The Democrats, Episode 7
Yet again the Mystery Debate Theater team of Andrew Kingsford, Tim Willette and Steve Rhodes gathered at Beachwood HQ to check in with the pathologically power-thirsty people who want to be your president. Andrew ordered fried rice and Tim downed about a half-dozen Red Bulls. Most noticeable was the strange frequency of trains running on the Blue Line through my backyard. Tim theorized they were running a bunch of ’em in a row to get their average up. I theorized that Red Line and Orange Line trains were now also running to O’Hare. Or that trains were just running back-and-forth between the Damen and Division stops, perhaps even drag racing. Andrew was too aggravated to theorize.
As always, the following transcript has been edited for length, clarity and sanity.
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MODERATOR TIM RUSSERT: Senator Obama, I’d like to start with you. General Petraeus in his testimony before Congress, later echoed by President Bush, gave every indication that in January of 2009 when the next president takes office, there will be 100,000 troops in Iraq. You’re the president. What do you do? You said you would end the war. How do you do it in January of 2009?
OBAMA: Well, first of all, Tim, let me say thank you to Dartmouth for hosting this event. And let me also say that had my judgment prevailed back in 2002, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. I was opposed to this war from the start, have been opposed to this war consistently.
STEVE: The first thing I will do when I get into office is talk about how opposed to the war I was.
OBAMA: If there are still large troop presences in when I take office, then the first thing I will do is call together the Joint Chiefs of Staff and initiate a phased redeployment. We’ve got to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. But military personnel indicate we can get one brigade to two brigades out per month.
TIM: One brigade, two brigade . . .
ANDREW: Three brigade, four.
OBAMA: I would immediately begin that process. We would get combat troops out of Iraq. The only troops that would remain would be those that have to protect U.S. bases and U.S. civilians, as well as to engage in counterterrorism activities in Iraq.
STEVE: And then I will bore the Shiites to death.
ANDREW: Bore the Shiite out of them.
OBAMA: The important principle, though, is there are not going to be any military solutions to the problem in Iraq. There has to be a political accommodation, and the best way for us to support the troops and to stabilize the situation in Iraq is to begin that phased redeployment.
RUSSERT: Will you pledge that by January 2013, the end of your first term more than five years from now, there will be no U.S. troops in Iraq?
STEVE: In other words, let me ask the question again.
OBAMA: I think it’s hard to project four years from now, and I think it would be irresponsible. We don’t know what contingency will be out there.
What I can promise is that if there are still troops in Iraq when I take office, which it appears there may be unless we can get some of our Republican colleagues to change their mind and cut off funding without a timetable, if there’s no timetable, then I will drastically reduce our presence there to the mission of protecting our embassy, protecting our civilians and making sure that we’re carrying out counterterrorism activities there.
I believe that we should have all our troops out by 2013, but I don’t want to make promises not knowing what the situation’s going to be three or four years out.
STEVE: He’s a change agent. He just likes his change to happen really slowly . . . Some people ask how he does change. Volume.
RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, you have said that will not pledge to have all troops out by the end of your first term, 2013. Why not?
SENATOR CLINTON: Well, Tim, it is my goal to have all troops out by the end of my first term. But I agree with Barack. It is very difficult to know what we’re going to be inheriting. You know, we do not know, walking into the White House in January 2009, what we’re going to find. What is the state of planning for withdrawal?
That’s why last spring I began pressing the Pentagon to be very clear about whether or not they were planning to bring our troops out. And what I found was that they weren’t doing the kind of planning that is necessary, and we’ve been pushing them very hard to do so.
You know, with respect to the question, though, about the Democrats taking control of the Congress, I think the Democrats have pushed extremely hard to change this president’s course in Iraq. Today I joined with many of my colleagues in voting for Senator Biden’s plan, slightly different than he’d been presenting it, but still the basic structure was to move toward what is a de facto partition if the Iraqi people and government so choose.
