Hillary Clinton’s Samsonite Argument

Jake
I may comment a lot on your blog (cause I am a fan obviously of the conversation and even though I don’t agree with you …probably mostly when you are trying to keep it a level playing field in either direction) but I have to say there is one answer that I am annoyed is not getting the attention it should because of all this back and forth about …this stupid stuff that isn’t policy based…
Clintons answer on Iran. Scares me… she answered that ANY attack on ANY country (in so many words) that does not have Nuclear Capabilities and steps under our “protection”… in the area… will be met with “massive reaction”… because she would be President… not appropriate …not attacks on our allies…not just on Israel…but ANY country who is going to fall under our”umbrella” based on nuclear capabilities…
Why is no one saying…it sounds like there is no mention of congress…this sounds (and go look at the transcript) very much like GW and McCain. We are not the policeman to get in the middle of every conflict. Some conflicts have nothing to do with us.
Not to say Iran is a focus…but this is exactly the way to make things worse not better as we have learned over the past few years.
Why is no one looking at this answer?

and Leanza… Bill Clinton PARDONED 2 of those same members of that “terrorist group” as she refers to them.

What an embarrassing debate — for ABC. As so many other media outlets are reporting today, the questions were silly and gossipy, the moderators were smug, and there was so little discussion of real issues that anyone watching felt afterwards that they had wasted their time.
Forget who you support — the debate was just awful. Please ABC — if you somehow get a chance to host a debate in the fall, let’s focus on real issues. There’s a war on. News broke last week that the current president was much more involved in deciding what kinds of torture could be used on detainees. What do candidates think of that? What about China? What about the mortgage crisis? What about electability? What about issues critical in PA?
Instead we got pap, pablum and heresay about ‘gotcha’ moments, rumors from the 1960′s and stories that were old news a month ago.
No wonder the cable news networks are capturing more and more viewers.

Here come the pundits, trying their damndest to spin this one for Obama. Clearly, he had his arse handed to him on a platter.. but nevermind reality. In liberalville, all is well and Ayers doesn’t matter.. neither does Wright.. and the press will protect Obama during the general. Ah, yes, all is well.

DL, those two terrorist Clinton pardon served their sentences and did not lived, worked, contributed and or where associated to an already shady nominee for the democratic nomination. Obama has to and will explain this Ayers relashionship further. Obama’s judgement and past associations is a big issue.

If Obama and his supporters,cnn, msnbc, anc co. cannot stand the vetting he is getting now-How will he manage in the General Election?
All of us have heard all of the stories about him and Sen. Clinton over and over.
this debate should have been about who is going to be able to withstand the GE.
and possibly win.
He should have been vetted long ago.
he should be vetted more now.
and just as it seems they have wanted to suppress anything negative about him furing the primaries-to beat sen. clinton-the protesting now-really is beginning to see they are hell-bent on losing the ge.
Let this man be vetted. if he is as good as you think he is-he will prevail
but if he cannot stand vetting now-what will you do in the ge?
lets be fair and balanced
if you keep trying to swing things in obama’ favor-he will never have a chance to bring the sen. clinton supporters on board.
try to be fair

JAKE TAPPER… JAKE…
I hope you read your own blog.
Howard Wolfson said on Morning Joe that there is “no truth” to the claim that Hillary Clinton said “screw ‘em”
when speaking about southern white voters. If that is the real account why is a Clinton supporter (someone who has donated to the campaign even) confirming the story?
Is the Clinton campaign trying to spin past this comment quickly…. Is the story you posted yesterday and back in October true?
Who is telling the truth?
In light on her recent queries into Obama’s comment I think it is important to know.

Leanza and Floridian lady
You obviously got the same memo from the Clinton campaign…your comments are almost identical down to the cadence. You have to be working for the campaign OBVIOUSLY. It is sad that you two and the Clinton campaign are playing this old school twisting politics…
Hillary Clinton’s husband who will be living in the White House with her PARDONED two other members of this same “terrorist group” as you mention. Two otehr members that were in the group with this guy that Obama was on some board with and whose kids go to the same local school who is active fundraiser for the entire democratic party in the Chicago area.
So who is worse the candidate whose husband pardoned the “terrorists” or the guy who sat on some board, participated in the democratic party in Chicago as a candidate (who this guy 40 years after his legal crap raised money for) and whose kids attend the same school … yeah the pardons.

Hillary did exactly what she should have done in this debate and it’s about time the media asked him some tough questions. Of course Hillary will back the Democrat because as Democrats that’s what we do. However, she and everybody else who looks at the issues and his negatives, understands that the Republicans will have a field day with him in the fall. Then we will be stuck with McBush III. Hillary on the other hand, as she stated in the debate, “comes to the table with baggage but, it has been thoroughly rummaged through”. These are the facts and we Democrats need to rally around Hillary, our clear and convincing chance for victory for the fall.

Hillary supporters
Will you vote for McCain, Nader or Obama in the general election?

OBAMA 08 – YES OBAMA CAN AND WILL LOSE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS. Take that.

Obama = Woods Fund = Ayers = Khalidi = PLO
Sum Total: Landslide win for McCain

The handling of this “debare”, (and I am using the term lightly) was wrong from the start BUT it does give the Clinton supporters the chance to scream YES he finally had to answer some real questions…because to the majority of them? Those answers are what they consider important..not the economy, the war, jobs, houses…..the National Enquirer moments…It allows the rest of America to understand how it is the uneducated that are supporting Hillary Clinton.

jgaw — Your comments are silly. We need to “vet” Obama — please, please, explain what this means. Do we need more information on why he wears or does not wear a flag lapel? Do we need to know more about whether he associates with terrorists? Do we need to know whether or not he actually blames America for 9/11 and can’t wait to become President so he can appoint Hamas militants to his cabinet? Are you for real?
You are repeating worn out Clinton talking points. You misunderstand the word “vetted”. This man has been campaigning for over a year, answering hundreds of questions every day, doing TV and radio interviews, over 20 debates, countless speeches and appearances, etc. Yet you and others believe somehow that there are still pesky questions no one has bothered to ask, but that are critical to the public in choosing our next president.
Yaaawn. Obama is “vetted”. Care to address any relevant policy issues? Or do you just think if we looked harder — if we really tried — we could find a reason not to elect him?

This is the first debate that I was bored with. Seemed like the moderators came up with questions without realizing it was basically the same question over and over.
I gave up watching it because I want to hear about issues.
Americans are hurting and the moderators missed the point of having the first hour focus on what matters most to us.

HoosierSue –
“To those who say that Wright and Ayers don’t matter – They may not matter much in a Democratic primary. They will matter greatly in a general election.”
I agree with you. Republicans are desperate and will sling mud in every direction, trying to distract from legitimate issues in the GE campaign.
Good thing you and other Democrats will be too smart to fall for this dumbed-down strategy of fear-mongering and personal smearing, right?

I’m not a blogger but I am a voter with common sense. Hillary should get the nomination based on experience, candor, record and tenacity, to name a few. It was good to see the debate last night which confirmed all of my feelings. That is Obama is too inexperienced, has too much unknown, and doesn’t do well under pressure even when the good old boys give him the edge.

This event had the stink of Carl Rove all over it. Charlie Gibson’s journalistic integrity is at an all time low, as far as I am concerned. ABC served as a GOP surrogate to try to push Hillary into the best possible light. They her as their next easy target. This (ABC)is the network that employs Diane Sawyer as their GOP/Disney lackey. Let’s remember that she was a speech writer for Nixon, and she was on the plane that returned Nixon to San Clemente in disgrace after his resignation!! To me, you can’t be more connected to GOP loyalty than that!! What a sham of a debate!!

Obama is totally unelectable against the republicans. Totally.
The questionaire which clearlyhas his signature on it supporting left of left views.
His association with terrorists, a radical American hating chuch (and that is still an isssue), his cocaine use (yes an issue), his socialist leanings, most liberal voting record, elitist condescending remarks about small town America at the Getty mansion someone has on video (gee i wonder who), his total lack of experience, arrogance, ties to Rezko. Not counting Florida and Michigan to get the nod.
The list goes on and on.
You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
A wise saying. The Republicans are laughing themselves silly that the democrats would even consider someone so radical and unacceptable for their nominee.
Its totally absurd. The man doesnt stand a chance. The republicans don’t need MSM. They disseminate their own news.
He is totally unelecatble.

