is, and as the linear progression of answers go...yes...yes..absolutely yes...it hits Koos and he hasn't said a word at the debate yet and he just jars the moment:

EDWARDS: Yes, I absolutely will support the Democratic nominee for president.

DODD: Absolutely.

CLINTON: Absolutely, yes.

KUCINICH: Only if they oppose war as an instrument of policy.

Biden, of course, ruins the moment by saying "Hell no, I wouldn't support of these guys" (perhaps an innuendoed nod to the non-guy aboard stage?).

Other moments Koos moments:

The debate on illegal immigration:
KUCINICH: I take issue with your description of people being illegal immigrants. There aren't any illegal human beings. That's number one.

The notion of flip-flopping:
BLITZER: Congressman Kucinich, I believe you're the only person on this stage who had a chance to vote on the Patriot Act right after 9/11 who voted against it right away.

KUCINICH: That's because I read it.

Trade with China:

BROWN: Congressman Kucinich, we're approaching the holiday season right now and parents across the country are in a panic. They are rifling through their toy boxes. They are throwing things away because they are so worried that toys, that products coming from China right now are too dangerous for their children.

Do you believe that the people on this stage who voted to fully open trade relations with China bear some of the responsibility for what's going on right now?

KUCINICH: Well, of course they do, in the same way that people who voted for the war bear responsibility for what's going. People who voted for the Patriot Act bear responsibility for what's going on.

(APPLAUSE)

People who voted for Yucca Mountain bear responsibility. People have to take responsibility for their positions.

Now, let's talk about China trade. The fact of the matter is, Wolf, it was well known when China trade came up that China doesn't have environmental quality standards, doesn't have health standards, doesn't have workers' rights, doesn't permit people to form unions.

Now, everyone knew that. And for someone to come up afterwards -- and I think in the last debate, I think Hillary Clinton was criticized by John Edwards for some trade-related issue, but the fact of the matter is, John, you voted for China trade understanding that workers were going to be hurt.

Now, you're a trial lawyer, you knew better. I'm saying that it's important, really.

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: All right.

Senator Edwards, he made a specific reference to you.

KUCINICH: This is a fact, though. I mean, I'm not backing down from this. This is a fact. People have to take responsibility for their position.

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: Let's ask Senator Edwards to respond.

Was that vote a mistake?

EDWARDS: I'm not sure what I being a trial lawyer has to do with it, but -- wait, what my response is...

KUCINICH: Product liability.

(LAUGHTER)

EDWARDS: Cute, Dennis.

2. Chris Dodd broke into fluent accented Spanish to respond to a question, told John Edwards to shut the fuck up (paraphrased, of course), and artfully defended the education crisis as the number one issue of the 2008 campaign.

3. The night belonged to Hilldog, by the end she had the crowd booing at Obama and Edwards when they tried to attack, and below, serving Campbell Brown some Hillsauce:

BROWN: Senator Clinton, you went to your alma mater recently, Wellesley College, and you said there that your tenure had prepared you to compete in the all-boys-club of presidential politics.

At the same time, your campaign has accused this all-boys-club, surrounding you on stage, of piling on with their attacks against you. And then your husband recently came to your defense by saying that these, quote, "boys," had been getting rough with you.

And some have suggested that you, that your campaign, that your husband are exploiting gender as a political issue during this campaign.

What's really going on here?

CLINTON: Well, I'm not exploiting anything at all. I'm not playing, as some people say, the gender card here in Las Vegas. I'm just trying to play the winning card.

(APPLAUSE)

And I understand, very well, that people are not attacking me because I'm a woman; they're attacking me because I'm ahead. And I understand that...

(APPLAUSE)

You know, as Harry Truman famously said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

(APPLAUSE)

And I feel very comfortable in the kitchen.

(LAUGHTER)

And I'm going to withstand the heat. But, you know, this is really one of the kind of issues that we can laugh about because it's exciting when you look at this field of candidates.

You know, several of us would never have had a chance to stand here and run for president -- a Latino, an African-American, a woman -- if it hadn't been for the progress of America over my lifetime. And I am thrilled to be running to be the first woman president.

(APPLAUSE)

BROWN: But, Senator, if I can just ask you, what did you mean at Wellesley when you referred to the "boy's club"?

CLINTON: Campbell...

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Just curious.

CLINTON: Well, it is clear, I think, from women's experiences that from time to time, there may be some impediments.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: And it has been my goal over the course of my lifetime to be part of this great movement of progress that includes all of us, but has particularly been significant to me as a woman.

And to be able to aim toward the highest, hardest glass ceiling is history-making.

Now, I'm not running because I'm a woman. I'm running because I think I'm the best qualified and experienced person to hit the ground running, but it's humbling...

(APPLAUSE)

It's been inspiring. And I have to tell you, as I travel around the country, you know, fathers drive hours to bring their daughters to my events. And so many women in their 90s wait to shake my hand. And they say something like: I'm 95 years old, I was born before women could vote, and I want to live long enough to see a woman in the White House.