The Democrats keep voting for what we believe would be a better course. Unfortunately as you know so well, the Democrats don’t have the majority in the Senate to be able to get past that 60-vote blockade that the Republicans can still put up. But I think every one of us who is still in the Senate – Senator Biden, Senator Dodd, Senator Obama and myself – we are trying every single day. And of course, Congressman Kucinich is in the House.
STEVE: Dice-K is in the house!
CLINTON: But I think it is fair to say that the president has made it clear. He intends to have about 100,000 or so troops when he leaves office – the height of irresponsibility, that he would leave this war to his successor. I will immediately move to begin bringing our troops home when I am inaugurated.
RUSSERT: Senator Edwards, will you commit that at the end of your first term, in 2013, all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq?
STEVE: I can say the same things those guys just said but move the words around in different order.
MR. EDWARDS: [says the same those guys said but in a different order]
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RUSSERT: Governor Richardson, you have said that you will bring home all troops within a year. You’ve heard your three other opponents say they can’t do it in four years. How can you do it in one year?
RICHARDSON: Well, I have a fundamental difference with Senator Obama, Senator Edwards and Senator Clinton.
TIM: And you, Tim. And my mother.
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RICHARDSON: My position in bringing all troops out of Iraq is to end the war. The American people want us to end this war. Our kids are dying – the bloodiest last three months – and my position is this, that you cannot start the reconciliation of Iraq, a political settlement, an all-Muslim peacekeeping force to deal with security and boundaries and possibly this issue of a separation, which is a plan that I do believe makes sense, until we get all our troops out, because they have become targets. And I also disagree with Senator Clinton. I don’t believe the Congress has done enough to end this war.
RUSSERT: Governor, how are you going to do this in one year?
RICHARDSON: We have been able to move our troops within three months – 240,000 – in and out of Iraq through Kuwait. This is what I would do. I would bring them out through roads through Kuwait and through Turkey.
ANDREW: And through airports, rivers, beaches . . .
TIM: Using all our breath.
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RUSSERT: Senator Dodd, you’ve heard this discussion. Where do you come down?
DODD: Well, Tim, the question is not just how you bring the troops out, but why are we there? As president of the United States, your first responsibility is to guarantee the safety and security of the American people. And so the question you must ask yourself as president: Is the continuation of our military presence enhancing that goal? [blah blah blah]
STEVE: You’d think the questions would get deeper, or you could have them debate each other.
TIM: They’ll start talking about the gold standard later.
TIM: The Louisiana Purchase, Tim, I always thought was a mistake.
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RUSSERT: I want to put you on the record. Will you pledge as commander in chief that you have all troops out of Iraq by January of 2013?
DODD: I will get that done.
RUSSERT: You’ll get it done.
STEVE: Git-R-Done.
DODD: Yes, I will, sir.
RUSSERT: Senator Biden, would you get it done?
BIDEN: Tim, we’re begging the question here. Everyone says there’s no political – there’s no military solution, only a political solution.
STEVE: Here we go. Partition.
TIM: I think he’s talking about America.
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RUSSERT: Senator Gravel, I’ve listened to you very carefully in this campaign.
GRAVEL: You’re one of the few that has.
RUSSERT: You were in the Senate, and you take credit for stopping the draft. If you were a senator right now . . .
TIM: Would you stop the draft again?
RUSSERT: . . . what advice would you give your colleagues still in Congress about how they can stop the war even though they don’t have enough votes to stop a debate or to override a veto?
GRAVEL: Well, the first thing, you stop the debate by voting every single day on cloture, every day, 20 days, and you’ll overcome cloture. The president vetoes a law; it comes back to the Congress, and in the House at noon, every single day, you vote to override the president’s veto.
STEVE: Say it, brother!
GRAVEL: And in 40 days, the American people will have weighed in, put the pressure on those – you tell me that the votes aren’t there, you go get them by the scruff of the neck. That’s what you do. You make them vote.
MR. RUSSERT: Senator, are you suggesting that these candidates suspend their campaigns, go back to Washington and for 40 consecutive days vote on the war?
STEVE: Are you suggesting a campaign is more important than stopping a war?