The republicans will eat Obama alive, spit him out and eat him again.

Obviously last night proved that the republicans actually WON’t be able to chew up Obama and spit him out…and considering all that baggage that Sen Clinton mentioned has almost never been brought up in this primary… we have no idea what it’s going to look like in the general.
SHE is the one whose “vetting” would come back like a tsunami.

ABC can join the ranks of FAUX News. It was a shameful display of “gotcha” politics and lack of journalistic integrity. We the people are sick and tired of it. Too bad you don’t get what obama’s message of CHANGE stands for. Do we want politics as usual…Clinton style? Or do we actually want to move our country forward? Last night, Barack Obama demonstrated that he has the backbone to stand up for his principles no matter how much mud and slime is thrown at him. He is indeed PRESIDENTIAL.

I was very disappointed in the debate. You spent around 45 minutes on old news and irrelevant topics. I want to know what the candidates stand for and not whether Obama’s pastor is a jerk.
What are they going to do about global warming and the environment? What do they think we should do about the Farm Bill with its subsidies to huge agribusiness that support corn and soybeans? What about the pollution caused by the way we are raising livestock? What kind of trade agreements would they be in favor of? What do they think are the current problems with NAFTA and CAFTA? What about our foreign relations with other countries? How will they deal with the Israeli/Palestinian problem? What about foreign aid? What about earmarks? Presidential signing statements? All I hear of is generalities and that is often because you in the press are not really interested in the real issues, but would rather spend your time on who is friends with who and every little mistake they make on the campaign trail. It is amazing to me that anyone would ever want to run for president!

Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos were out to do a deplorable job. The event was supposed to benefit the Democratic Party; instead, it looked like the RNC had hired the moderators to escalate the trite trivialities and keep the candidates from addressing the real issues.

Obama can’t close the deal for a good reason. He sounds good to those who are mad and want a different system so they desperately cling to the idea that he will save them by changing a system that he does not and can not control. His inexperience glowed last night as he clearly demonstrated that he was not able to navigate a simple debate. The world he lives in is imaginary, theoretical and ideological. However, it’s not reality. He doesn’t do well with reality.
There is real doubt about his ability to play in the real world. Last night was a preview of how he would do. The truth is he can’t play and win with the big kids, even with the puppeteers pulling all the strings. It takes more than a Messiah to fix this mess. We need a leader who knows and understands the issues and knows how to work in the real system, the one we have right now.
If Obama is the nominee, those clinging to him, will be bitter when McCain wins. So will I.
Vote Hillary!

I can’t understand why you are guilty if you are friends with someone.You don’t have to have their views.
The luggage that HAS NOT come out on Clinton will ruin her and her hubby.She has seen nothing for Obama has only stuck to the ones that others have said or things she has done her self….It is scary what they have done in their life tme.She is hated by her secret service>>>>>She is a B—- and then some it is like kiss my feet for you are mine and do as I say…She is the snob here and Cindy(Mc Cain) baby will be the same.Money thinks it is above us regular folks….

casey
“just seeing two names on a piece of paper and signing it”
do you think that’s what happens with a pardon? The President of the United States just has a piece of paper put in front of him or her and signs away…lol
Actually they have to know all the details of what the crimes were…here the details and make a thought out decision if this person or people were guilty.
and I really don’t think the Clintons want to talk about the Pardons…seems they keep coming back as much as Obama keeps trying not to bring Clintons baggage into the debate… that would be part of her “vetted” baggage. …and part of the heavy objects inside the suitcase that we are trying to act like isn’t there.

Shame on ABC and whole debate… You and Hillary just feed off each other… Obama has locked in my vote.

Obama didn’t HIRE Ayers – he was hired by a company that also employed Ayers. So by your logic, if anyone “unsavory” works at your company you should quit? Refuse to talk to the person? Exactly what SHOULD have Obama done – execute the guy (who seems to be a free American) with his own bare hands?
Now I’m confused. These are obviously Clinton supporters, so how do you ignore your candidate PARDONING members of Ayers’ own group. Isn’t a pardon more of an endorsement than being employed by the same company?

What is wrong with the liberal wing of America. Wake up and get your heads out of the clouds. Stop thinking if the rest of the nation thinks as you do the nation will be looking threw rose colored glasses. Be real. Do they not get it.
The media knows Hillary is the only dem that can beat the Republicans. That is why they having been pushing Obama until now. Now that he is a presumtious candidate, they start vetting the ignorant self absorbed man, and he and his followers do not like it.
For one this has not been a primary on issues or what is best for the safety our country, for he would have been out a long time ago. This is been about race, what class is voting for whom and the pop star idolism americans have given this man. How pathetic. He is inexperienced in foriegn affairs, takes his policys from others and is not clear on how to carry them out. He is not a strong speaker with out telepromter. America needs to get thier heads out of the clouds before the american public who gave us Bush is going to do worse and elect this man.

I don’t get it? Obama drew applause on at least two occasions from the audience as he tried to focus the debate on the real issues facing America instead of the constant attempts to assassinate his character being carried out by a tag team effort of Clinton and the moderators. The audience was suppose to be prohibited from applauding. Clinton drew no such applause. ABC should be ashamed of itself.
My vote is for Senator Obama.

Thank you ABC for asking Obama some tough questions. The Obamabots think it’s okay to ask Hillary about sniper fire, but don’t ask Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. There should have been questions about Rezko and Auchi as well. Hillary has had her luggage rummaged through, and Obama has not. That is the simple truth. And with Obama’s own elite words that are condescending towards real Americans, Obama has shown his true self. The arrogant Harvard Grad on the podium last night is not what this country needs right now to pull us out of the mess it is in.

Personally, if the democratic party does not chose the more experienced and qualified of these two (meaning Clinton), I will have no choice but to vote McCain, as much as I would like to stay a Democrat. I will not be responsible for picking a candidate destined to be a poor president. Obama’s tainted past, bad judgments,evasions and negative campaign tactics (yes, in every response, his campaign is jumping to label Clinton in such underhanded and subtle ways that we think “untrustworthy and negative” is coming from us, the public) are not what I want representing the USA. Time to make decisions on who will get things accomplished, not the candidate who is like soft clay waiting to be molded into each voter’s likeness, and unable to take a principled command.

I was so proud of ABC to finally ask Senator Obama about his associations with radical America hating people, Rev Wright, and William Ayers. These are important. Birds of a feather flock together. Finally a network media was able to be fair. You have my vote for my election coverage. ABC was the winner last night.

George Stephanopoulos is a former staffer of President Clinton – shame on ABC for allowing him to moderate this debate. The debate focused on the wrong issues. By putting trivial issues, such as who misspoke when about what, is exactly what turns people off about politics. Focus on REAL issues such as that little thing called war, forget strategy since they all mostly agree – let’s talk tactics, what would they immediately do? Focus on the economy, not just taxes. Focus on homeland security. Debating someone’s association with a former Pastor or a person having misspoken about a sniper fire incident – WHO CARES. ABC has lost all credibility in my book.

Not easy trying to be fair Jack. People are not adjusting to it easily. Obama has the same problem. But, have faith because I believe the American people will make the right choice. Personally, my vote goes to B. H. Obama.

THIS WAS A MOCKERY UNDER THE GUISE OF A DEBATE. ABC SHOULD BE ASHAMED. IT IS SUBSTANCE THAT MATTERS HERE, WHERE WAS IT? THIS WAS ENOUGH FOR ME TO KNOW VEIWING YOUR STATION IS A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!

I am ashamed of ABC, this debut was
nothing but a lynching for Obama.
Of course, we should have figured this
would be the case since George S. worked
for Bill Clinton. Shame on you ABC
for stooping this low. You gave Hillary
a free night. If I were Obama I would
never give ABC an opportunity for a
debate again.

Being “friendly” and being a “friend” are two different things. I don’t think Obama has EVER said he is a friend of Ayers….I am an Obama supporter and proud of it.

Gee you Obama supporters, we need to know more about negatives said of Obama. We are looking for President of United States,not small town president.
The more media expose Obama negatives side the better we know of Obama,

To Dan: Lou Dobbs spent A LOT OF TIME calling Obama an elitist two nights ago. Elitist is an attitude, not an amount of money one makes, although Obama’s $4.2 million income last year puts him in a “rich” crowd, just like the ones in San Francisco he likes to hang out with. The Clintons have worked very hard for the American people, and have donated over $10 million of their hard earned money to charity. Obama has donated very little, and now we have learned that he has donated over $50,000.00 in the last three years to his racist, hate-mongering church. Obama showed his “liberal condescending” attitude with his comments in San Francisco. Obama attended private schools as a child, and Harvar, Obama is an elitist. Look at who he is hanging out with now, Kennedy – Harvard Elite, Kerry – Harvard Elite and he lost the presidency because of it, and then we add in all of his Arab friends and unpatriotic friends and business partners, and Obama is a man that is not what this country needs. His “Divide and Conquer” campaign needs to end.

ABC deserves congratulations for a great debate.Excellent moderation.It was high time Senator Obama is asked some tough questions.We need to know about the person he is as much as his policies.His answers were NOT reassuring at all.He should have been asked about the land kickback deal with Rezko.There is a chasm between what he think ,says and acts on.

I too was extremely disappointed by the debate questions. It really did focus predominantly on “hot” issues – but not “real” issues. Gibson was aggressive, interrupting Obama many times in the midst of him speaking. I also am surprised, with all of the questions to Obama about patriotism, etc. they didn’t question Clinton on Penn and his involvement with the campaign -though he is no longer chief strategist, he is still heavily involved in the campaign. Why not ask her tough questions aside from Bosnia? They didn’t push her on Bosnia either. It did seem that the moderators were favoring Clinton in this debate.

I hoped they would have pushed Obama harder on the ‘flag’ issue; not just referencing a ‘flag lapel pin’ …. Does he show respect/pledge allegiance to the flag at the White House and other public/private establishments? If not, he doesn’t respect America — and he and the Reverend should start their own country someplace besides America

KUDOS to Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos!!! I hope all the other mainstream media morons were watching… These two guys exercised the TRUE principles of journalism…
1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth
2. Its first loyalty is to citizens
3. Its essence is a discipline of verification
4. Maintain an independence from those they cover (Most need to REVISIT)
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise
7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience
Be they black or white, woman or man, any presidential candidate should have to answer the tough questions; they should be scrutinized; they should be tested as to their experience and worthiness of the most important job in the country!

When MSNBC and CNN show such a bias and unfair coverage of Hillary it is no wonder why Obama supporters are so upset when their guy gets thown some hardballs along with the softballs! This is something that is new for them and they just don’t like it very much as the postings here and esle where prove! They think that if you ask a few tough questions then you are being unfair! Well welcome to our world, how does it feel? If you think this is tough wait till this fall and you will be pulling your hair out! This guy is a wimp and last night proved it! Hillary handles tough questions like she does her whiskey, straight and hard! Hillary you go girl!

Talk about condescending. The ABC moderators must feel we are more interested in tabloid mudslinging than issues. I feel bitter. They are out of touch.

Fourthsign — um, you saw a different debate than I did.
The job of a journalist is not to try to catch a candidate in a gaffe. This is supposed to be a solemn duty, an important job — not Survivor or the Real World.
The fact that there are folks out there like you that listen to a meaningless debate over silly things and then congratulate the media for “asking tough questions” is depressing. There are far, FAR more important issues facing this country. Those are the tough questions that should have been dealt with.

How nice to see former Clinton confidant, supporter, and associate, GEORGE STEPHENOPOLUS actually moderating this debate and quesitoning the patriotism of a candidate for Presidency of the United States.
It’s UNBELIEVABLE what the establishment is willing to do to preserve its privileged way of like. What is this, Communist China? WAKE UP, PEOPLE.
SHAME on the CLINTONS and their abuse of the power we gave them.

George S. and Charles G.,
Saw the debate last night. No wonder you people are the lowest rated news program. Three words Tabloid, Tabloid, Tabloid! Did you really have an American citizen ask a question about a flag pin? We are at war with two nations, (In case you missed it)and you had some one ask a question about jewelry. News flash, Most of those flag pins are made in China and/or other impoverished nations where slave labor abounds.
Charles. Your “little” question about interest rates turned into an underhanded petty squabble. The Senator answered your question and you argued with him. Real professional.
Fifty minutes of nothing substantial. At the risk of enlightening you, here are some topics that should have been covered. Health care, jobs, job loss, trade, housing crisis, oil prices, Iraq, Afghanistan, the shameful treatment of U.S. Veterans, the Trillion dollar deficit, and U.S. debt to China just to name a few.
George, you should probably stick to the Sunday funnies (as your performance last night was just that). Does your former boss make you that nervous? Do you still fear the sting of the 90′s lash? The question about Bill Ayers, was a low blow; Even for you. After Senator Obama answered the question, then Senator Clinton blathered on about “Questions being raised” You George seem to have forgotten that your former boss pardoned members of the Weather Underground! I guess Sean Hannity forgot to tell you that.
Charles keep on asking those actors those crucial questions like “What’s next for you?” or “What should take away with us after seeing this movie?” GOODMORNING!
You guys were the worst. Two more words, Diane Sawyer. You guys, do the reporting. Leave the journalism to the professionals. I suspect Peter Jennings is turning in his grave.
Teeo Williams
Philadelphia, PA

John McCain is an associate of all those in the Bush administration that authorized and executed a plan to commit war crimes. Therefore, John McCain is a war criminal by association.

And what is truth? As defined in the American Heritage dictionary is conformity to fact or actuality. It is a statement proven to be or accepted as true. It is sincerity, integrity, fidelity to an original or a standard. REALITY;ACTUALITY. Truth is a comprehensive term that in all of its nuances implies accuracy and honesty. And as such, journalism’s #1 “true” obligation to the truth as stated by Fourthsign fell short Wednesday night.

LA in Indiana,
Would Obama Bittergate meet with Hamas leaders for direct talks, excluding Israel? I suspect he would because of the example he’s already setting on this matter.
Obama Bittergate’s campaign is busily flirting with Jimmy Carter at the very same moment that Carter is embracing a Hamas leader.
That’s the kind of stuff that continues to pop up around Obama Bittergate.
========================================
Obama Bittergate, if you trust bitterness.
========================================

Obama has a history of saying one thing in private and a different thing when trying to win votes. The more on elooks at him, th eworse he looks. Thank you ABC for a good debate that brought this truth out so clearly.

This was a tabloid evening of poor journalism and accomplished nothing for a sensible voter to consider. If it is appropriate and fair to imply that Obama should have gone away from his church over remarks by a pastor, isn’t it appropriate and fair to ask Clinton why she didn’t leave her marriage to an adulterer and liar? Such bs.

Mickey Mouse says it all.
I have noticed that while many Americans complained about ABCs poor performance and exceptionally woeful choice of George Stephanopoulos a former Clinton insider. What is most amazing is that thus far the MSM has not critiqued or judged ABC for what many AMERICAN clearly see as the worst in history.

westcoast messenger and gee and the rest
all those who keep putting up this “vetting” material…
do you really want to bring this all up…
Hillary Clintons baggage and scandals and questionable dealings and people associations is so long it would need it’s own website…
but almost none of that has been brought up in this primary… because Obama set the majority of tone with his campaign(just as Clinton did) and he has told his campaign…we are not going there …we are going to talk about issues. But everytime he starts winning because we are back to talk about issues Clinton plays this game, taking advantage of the better candidate and person because they don’t bring up hers…
well
what do you think would happen if she got the nomination…
the democrats would be knocked off their pins by the tsunami that has not been discussed during this primary.
The LISTS. Her “vetting” has never been done in the context of a political race and her lists are so long that America DOESN’t know all of them…that is why everybody always says “oh Monica” …well no that is the lgihtest of the scandals probably. You could teach courses (plural) on just the scandals with the Clintons.
These lists of issues have NEVER been used in a campaign against Hillary because no one has had the resources to go there…
well the RNC and 527′s do have the resources.
and the little list you have on Obama with nothing directly implicating him in any way that he hadn’t already come clean on… is like “little Sprout” to the “Green Giant” when it comes to scandals and questions with the Clintons and associations and investigations…
Look at the debate last night … if they are going to say those were all subjects that were important in the last few weeks…where was the questions about NAFTA and Columbia…where were the questions about Penn? Where were the questions about Bill and his gaffes?
So you all want to play that way go ahead. You will kill the democratic party…all in the name of Clinton.