GRAVEL: If it stops the killing, my God, yes, do it! And, Tim, you’re really missing something. This is Fantasyland. We’re talking about ending the war; my God, we’re just starting a war right today. There was a vote in the Senate today – Joe Lieberman, who authored the Iraq resolution . . .
STEVE: And was endorsed by Mr. Anti-War Obama . . .
GRAVEL: has offered another resolution, and it essentially a fig leaf to let George Bush go to war with Iran. And I want to congratulate Biden for voting against it, Dodd for voting against, and I’m ashamed of you, Hillary, for voting for it. You’re not going to get another shot at this, because what’s happened if this war ensues – we invade and they’re looking for an excuse to do it. And Obama was not even there to vote.
STEVE: Best Moment of the Campaign.
RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, I’ll give you a chance to respond.
CLINTON: (Laughs, laughter, applause.) Well, I don’t know where to start . . .
ANDREW: . . . to not answer the question . . .
CLINTON: . . . but let me . . .
RUSSERT: Please take 30 seconds.
TIM: First of all, that guy is spitting on me. I’d like to be moved to a different table, please.
ANDREW: [continues his assertion that Russert is drunk – or not drunk enough]
TIM: But on the radio people think he won the debate.
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OBAMA: I think it’s important to back up for a second, Tim, and just understand, number one, Iran is in a stronger position now than it was before the Iraq war because the Congress authorized the president to go in.
And so it indicates the degree to which we’ve got to make sure, before we launch attacks or make judgments of the sort, that we actually understand the intelligence and we have done a good job in sorting it through.
Now, we don’t know exactly what happened with respect to Syria . We’ve gotten general reports, but we don’t know all the specifics. We got general reports in the run-up to the Iraq war that proved erroneous, and a lot of people voted for that war as a consequence.
Now, we are a stalwart ally of Israel , and I think it is important to understand that we will back them up in terms of their security. But it is critical to understand that until we have taken the diplomatic routes that are required to tighten economic sanctions
I have a plan right now to make sure that private pension funds in this country can divest from their holdings in Iran.
STEVE: Our pension funds are going to bring them to their knees?
RUSSERT: So you would not offer a promise to the American people, like Giuliani, that Iran will not be able to develop and become a nuclear power?
STEVE: To repeat the question.
OBAMA: I make an absolute commitment that we will do everything we need to do to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. One of the things we have to try, though, is to talk directly to Iran , something that we have not been doing. And, you know, one of the disagreements that we have on this stage is the degree to which the next president is going to have to engage in the sort of personal diplomacy that can bring about a new era in the region. And, you know, that means talking to everybody. We’ve got to talk to our enemies and not just our friends.
ANDREW: So what you’re saying is . . .
TIM: Because if they have a nuclear weapon, they won’t talk to us. So we have to talk to them so they don’t get a nuclear weapon.
ANDREW: The Bush Administration refuses to talk to them, so do they even know we don’t want them to have it?
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RUSSERT: Senator Edwards, would the Israelis be justified in launching an attack if they felt their security was threatened by a nuclear presence in Iran ?
EDWARDS: I have no intention of giving George Bush the authority to take the first step on a road to war with Iran.
TIM: And when I’m president, I’m just not going to let him. I don’t care what he says.
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EDWARDS: And I think that vote today, which Senator Biden and Senator Dodd voted against, and they were correct to vote against it, is a clear indication of the approach that all of us would take with the situation in Iran. Because what I learned in my vote on Iraq was . . .
TIM: I think the lesson is, don’t vote.
EDWARDS: you cannot give this president the authority and you can’t even give him the first step in that authority, because he cannot be trusted. And that resolution that was voted on today was a very clear indication . . .
STEVE: I admit I made wrong vote to send America to war, and that’s why I want you to elect me president.
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RUSSERT: Governor Richardson, would you make a solemn commitment to the American people that Iran will not become a nuclear power?
RICHARDSON: Yes. A fundamental goal of our foreign policy should be not to permit Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Another cornerstone of our foreign policy should be the strength and the security of Israel. So you cannot deny a nation the right to legitimately defend itself.