ABC News rig the debate in Clinton’s favor but it didn’t work. Senator Obama just went along with the game. Everyone watching knew it was a game.
ABC News is Tabloid news…
Hillary Clinton can’t take hard questions because she’s still a “Cry Baby”.
Obama all the way.

westcoast messenger and gee and the rest
all those who keep putting up this “vetting” material…
do you really want to bring this all up…
Hillary Clintons baggage and scandals and questionable dealings and people associations is so long it would need it’s own website…
but almost none of that has been brought up in this primary… because Obama set the majority of tone with his campaign(just as Clinton did) and he has told his campaign…we are not going there …we are going to talk about issues. But everytime he starts winning because we are back to talk about issues Clinton plays this game, taking advantage of the better candidate and person because they don’t bring up hers…
well
what do you think would happen if she got the nomination…
the democrats would be knocked off their pins by the tsunami that has not been discussed during this primary.
The LISTS. Her “vetting” has never been done in the context of a political race and her lists are so long that America DOESN’t know all of them…that is why everybody always says “oh Monica” …well no that is the lgihtest of the scandals probably. You could teach courses (plural) on just the scandals with the Clintons.
These lists of issues have NEVER been used in a campaign against Hillary because no one has had the resources to go there…
well the RNC and 527′s do have the resources.
and the little list you have on Obama with nothing directly implicating him in any way that he hadn’t already come clean on… is like “little Sprout” to the “Green Giant” when it comes to scandals and questions with the Clintons and associations and investigations…
Look at the debate last night … if they are going to say those were all subjects that were important in the last few weeks…where was the questions about NAFTA and Columbia…where were the questions about Penn? Where were the questions about Bill and his gaffes?
So you all want to play that way go ahead. You will kill the democratic party…all in the name of Clinton.
and people will still be going hungry…people will still be losing their homes…people will sstill not be able to afford healthcare…we will still be spending billions on the war…we will still be hated in the world by many… and we will still be heading to the destruction of our planet.

For superdelegates, the take-away line was Hillary’s “YES, YES, YES!” answer when pressed on the question of whether Obama is electable. How is she going to get out of that one?

Link above, 10/20/2007 Obama does not put his hand over heart during National Anthem! Code says, during rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Link to US Code §171. IT DOES NOT SAY, PUT YOU HAND OVER YOUR HEART WHEN YOU ONLY FEEL LIKE DOING SO!!!

Finally, Finally
I had lost faith in the media – ABC I will forever be loyal to you. I watched the Brian Williams, Tim Russert, and Campbell Brown tear Hillary apart – while their little baby Obamie got a free ride.
NO MORE FREE RIDES OBAMA!!!!!!!!!
My sister-in-law was visiting from Arkansas, and she is not an Obama supporter. The word is that Obama will never carry the south in a general election. HE IS NOT LIKED.
Hillary presented herself very well. Her intelligent answers were impressive, while Obama either copied what she said or stuttered through most of responses.
Anyone who says that debate was tabloid is because OBAMA IS TABLOID MATERIAL WITH HIS LIFE OF LIES AND DECEIT. ABC didn’t bring anything but the truth to the table.
ABC has my vote. I am currently boycotting MSNBC CNN NBC.
HILLARY has our votes

This is tiresome! Is Rev Jeremiah Wrights’s patriotism or Obama’s lapel pin more important to the mass of Americans than Iraq, healthcare, the home loan meltdown, or torture? The USA’s vacuous media “stars” have a lot to answer for.

I think too much is being made of Senator Obama’s supposed mistatements while far too little is being made about Senator Clinton’s sniper fire comments. She essentially admitted to out right lying at last night’s debate and indicated that she hoped voters would be able to overlook it. Why should we overlook such an agregious offense when she is asking up to pay attention to far lesser offenses on the part of Senator Obama? She hardly seems someone who can claim the moral high ground. It is about as ludicrous as when Governor Romney was attacking other candidates’ conservative credentials.

The ‘debate’ was a set-up to incriminate, expose and assassinate Barack Obama’s character. This attack was aimed at the super delegates and also the public. Did Charles & George really think that we the people are so stupid we would not see through the propaganda?
ABC brought forward the Wright story and now they are pushing Ayers story. George & Charles were basically trying to paint Obama ‘guilty by association.’ If this is the case then as Obama pointed out Hillary Clinton should just drop out of the race as Bill had pardoned 2 members of the infamous Ayers organization. I did not hear George or Charles make one comment about this they let it drop because Obama had made a strong valid point.
Ironically no one questioned why a former Clinton staffer and supporter was part of this debate. It stands to reason that in all ‘fairness’ an Obama staffer should have been part of the commentator panel also. This ‘debate’ was extremely biased, prejudiced against Obama and lenient for Clinton.
Those may seem like harsh words ‘biased, prejudiced and lenient’ but they are the truth. As a voter I was disgusted with the gusto and glee with which George, Charles and Hillary verbally attacked Obama. It was sad and it made me feel like I was watching a 21st century modern main stream lynching.
To be clear on this – I don’t have a problem with the questions that were posed. I have a problem with how Obama was targeted in this debate. Hillary should have just sat at the panel desk with George and Charles. This is why George and Charles were booed after this debate was finished. It was a prejudiced panel and the commentators were unethical, unfair and unprofessional.
I think we now have a new political term “Clinton Pundits” aka extreme Clinton left wingers.
Last night was an ambush.

Thank you, ABC News, for finally peeling back the Teflon that the media have generously given to Barack Obama’s candidacy until now. The very junior Senator from Illinois has been able to get by with rhetoric about “hope, change and unity.” His left-liberal agenda is now becoming obvious. I’m another Democrat for Hillary or McCain.

That was a disgraceful performance by George Stephanopulous and Charles Gibson. I think by refusing to stoop to such low levels as the moderators and Mrs. Clinton were prepared to go, Obama displayed once more that she is a better human being. The voters will recognize that soon enough and this might take him straight to the Whitehouse.

Drip. Drip. Drip.
Obama supporters are incredibly nervous. Obama cannot put enough distance between himself and his associates yet still use the rhetoric he employs. Hillary won the debate by anyone’s measure. When pushed on issues, Obama stumbles and mumbles.
The DNC can foist him. The voters will hoist McCain on their shoulders.
The 28% will not back down. They will cross party lines and that will be the end of Senator Obama.
McCain is not Bush. And he has the scars to prove it.

the lack of substance in this debate came from the interviewers not providing any usbjects of substance to discuss.
This is a good example of how the medias control the conversation we are having about the candidates. They are the gatekeepers who ask the questions to the candidates. But not the relevant ones.
Not this time.

I love how all the Hillary and McCain supporters are calling this a good debate. They want more of the same and they, of course, applaud more of the same in journalism. I appreciate tough questions, but I would like to see some related to substance rather than trying to divine if Obama is a terrorist or Hillary is lesbian and other such tabloid nonsense. We even had Gibson debating Obama on capital gains, which, incidentally, only rise in the short term after tax cuts and then continue downwards. People seem to complain about the status quo and then say we need to elect the status quo because theyre best suited to operated within said status quo. This country is running on circular logic and its taking us into a downward spiral.

Contradictions in last night’s debate made by Obama…
1. Saying he wouldn’t raise taxes on people making below $250K and then when pushed admitted that he may install a payroll tax that will target those about $97K (THIS TO ME IS THE BIGGEST STORY AND ONE THE REPUBLICANS WILL USE IF HE WERE TO GET THE NOMINATION)
2. Handwriting on the gun questionare that he said wasn’t his – but has been admitted to at one time was
3. Said he disowned Rev. Wright (although backtracked when he was questioned on that statement by George)
4. Said that we shouldn’t overly examine his words (but wait, don’t words matter?)
5. Wants positive politics, yet sends talking points to all media trying to insinuate that Clinton is dishonest.
6. When his back is against the wall, always tries to distract by taking a hit at Clinton or Mccain (isn’t this part of the “typical politics” he has called for an end to?)
But guess what? The press is covering the biggest contradiction as Hillary saying that Barrack could win against Mccain while telling superdelegates that it is unlikely. Pundits keep pushing this as another lie from Hillary. But the fact of the matter is he could win against Mccain if there aren’t any more skeletons in his closet or he doesn’t make any more missteps. But all in all that is highly unlikely that this will happen because what we know about Obama’s past and philosophy, aside from his campaign rhetoric, is less than his very limited resume. What we do know is that on the surface he has a lot of connections to questionable people and that if these questions are investigated further it could lead to a huge loss for the democrats if he were to win the nomination. I don’t think we can take that risk and I hope the superdelegates agree with me, even if the pundits don’t.

Obama FINALLY got the grilling he should have had months ago last night. He didn’t do very well responding either. The fact that Clinton has had to do the vetting the press should have done should not be held against her. Personal feeling for her aside, anyone who could not clearly see she had a much better command of topics, was much more Presidential and would stand up better to scrutiny in November is nuts. Obama almost collasped under Clinton’s pressure last night.. can you imagine how he’ll handle the Republican’s???

Obama gains support, now leads among elected superdelegates
For those of you keeping score, Barack Obama has now moved past Hillary Clinton in terms of announced support from elected superdelegates (governors, senators and representatives).
He picked up three more on Wednesday.

Uh, Len? Get a grip, my friend.
I’m an Obama supporter, and I can tell you in all honestly I’m not nervous at all. Before Texas and Ohio, we heard how nervous we were supposed to be because Obama might lose two big states and Hillary would surge ahead and get superdelegates behind her. But he didn’t. He lost Ohio, but he won Texas. And since then, he’s gained even more ground on superdelegates. If they were all going to flock to her, wouldn’t they be doing so by now? Instead, he keeps winning them. A few more today, even.
So…. if you and the “28%” decide to cut off your noses to spite your faces and vote for McCain just because you’re BITTER over Hillary’s losing, you’ll be no better than the Nader voters in 2000 who put Bush in office rather than Gore. If you are too blind to see that Obama supports 99% of what Hillary supports, and McCain is more of Bush, then I can’t help you. You need to get over yourself and your emotion and think rationally about this election. It’s important.

As an independant, I look to the media who host these debates to provide a forum where the issues that matter to the American voters may be discussed/debated and the American voter may have the opportunitiy to evaluate both candidates.
ABC NEWS HAS DONE A VERY POOR JOB OF CONDUCTING THIS DEBATE.
It appears to me that there was a tabloid agenda at work here. I was disappointed in the muck raking approach to the moderator’s questions and their seemingly lack of interest in taking on the real issues that face us.
I was really expecting more from a network that has had a rich history of professional news reporting. I am really disappointed in ABC News.

I agree the poll numbers are way off. I am surprised they keep using this tactic, as it came to bite them in the ass in NH. I think Pennsylvania will be a very big win for Hillary. The news pundits may not care about Obama’s contradictions, associations and snobbery but I guarantee you that the American people will.
I do have to compliment on Clinton on doing such a phenomenal job during this campaign. Not only is he outspending her 4-1 and has the media in his back pocket, but his supporters are also bullying people to vote for him and yet he still can’t seem to seal the deal.

April 30, 2007 NY Times: Wright himself said the following: “If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.” HMMM, even Wright knew and Barack acknowledged back in 04/30/07 that Barack would have to distance himself? Isn’t this telling about how Barack knew more than he has to this day acknowledged to the same Americans he so seeks to UNITE?

Obama is nowhere near qualified to be president. Brian Williams and Tim Russert did the same type of debate a month ago, but instead of asking Obama the hard questions everything was directed at Hillary. Guess what? She actually answered all of the questions and was able to handle the scrutiny and her supporters rallied behind her- not because we were upset that she was asked the hard questions (we are not naive, we expected it) but because she was so excellent at keeping her cool and addressing them.

When Obama went to Kenya in August of 2006, he was hosted by Raila Odinga (obama’s cousin) and spoke in praise of him at rallies in Nairobi; see picture in this link Raila Odinga is said to have ties to Islam and is responsible for the bloodshed in Kenya because of his presidency bid loss to Mwai Kibaki.

In your opinions… how would BO have looked if, when addressing the Ayers question, he actually discussed what that charity he served on the board of with Ayers did? I believe the Woods Foundation gives grants to help the impoverished. Would this have looked like a change of subject, or the boring details of the facts? It actually could have been an opportunity in my opinion to take a difficult question and segue it into something very positive.
Of course, I think he’d have to acknowledge Ayers’ past and the fundraiser which he could have stated was one of thousands thrown for him in his political career. But if the devil is in the details… could an angel be in the details as well? Just curious about your thoughts.

I find it very ironic that many Obama supporters here are complaining about the lack of substance in this debate. Now you know how his non-supporters feel when hearing him speak.

Waaaah! The mean ABC guys asked Obama tough questions!!!! Waaah!!!!! They brought up Obama’s disgusting racist of a pastor!!!! Waaaaah! Reverend Farrakhan!!! Waaaaah!!! William Ayers and the Weather Underground!!!! Waaaaah!!!! No fair bringing up who a candidate for the most powerful position on the globe associates with.
Grow the hell up already!! I’ve never seen a bigger group of whiney kool-aid drinkers.

“I’m Barack Obama and I don’t take money from oil companies or lobbyists and I won’t let them block change anymore.” no candidate can take money from Oil Companies; it has been against the law for over 100 years; but Obama has taken $213,884 from the oil and gas industry as of Feb. 29th, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, this money is bundled by Oil Company Execs. Yea, Obama won’t let them block change just like he didn’t let Exelon water down a bill Obama was trying to get passed in Illinois, and now Exelon is one of Obama’s contributors for this presidential campaign? HMMM!
I’m a Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter and I approve this message!

Both got hit with three very tough issues. Obama: Rev. Wright, his infamous “bitter” remarks, and his association with William Ayers. Clinton: Her Bosnia exaggeration, her purported statements that Obama was unelectable, and a public opinion poll about her honesty.
For his part, Obama rationalized, made excuses, stammered a lot, and declared the subjects absurd and a distraction from the issues. While Clinton apologized and ate a lot of crow for her “mistakes,” describing her trip to Bosnia and got badgered into saying Obama is electable.
Their discussion of the issues wasn’t anything all that new; however, Obama did stumble a bit on his position on payroll and capital gains taxes. My main observation is that Clinton was ASKED questions about her positions on Wright and Obama’s bitter comments, and she responded, owning her position, while Obama hedged on the Bosnia question, admitting his “campaign” was hammering on it, “of course,” yet somehow dodging personal responsibility for what his campaign is doing? That just seemed dishonest to me. If his campaign is doing it – HE is. I’d much rather see the candidates own their positions and actions, than try and appear above the fray, when their actions don’t match the perception they’re trying to falsely portray.

Obama told crowd in Iowa in December that it was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed.” LIES this legislation NEVER passed! This legislation never passed; also if you look at Obama’s Special Interest contributions above you will see EXELON who by the way was the corporation that Obama was fighting in the so-called “nuclear legislation” he said he passed. See how this article talks about how Obama watered down this legislation…HMMM, talk about not being swayed by SPECIAL INTERESTS!

Obama is an eloquent speaker with good judgment and common sense. He’ll make a fine president. His head will someday be on Mt Rushmore.

Ayers… I wonder, is this the new standard? We should start vetting all the people we work with? Even fellow PTA board members? Fellow volunteers for a charity? Fellow supporter of a neighborhood initiative? Request their personal records and see if they broke any law in the past. Then ask them what they think now. Have they repented? Have they published anything in the public? Have they said anything in the church? by the water cooler? If we disagree with our boss’s political views, shall we have quit our jobs? Just in case someday we may want to become a public servant?

Obama says he doesn’t take money from lobbyist, PACs; when in fact they aided his RISE! In Obama’s eight years in the Illinois Senate, from 1996 to 2004, almost two-thirds of the money he raised for his campaigns — $296,000 of $461,000 — came from PACs! Obama’s US Senate campaign committee, starting with his successful run in 2004, has collected $128,000 from lobbyists and $1.3 million from PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics! Why is Obama lying to the American people? Even WORSE, why is the mainstream media not reporting the FACTS? Don’t you think if they aided his RISE that they EXPECT something?
I’m a Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter and I approve this message!