TIM: Also, we don’t want the Israelis to develop nuclear weapons, because that would inflame the whole region.
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RUSSERT: I want to go to Allison King of New England Cable News, who has been sifting through thousands of questions from across the country and New England and here in New Hampshire.
ALLISON KING: Dozens of cities around the country, including several here, right here in New England, have been designated as sanctuary cities. These are communities that provide a safe haven for illegal immigrants, where police are told not to involve themselves in immigration matters.
TIM: She sounds like the person who reads the civil defense warnings.
KING: Would you allow these cities to ignore the federal law regarding the reporting of illegal immigrants and, in fact, provide sanctuary to these immigrants?
Governor Richardson, I’ll start with you.
RICHARDSON: Are you asking me because I’m the Hispanic here?
STEVE: Oh my God, he just accused her of racism.
TIM: Listen, gringo . . .
ANDREW: Senor Richardson . . .
STEVE: What do you think of the Bumble Bee? Should he be deported?
TIM: Don’t be fooled by my WASPish name.
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BIDEN: The reason that cities ignore the federal law is the fact that there is no funding at the federal level to provide for the kind of enforcement at the federal level you need. Part of the problem is you have to have a federal government that can enforce laws.
TIM: That’s why I reject the Articles of Confederation. We should have a president, and one of those separation-of-powers deals, you know, an independent judiciary.
STEVE: And make the terms two and six years. Now for Godsakes, can I get some sleep?
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OBAMA: The federal law is not being enforced not because of failures of local communities, because the federal government has not done the job that it needs to do.
RUSSERT: But you would allow the sanctuary cities to exist?
OBAMA: What I would do as president is pass comprehensive immigration reform.
STEVE: All by yourself?
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RUSSERT: Senator Clinton . . .
ANDREW: . . . please say sanctuary cities three times fast.
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GRAVEL: This whole nation should be a sanctuary – for the world and bring the people in.
STEVE: Gravel! Sanctuary Nation!
TIM: Isn’t that what the neo-cons are trying to do – make the entire world a part of the United States?
GRAVEL: What’s going on? Again, we’re in fantasy-land. We’re talking about a problem, we’re scapegoating the Latinos of our society because we as a society are failing in education, we’re failing in health care, we’re failing in our crumbling infrastructure, and we’re failing by invading countries and spending our treasure. That’s what’s wrong. And so I’m ashamed, as an American, to be building a fence on our southern border. That’s not the America that I fought for.
RUSSERT: We’re going to take a quick break.
[Discussion ensues about those Liberty Mutual commercials where everyone who sees someone doing a good deed is then inspired to do one themselves. Just like an insurance company!]
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CLINTON: I intend to be the health care president. You see a lot of people with those stickers that say, “I’m a health care voter.” Well, I want to be the health care president.
STEVE: I want to be the junk food president.
TIM: No jogging allowed.
STEVE: And tax breaks to Hostess.
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RUSSERT (TO EDWARDS): In 2004 when you ran for president, you said we could not afford universal health care, it was not achievable, and it was not responsible. You’ve changed dramatically on this issue.
STEVE: I was wrong and I take responsibility and that’s why you should make me president.
TIM: Why is it universal health care? Shouldn’t it be national health care? What, are we gonna provide health care to other planets?
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RUSSERT: Senator Obama, I asked Senator Clinton about experience and judgment.
STEVE: Of which I have neither.
RUSSERT: You have served in the U.S. Senate about 33 months. You have no landmark legislation as such that you have offered. When you were elected back in 2004, you said, quote, “The notion that somehow I am going to start running for higher office, it just doesn’t make sense.”
If it didn’t make sense in 2004, why does it make sense now?
TIM: Because I was lying in 2004.
OBAMA: Because I think that the country is at a crossroads right now . . .
STEVE: As opposed to then.