Fourthsign — not sure if anyone is actually reading your Hillary-approved cut-and-pastes, but –
Of course Obama has taken money from employees of oil and gas companies. He’s also taken money from employees of schools, and factories, and malls, and state government, and spas, and mines, and every other industry imaginable (because he has more individual donors than Hillary or McCain). Should employees of some industries be allowed to donate but not others? If I’m a secretary at some BP headquarters, and I donate to Obama’s campaign, does that mean he’s going to sign legislation favorable to BP?
Get real. People are smarter than to believe the tripe you’re posting today, my friend.

it’s funny how obama and his supporters quickly turn to attack mode when they can’t and won’t speak/hear the TRUTH! it was soooo funny watching obama squirm last night; finally this wimp is being asked some real questions, but as he always does, he turns it around on someone else…

Obama’s time in Illinois State Senate: Another FREE ride for Obama:
Emil Jones recalled, relishing the tale “After I was elected Illinois State Senate President, in 2003, Obama came to see me, a couple months later,” ‘You’re the senate president now, and with that, you have a lot of pow-er.’ ” Jones stretched out the word, as if savoring the pleasure of it, and his voice became very quiet as he continued: “And I told Barack, ‘You think I got a lot of pow-er now?,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you got a lot of pow-er.’ And I said, ‘What kind of pow-er do I have?’ He said, ‘You have the pow-er to make a United States sen-a-tor!’ ” Jones let out a soft, smoky laugh. “I said to Barack, I said, ‘That sounds good!’ I said, ‘I haven’t even thought of that.’ I said, ‘Do you have someone in mind you think I could make?,’ and he said, ‘Yeah. Me.’ ” THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM?
2003 Emil Jones Jr. President of Illinois State Senate said, “I’m gonna make me a U.S. senator.” Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills. “I don’t consider it bill jacking,” Hendon told me. “But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the 1-yard line and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book.” To prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Emil Jones’ Senate district. As we have seen Obama was given a FREE ride and ONCE AGAIN he has taken credit for the hard work of others!

Dan,
Why exactly is he the most substantial candidate YOU’VE seen in decades?
To me he is lazy intellectually and frankly, I expect more in Presidential candidate AND Harvard grads.
He has stolen MLKs tone….JFKs words….Ceasar Chavez’ battle cry….and Illinois taxpayer’s money for Rezko.
He wasn’t even man enough to buy his family their own house. He had to tour it with his money man, while his constituents froze.
What is impressive about that? He consistantly shows he is without honor. That doesn’t make him the most substantial candidate in decades. It makes him a coward, a liar, a hypocrite, and a thief.
He has never been seriously tested in any election and I guarantee all of this stuff and more, will come out in 527 ads, if he makes it to the general.
I think he is an empty suit who expects two set of rules…and where I come from that is called someone who cheats.
As far as voting, I will wait until the general to decide. As it stands now, I will probably be writing in my vote.

I watched the ABC debate last night, and I use that term loosely. I was very disappointed. This was not a fair debate at all. I didn’t think unfair and unbalanced would be what I would get from Charles Gibson. Shame on you and ABC. George Stephanopoulos, a former staffer of Bill Clinton, should have never been involved as a commentator. I also noticed the camera shooting Chelsea and Clinton supporters too many times!
I am OK with the tough questions to Obama, and I think he did quite well with the interrogation. But, where were the equally tough questions to Hillary?
…Cafta and Bill and Penn’s role in it …..
….honesty issues other than Bosnia…
…Can you be positive about anything?
You didn’t even touch the most important issues, that we are most interested.
I am one of those citizens that is sick of George Bush and sick of both the Clintons. We have so much talent in this country. Why must we revisit families, time after time? We need a change!

dan
I’m sorry, but the ad in Pennsylvania is very misleading. He accepts money from OIL CEOS and they bundle money for him.

wow…nicely put cali girl. Easily the most thoughful post place here today.
Well Done.

Hillary should become speaker of the House.
Nancy Pelosi is a total failure who cares more about Tibet than ending this war in Iraq.
It’s a shame she is the first FEMALE speaker of the house.

Oh and please explain to me how those questions were hard, if he has been dealing with them for weeks?
It doesn’t take me weeks to get a handle on the truth.

“It’s disappointing Clinton & Obama won’t agree to share a TICKET.”
At this point, Clinton has:
1) Endorsed McCain as a better choice
2) Said Obama has not passed the commander in cheif test
3) Said Obama is too inexperienced to lead
4) Said Obama has too much bagage to survive Republican attacks
5) Said Obama is too elitist to connect with the voters needed to win
6) Attacked anyone who supported Obama and not her (Richardson, Kerry, Carter, Gore, etc.)
7) Has insulted all of his supporters with the following rationale
blacks – voting based on race
whites – voting based on racial guilt
men – voting based on sexism
women – not voting based on sexism
poor – screw’ em
rich – too elite
uneducated – being snookered by hope
educated – too elite (see rich above)
small rural states – not worth campaigning for
large cities – too elite (see rich and educated above)
younger – not remembering Clinton Camelot Fairy Tale
older – too hung up on Clinton scandals of the past
Obama’s entire message is about change, hope, and leaving behind the good ole boy political nastiness of the past, and argues that the Clintons are the poster family for this.
Neither candidate can run with the other, lest they betray everything they’ve said so far.

As a conservative ( i am not a republican however) I think ABC’s debate was the worst debate fo the campaign by far, It’s not that i dislike the questions but the presentation of those questions were no better than a Jerry Springer Rerun! And the fact they spent so long on them in the debate was class less, I actually liek the moderators, but they try to make a bigger name for themselves than needs be. And hilary was a little cheerleader!! Obama was weak and the moderators where like sharks smelling blood in the water!

The superdelegates are all she’s got left so what else would she do? The rough thing for her is how her intensively Machiavellian campaign has wounded her the most. The superdelegates are well aware that either of these candidates can beat John McCain. That being so, the question is, what kind of character and intention do we want in the White House? I am not a superdelegate. I already have a candidate and an answer to that. And all the Karl Rove politics in the world won’t change it. We do have to protect the voting machines, however, as this is a candidate who will litigate if she loses.

reporters should go back to actually reporting the news and not trying to be the news!!! these moderators where trying to be the news and play gotcha politics ! We need a NEW news channel a true Fair and balance one, Not counter balances to spin machines….we need a independant news network!!

I haven’t read all 196 preceding posts, but am I the only one who recalls that 2 years into his first term, Bill Clinton faced the Republicans’ Contract On America and found himself struggling to make progress from there on? Is HRC so delusional that she thinks that the Republicans are done with her after those 8 years? In 20 years of human resources work, I’ve learned that sometimes you have to pass up a skilled candidate because hiring them would actually impede business. I have never been surer of anything than that HRC’s candidacy would do more for Republican Congressional races than Democrat.

Thank you, Charlie and George
You asked the excellent questions for both candicates.

“@ FRONTAPA
Thanks CYNIC.
if you’re a real democrat who cares about the future and honestly beating mccain than you would be jumping at this combo.”
I’m not the one who made the demographic arguments I listed, those are all from Hillary and her supporters. I thought it was clear how silly and contradictory some of those were. My point is, she’s spent so much time arguing what’s wrong with his supporters, why he’s incapable of becoming or doing the job of president, that it would fly in the face of every one of these arguments SHE’S MADE, to select Obama as her VP. Further, Obama’s spent a good deal of time outlining his argument for a change in politics, and using her campaign behavior as a model for what he wants to move away from, that he too would be a hypoctite to choose her as his VP.
If either candidate did this, they’d be murdered by the Republicans for what could only be described as a collosal flip-flop. Remember what they did to Kerry? Mutliply that by a dozen or so, and you’ll see what I mean.
I’d actually support the ticket, in either order, but it unfortunately exists only in your imagination and would be an unmitigated disaster if it ever came to be.

Jake, your commentary here sounds as tired and wrung out as Sen. Obama’s performance last night. Has the fire in the belly gone out? Across these many months Sen. Obama has “adjusted” the amounts received from Tony Rezko, he has also denied meeting the Iranian billionaire (at Rezko’s parties) and now we know that isn’t true. Also, this Iranian billionaire was a close friend of Saddam Hussein and a key player in the “oil for food” scandal. Obama has positioned himself as the outsider in politics when in fact it’s been shown he’s a well-honed product of the Chicago liberal establishment. He positions himself as a man of faith but joined a church to establish a launch pad for his community organizing efforts. He should be questioned even more on what seems to be a Marxist influenced approach and philosophy. He has repeatedly played the reverse race card and, with his remarks in San Francisco, the “class war card.” I think it’s time that Sen. Obama’s luggage is opened up and the contents examined. For these many months, he’s been waved and waived through Customs. That should have been stopped a long time ago. There’s still time to stop it now.

OK. Hillary Clinton made a show of herself last night yet again for the benefit of the knowing public who had been already wondering about her capability to distinquish between stregth of mind and just plainly being nasty.
Two things cannot be more different though often confused by many people. If anything meaningful can be said about the debate, it is the fact that it may have finally laid bare the truth about this lady’s very unlady like character.
Remember, that great Magaret Thatcher was one hell of a lady before she became a great and strong leader, though not without a blunder or two of her own.
Hillary Clinton is way out of the league, though she desperately wishes to be perceived and remembered as such and she certainly is no match for Barack Obama, the fact we have known all along, deep down.

fontapa
the only way democrats, frustrated republicans, and independents will vote democratic, if both obama and clinton are on the ticket.
if obama receives the nomination, do you oppose having hillary clinton as the veep to unite the party or would you rather have 30% of her voters defect to McCain? and the same if clinton is the nominee obama will have to be the veep so 19% of his supporters won’t defect to mccain.
it is simple.
wow, obama and clinton hate each other, but if they both love America they should be able to look past their differences and work together to prevent our country from being further destroyed by “bush agreeing” republicans!
p.s. i’m sure jfk and johnson didn’t always see eye to eye.

If the Democratic Party cannot come to its senses, then for many Democrats, sending the party a message in November will be a priority and voting for the Republican candidate in order to send that message is, unfortunately, the only choice. Why? There hasn’t been such an effort to conceal the background of a candidate in a long, long time. It’s time the Obama luggage is opened up and its contents analyzed, over and over until we get some straight answers and not the continuous stream of “adjusted answers” that keep coming out of his mouth. If not, send the party a message by voting (yuk, ugh, blech) Republican in November. Take back the Democratic party, even at the expense of 4 year of McCain. Better a one-term McCain than generations of this “movement.”

I watched a replay of the debate last night (because it was broadcast live at 5 PM PDT in California)and I was still at work. This morning I read three different accounts of the debate and I thought “what debate were they watching?” It was like Rashomon – three accounts; three very different stories. My take is both candidates were cautiously polite to one another. Charles and George asked the sensationalist questions up front – so that the sponsors felt they were keeping the audience glued and getting their money’s worth. The questions of substance all came near the end. I have to say that the differences between Hillary and Barack on removing troops from Iraq and taxes were essentially the same. Both are intelligent. Both espouse policies that are significantly different than McCain’s. I would vote for either one in a heart beat, but my personal preference is Obama.

I can’t believe the content of last night’s debate!
“Who do you know?” “What did they say?” “Where’s your flag pin?”
Do we not have freedom in this country anymore?
No more freedom of speech?
Guilty not by trial, but by mere association?
Will we all be issued state approved uniforms- complete with flag pins?
If our qualifications for president are what they wear, and who they have ever interacted with, we are headed in a very scary direction.
It was a terrible “debate”. Our men and women are dying in Iraq every day, people are losing their homes, losing their jobs, and their retirements, and half of the show was about non-issues???
Shame on ABC.

This was unbelievable.
With all the critical issues facing this country, all we heard were idiotic questions like, “do you believe Reverend Wright is as patriotic as you are?” Huh? What kind of question is THAT?
It was almost as if Hillary, George and Charles had sat down together and planned the debate beforehand, to achieve two goals:
1. To force Obama to “fumble and stumble” on national TV by hammering him with moronic, unanswerable questions.
2. To protect Hillary by avoiding detailed discussion of serious major issues, where they know Obama would eat her alive.

I just love seeing Hillary supporters celebrating last nights debate as if she did not make herself look like a fool. Even Drudge is mocking the debate.
I’m glad Barack got asked tough questions and he
weathered the storm pretty decently. But to say that she made herself more electable to the Super Delegates is just wishful thinking.
Do you Hill Shills actually think she has been vetted?
Do you have any idea how many skeleton she has in her closet?
All that stuff you read about and hope the MSM doesn’t get its hands on is just the tip of the iceberg with her.
Face it kiddos. Hillary is unelectable.
Get used to it.
President Barack Obama.

Geez… as a Republican, I’m feeling a bit neglected. No infighting. No trash talk (well, there’s always a little trash talk). One thing is for sure, we ALL need to live with the winner of this struggle. One of these ‘Three Amigos’ will be the next President. As an (R), I’d like to see your candidates spend more time talking about issues that MATTER. Sniper fire? A questionable fellow-board member? Okay, so maybe they have ‘some’ significance… but to spend an hour talking about this stuff when there are MUCH more important issues on the line is pretty amazing. Yes, you can blame ABC for driving the content. However, these two are asking to be the next President of the United States of America. Amazing that neither could manage steer the discussion to more relevant topics.

NIXON was more honest than these two refugees from the human race.

The ABC debate moderators for the Democratic Presidential debate in PA last night, were among the worst we have ever seen! (Charley gets a 1; George get a red faced 2) Charley and George acted more lake gossip reporters and contributors than like real moderators. They had the opportunity to start with questions relevant to the American people. Instead they opened up with 50 wasted minutes of mud slinging topics we have already heard way too much about. This made the moderators and the network bosses look, to us and probably the whole world, like a bunch of idiots. It was not only embarrassing, annoying and irrelevant, but it was a terrible waste of an important national resource.
You can do much better and we expect it for a leading network.

To Dan and Cali girl knows the truth: Don’t forget that Zbig is Mika on Morning Joe’s father, and Mika’s brother also works on Obama’s campaign. MSNBC is so in the tank for Obama, they should just change their name to the all great things about Obama, all the time network. Lots of women have stopped watching, and to be honest, it used to be the cable news show that was on, or CNN, which isn’t on anymore either. Thank you ABC for giving Obama critical questions and for demanding that he answer instead of giving his old politics skirt the question routine.

ABC News and their two headstrong tabloid pushers suck! It was not that they were unfair to the candidates (which they were), its that they were unfair to the millions of people watching the debate who actually thought they’d get a chance to hear the differences between a Clinton and Obama presidency and how it would effect them… instead they heard about who mispoke when and if it really meant something more, and who they’re acquainted with, and the moderators only defense for wasting so much time was that “this is what the Republicans” will do. It just shows how out of touch ABC is and they don’t realize that Democrats are no longer a “reactive” party but a “proactive” party. We set the tone and we won’t allow petty wedge issues and tabloid gossip nonsense to overshadow the real problems we face in this country.

ALL Politicians are supported by Liers, theives, murderers, General Criminals. Without a doubt! Their supporters have HUGE ego’s and feel entitled to taxpayer money.
The winner of the “election” will be the one who promises these crminals the MOST taxpayer money. The rest is Rhetoric (lies that pacify)!!
Don’t look to these people for answers! Look inside yourselves and find the truth. (and it’s not jesus)

Charlie, George, and ABC Suck!!!

dl,
Pat Buchanan, of all people, jumped all over Hillary’s remark about massive retaliation to Iran if they attack Israel or another “umbrella nation ally”.
On MSNBC’s after debate analysis, Buchanan expressed shock at HRC’s proposed umbrella policy, including her commitment to massive retaliation with no mention of congressional authorization. Imagine that, she actually scared a conservative republican with that answer!