OBAMA: . . . and it needs three things. Number one, it needs somebody who can bring the country together, and that’s the kind of experience that I bring to this office. When I was in the state legislature, I was able to get people who were polar opposites – police officers and law enforcement working with civil rights advocates to reform a death penalty system that was broken: bringing people together, Republicans and Democrats, to provide health insurance to people who didn’t have it.
STEVE: He acts like he was governor or something. He wasn’t even a party leader.
ANDREW: He was sucking Emil Jones’s . . .
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RUSSERT: I want to ask Senator Gravel. You talk about running for president of the United States. In 1980 your condo business went bankrupt.
STEVE, ANDREW, TIM: He had a condo business???!!!
GRAVEL: Correct.
RUSSERT: In 2004 you filed for personal bankruptcy . . .
GRAVEL: Correct.
RUSSERT: . . . leaving $85,000 in credit bills unpaid. How can someone who did not take care of his business, could not manage his own personal finances, say that he’s capable of managing the country?
TIM: How can anybody who screwed up every business he ever ran possibly be president? That’s completely nonsensical.
GRAVEL: Well, first off, if you want to make a judgment of who can be the greediest people in the world when they get to public office, you could just look up at the people up here. Money – many of them done very, very well in public office. I left the Senate no better than when I went in.
Now, you say the condo business. I’ll tell you, Donald Trump has been bankrupt a hundred times. So I went bankrupt once in business.
And the other – who did I bankrupt? I stuck the credit card companies with $90,000 worth of bills. And they deserved it, because I used the money. (Laughter.) They deserved it, and I used the money to finance the empowerment of the American people with the National Initiative, so you can make the laws.
STEVE. He. Kicks. Ass.
GRAVEL: Now, Tim, let me just point one thing out.
TIM: You’re damn right I didn’t pay my credit card bills! Fuck those clowns!
RUSSERT: Alright.
TIM: And I still have some videos from Blockbuster! I never took those back either!
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RUSSERT: Congressman Kucinich, when you were mayor of Cleveland, you let Cleveland go into bankruptcy, the first time that happened since the Depression. The voters of Cleveland rewarded you by throwing you out of office and electing a Republican mayor of Cleveland. How can you claim that you have the ability to manage the United States of America, when you let Cleveland go bankrupt?
REP. KUCINICH: You know, Tim, that was NBC’s story. Now I want the people to know what the real story was.
STEVE: I thought the story was that he turned out to be right when he was mayor, that he was vindicated.
KUCINICH: I took a stand on behalf of the people of Cleveland to save a municipal electric system. The banks and the utilities in Cleveland, the private utilities, were trying to force me to sell that system. And so on December 15th, 1978, I told the head of the biggest bank, when he told me I had to sell the system in order to get the city’s credit renewed, that I wasn’t going to do it because – you know, I remember where I came from.
I remembered my parents counting pennies to pay the utility bills in one of the many apartments we lived in, and so I know why I went into public office. I went in to stand up for the people. And the people in Cleveland in 1994 asked me to come back to public life because at that point they expanded a municipal electric system that the banks demanded that I sell, and I showed the ability to stand up for the people.
You know, my campaign in ’94 was “because it was right,” and people put me in the Ohio Senate for that reason; ’96 it was “light up Congress” as a symbol of saving the municipal electric system; and this year it’s going to be “light up America” because I’m going to challenge those interest groups. I put my job on the line. How many people would be willing to put their job on the line in the face of pressure from banks and utilities? As this story gets told, people will want me to be their next president because they’ll see in me not only the ability to take a stand, but the ability to live with integrity.
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RUSSERT: Governor Richardson, you talk about your experience, and yet when you were the secretary of Energy, there was security breaches at Los Alamos. You talked about Justice White being your favorite Supreme Court justice, someone who voted against Roe v. Wade. New Mexico ranks 48 in terms of people below the poverty line, 48th in children below the poverty line. You said that being gay is a choice. Based on those kinds of comments and that record of performance or questionable activities, how can you tell people you have the experience to be president?
RICHARDSON: I’ve been in public life 25 years. And, you know, I may not be the perfect consultant, blow-dried candidate. I make mistakes. I admit them.
TIM: Gov. Richardson, when you pushed that classmate down the slide . . .
ANDREW: You haven’t paid your tanning bills in six months . . .
RICHARDSON: But, you know, Tim, the issue is, do I deliver? No one ever questioned me that I deliver when I brought back American hostages and servicemen from Iraq, from Saddam Hussein, from the North Koreans, from Darfur.
STEVE: What does he mean he brought them back?
ANDREW: What, did you give them a free ride in your limo?
RICHARDSON: I got a fragile cease-fire. I received four Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
STEVE: So what, so did Andrew. I nominate him every year.
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RUSSERT: I’d like to go to Alison King of New England Cable News again for another question. Alison.
TIM: Tim Russert, remember back when you were talking about what a great idea it’d be to invade Iraq?
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KING: The issues surrounding gay rights have been hotly debated here in New England. For example, last year some parents of second graders in Lexington, Massachusetts, were outraged to learn their children’s teacher had read a story about same-sex marriage, about a prince who marries another prince.
TIM: Some are offended by the celebration of royalty. This is America, we had a revolution over this stuff.
KING: Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, but most of you oppose it. Would you be comfortable having this story read to your children as part of their school curriculum? I’m going to start with Senator Edwards.
ANDREW: There are no gay princes in America.
EDWARDS: Yes, absolutely . . . [blah blah blah] . . . did you say second grade? Second grade might be a little tough . . .
KING: Well, that’s the point, it’s second grade.
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KING: Senator Obama, you have young children at home. How do you feel about this?
OBAMA: You know, I feel very similar to John: that – you know, the fact is, my 9-year-old and my 6-year-old – I think, are already aware that there are same-sex couples. And my wife and I have talked about it. And one of the things I want to communicate to my children is not to be afraid of people who are different . . .
ANDREW: ‘Cause gays can fight.
OBAMA: . . . and because there have been times in our history where I was considered different, or Bill Richardson was considered different.
STEVE: Mike Gravel is considered different.
OBAMA: And one of the things I think the next president has to do is to stop fanning people’s fears. You know, if we spend all our time feeding the American people fear and conflict and division, then they become fearful and conflicted and divided. And if we feed them hope, and we feed them reason and tolerance, then they will become tolerant and reasonable and hopeful.
ANDREW: They’ll be hopefully reasonably tolerant.
KING: Quickly, have you sat down with your daughters to talk about same-sex marriage?
SENATOR OBAMA: My wife has.
STEVE: And she told them we can’t have gay marriage, we can’t have that kind of unity. Not everyone deserves hope.
KING: I’d like to ask Senator Clinton the same question.
STEVE: Let’s get back to Gravel and his condo business.
TIM: Maybe it was a gay condo business.
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RUSSERT: We’re going to take another quick break.
ANDREW: The advertisers are an insurance company, private jets and stiffy pills. Cialis – 24-hour rock! It’s so perverted, like they’re gonna get it on in a national park, or the hammock in the back yard.
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RICHARDSON: You have to have fiscal discipline. You’ve got to also grow the economy. You know, this estimate [of the deficit], it’s based on the growth of the economy, 1.3 percent. If it grows to 1.8, we don’t have this.
STEVE: We could get there using Gravel’s credit cards.
RUSSERT: Senator Edwards, can you grow your way out of this?
EDWARDS: No, sir, you cannot, and I would say that the single most important thing for anybody running for president is to be willing to be honest with America. You cannot solve this problem just by setting up a bipartisan commission. All of us are for that. You cannot solve this problem just by growing the economy. All of us are for that.
STEVE: His hair is so overrated.
ANDREW: I think he’s really cute. And the more beers I drink, the cuter he gets.
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RUSSERT: Is there anybody here who’s in favor of a national law to ban smoking?
RICHARDSON: I did it in New Mexico as a national law.
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KING: Would you as president remove the requirement that a state have a legal drinking age of 21 in order to receive federal highway funds, thereby returning the drinking age back to the states?
RICHARDSON: No, I wouldn’t lower it. In fact, at this moment, my wife is hosting . . .
TIM: A kegger!
STEVE: You beat me to it, dude.
RICHARDSON: . . . in New Mexico with the surgeon general a forum on underage drinking.
GRAVEL: I think we should lower it to – anybody that can go fight and die for this country should be able to drink. (Applause.)
KUCINICH: You know, I think that not only about service, but we have to have confidence in young Americans. And a president who reaches out to them and talks to them about drinking responsibly is much better than a president who tells them, “Thou shalt not,” because young people will do what they do, but they’re looking for leadership from a president. I’m ready to provide that leadership.
STEVE: Anybody who looks to the president for leadership is an idiot.
TIM: Especially if you’re 18.
KUCINICH: Of course they should be able to drink at age 18, and they should be able to vote at age 16.
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RUSSERT: Senator Obama, you were criticized by Jesse Jackson and others about your – in their words – tepid response about the situation in Jena involving civil rights difficulties in Louisiana. Should you have gone to Jena, Louisiana, in order to try to bring those communities together?
STEVE: No, because I don’t like black people.
OBAMA: No, because I was in Washington at that time trying to bring an end to the war in Iraq, and that was something that was critical.
STEVE: He was trying to end the war! He had to be there for that vote. Remember the End the War vote?
OBAMA: The fact is that I was – before any of the other candidates on this stage, spoke out with respect to Jena. I put out several strong statements, including ones prepared with Jesse Jackson’s son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.
STEVE: He put out statements. That’s kind of like being there.
OBAMA: And, subsequently, I think Reverend Jackson acknowledged that. This is an issue that’s not black or white.
STEVE: It’s not black or white? That’s exactly what it is!
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RUSSERT: Before we go, there’s been a lot of discussion about the Democrats and the issue of faith and values.
STEVE: Oh boy, here we go.
RUSSERT: Senator Obama, what is your favorite Bible verse?
ANDREW: Well, according to my pastor, who’s not here tonight because he wasn’t invited . . .
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CLINTON: The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I think it’s a good rule for politics, too.
GRAVEL: The most important thing in life is love. That’s what empowers courage, and courage implements the rest of our virtues.
STEVE: I kind of like the one about the day He created the beasts. Or something from Revelation, you know, the three-headed beast rose up from the East dressed in purple. Someone should say that one.
KUCINICH: I carry that with me at every debate, this prayer from St. Francis, which says, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, and I believe very strongly that all of us can be instruments of peace. And that’s what I try to bring to public life.
EDWARDS: It appears many times in the Bible, What you do onto the least of those, you do onto me.
RICHARDSON: The Sermon on the Mount, because I believe it’s an issue of social justice, equality, brotherly issues reflecting a nation that is deeply torn and needs to be heal and come together.
DODD: The Good Samaritan would be a worthwhile sort of description of who we all ought to be in life.
BIDEN: Christ’s warning of the Pharisees. There are many Pharisees, and it’s part of what has bankrupted some people’s view about religion. And I worry about the Pharisees.
STEVE: He’s so dark.
RUSSERT: Thank you all.
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BEACHWOOD ANALYSIS: Mike Gravel was the clear winner. Really. But Hillary Clinton once again demonstrated not only her command of the issues but her presidential bearing. Obama was borrrrrrring and seems to be set on automatic, repeating the same scripted lines over and over again. Dodd continues to be much improved, while Richardson continues to bumble. Kucinich is Kucinich, for better and worse. Biden continues to be a really smart guy who seems to be just temperamentally off in some way – and the idea of making him Secretary of State is laughable. He’s not a diplomat. He is a quarterback, no doubt about that. But not a president. A lot of the pundits think Edwards had a good night, and he has some admirable qualities and ways in which he is better than his rivals, but he can’t give us a good enough reason why he ought to be president. His agenda is interesting, but like Obama, he lacks a certain heft and experience. Twenty years as a trial lawyer doesn’t count – unless maybe he wants to be attorney general. After all, he is the RFK in this race.
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See the entire Mystery Debate Theater series.
Posted on September 27, 2007