Here is an off topic question. Does anyone know how many of the super delegates are Black, and how many of them have committed to Obama? There seems to be a lot of noise lately about Black super delegates coming on pressure to commit to Obama.

kj
those issues would be fine…if it was equal…Hillary’s issues and “baggage” have yet to be brought up during this whole primary. The elephant in the room has not been brought up because one side doesn’t want to get away from the issues that are going to destroy this copuntry if they are not addressed and one side takes advantage of the other canidates willingness not to throw his party under the bus for his own political gain like Hillary.
She has lists of issues of these and 1 was addressed for 2 minutes last night…
If they were truly talking about issues that mattered…if these were the issues that mattered …why was the Columbia, NAFTA and Bill issues not mentioned? They were reported and I would say more important than anything in the tabloid list that the two commentators brought up and have been addressed less.
This was a hit job and ABC is feeling the heat today…I just had an email come in asking for a serious address from Bob Iger and the folks at Disney to look at activities that occured around the days before the debate.
there already were a massive amount of signatures attached.
I personally would rather focus on Hillary’s answer about Iran last night and this “umbrella organization” of all non nuclear countries that will be “protected” by America with a “massive” reaction toward Iran… no mention of congress, or type of attack…who those countries are… just anyone who doesn’t have nuclear capabilities who would come under our protective umbrella… WHHHAAAATTTT!? What is she talking about.
this sounds a lot like Bush and McCain…Police the world at America’s cost…in fact this sounds worse than McCain.
Go listen or read the transcript. That is the issue we need to focus on today out of that debate.

MSNBC Asks:
Was McCain the winner of last night’s debate.

The Republican “attack machine” better be ready for some intense common sense defense. They’ll never convince anyone that Iraq was a good idea and won’t be able to explain away their inability to capture or kill OBL. They’ve been an utter failure for Americans and traitors to the constitution. An immense shift is about to occur for our nation and I for one will cheer on the democratic relief.

MarkD
The republicans have nothing remotely like Obama’s attack machine. If you’re afraid they’ll raise questions your little tin-man can’t cope with, then that’s another story.

VERYCONCERNED, Where were you when traitorous, murderous, moron Bush was running for President? At this point Howard Stern would be a welcome replacement over this corrupt administration.

If you vote for McCain out of spite that your candidate hasn’t won the nomination then you’re just a sore loser and the democratic party doesn’t want you.

MarkD
If one votes for McCain because his values are closer to yours than are the values of the far left, they why in the world would that person sacrifice their beliefs just to be a non-thinking party lemming?

Clinton was at her smarmiest and most sanctimonious last night. If slimy disengenousness were water, she’d have drowned us all. To to hell with Charlie and George.

dl:
Did you watch the debate that MSM hosted? Some of the issues that were directed to Hillary:
1) Questioned on NAFTA inconsistencies (this would be the same as questioning Barrack on his gun stance inconsistencies from the survey he claims to not have filled out).
2) Questioned on leaking photo of Barrack in native dress.
3) Put on spot regarding “Shame on you” comment directed at Barrack’s misleading mailer.
4) Put on spot about the tone of the primary.
5) Put on spot regarding her “mocking” Sen. Obama. with the “skies will open” bit.
6) Questioned on when she was going to release her tax returns (relentlessly I might add).
For Barrack, the only question he got that was not on “real” issues was on Farrakkan.
No one was up in arms about that debate. At least to the levels we are seeing from the ABC debate.
The bottomline is that if we were voting strictly on command and knowledge of the “real” issues then Hillary would be winning. She showed that in part 2 of the dabate last night. But, people vote on character too…Hillary’s got blasted in the MSM debate, Barrack’s got blasted last night. Fair’s fair.

I certainly hope the GOP has a bit more going for it than attacking Obama on flag lapel pins and aging 60′s radicals.
I deeply respect Senator McCain for his service and heroism in defending this country. But the more I read his proposed policies the more he seems completely out of touch with the plight of the common man. He basically is offering Bush-lite, with a smattering of “lets worry about global warming” here and there. That’s not enough.

democratic process
I say go ahead…I like McCain myself if it were not for the war, the economy, healthcare and I happen to be pro-choice and we are teetering on a woman’s right to choose being overturned.
But if those issues aren’t that important you should vote for McCain.
He’s a nice guy… and a hero. He’s not right but he’s a nice guy and a hero.

Oblama hopes to change Washington! He can’t even figure out the rules of the game. This game of politics has been going for 200+ years, he is not going to change it. Pied Piper…..leading you to your slaughter.

Some of those moderators’ questions intentionally aimed to hit Sen. Obama politically, especially Pastor Wright. He had already discussed to the nation. We had understood it. Why was a question brought back? Why were some of very contentious questions not posed on Sen. Clinton? Your questions were complete lack of substances regarding pressing issues that we really need to hear. Your questions principally focused on characters of the each candidate, mainly politics of negative, personal attacks and accusation who said what and when and what words were said and how other candidate can dramatize it in the context of sabotage and destruction. Just hard to listen. It was a terrible debate in comparison to other networks like CNN.

Mrs. Clinton states Wright’s WORDS “would have been just intolerable for me, therefore I would have not been able to stay in the church.”
Whereas her husband’s ACTIONS were entirely tolerable to her, therefore she was able to stay in the marriage.

I almost felt sorry last night for OBama. His performance was so poor and he seemed to be floundering in the face of Clinton’s sure-footed style – remember everyone, she’s had everything thrown at her in the last few weeks!
My sympathy disappeared this morning however when I saw how busy TEAMOBAMA is in spinning last night’s debate. The blogosphere is full of “she was so negative, and she’ll lose support because of it” and “he was blindsided by biased moderators” to the delusional “he did a great job”.
Clinton by the way looked sad or perhaps embarassed for him.
Obama supporters had better be hoping that Pennsylvania voters were not tuned in last evening. If they saw what we all saw, he’s going to lose big.
Even Axelrod can’t convince anyone who saw his performance that they didn’t see a trainwreck in the making.

I think Obama looked presidential and gave eloquent answers in the face of absurd accusations. Hillary has no chance to win the nomination even if she wins in a landslide in Pennsylvania. It’s over Hillary. You cannot change the rules of math.

Obama’s excuse for Ayers is he was only a young boy when Ayers bombed the U.S.
Why didn’t Obama tell the REST of the story?
In the 1990’s, Obama served on a board with Ayers, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid, “underline PAID”, directorship position. They worked together and attended fundraisers together. Ayers held fundraisers and was a contributor to Obama’s Chicago campaign, plus the Obamas and the Ayers visited each other quite often. ENOUGH SAID!
Obama’s associations with Wright, Ayers, Sinclair, Farrakhan, the Black Panthers, Rezko, Meeks, Malley, Auchi, Khalidi, McPeaks, Nadhmi, Said, and Michelle Obama, among others, deserve being vetted. What’s their fear? DON’T FORGET THESE PEOPLE.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU VOTE FOR!

Was it just me that noticed Senator Clinton trying to crouch behind her podium when Senator Obama was being grilled for not wearing a flag pin on his lapel?
Where was Senator Clinton’s United States flag pin I ask?
I thought so too………………

MarkD
Old news.
Incorrect news.
Irrelevant news.
Can’t you do better?

do you believe Reverend Wright is as patriotic as you are?” Huh? What kind of question is THAT
That is a softball question. Giving Obama a free pass on his patriotism (which he later lied about). Obama hurt himself by repeatedly having to have the last word on every question- stealing “airtime” by expanding on his first response and digger himself deeper.

concerned — YES. Thanks for posting the long list of Obama’s highly *questionable* contacts. More Americans should be worried about this, and asking questions! Thank goodness the Hillary supporters and ABC and others are telling this story. Be careful who you vote for is RIGHT!
FYI, I also heard B. HUSSEIN Obama was involved with:
Darth Vader
Voldemort
Sauron
Omarosa
the Decepticons
John Rocker
Gargamel
Khan
Tell your friends! This man is NOT ready to be President!

Come On…….now you are bashing Charlie and George?
I for one appreciated the questioning to force the candidates to “belly up” to their allegations against one another out on the campaign trail. They can always use their campaign staff to initiate a bad rumor, and then blame their own staff for it not agreeing with their views and values. Well, guess what….Senator Clinton kept hammering that Senator Obama was unelectable. But forced to answer the question in public, it was another one of her lies. Sorry, I mean’t misstatement.
Thanks Charlie & George for hammering the candidates to stop the Political Spin and directly answer their dirty laundry/baggage accusations in the open air.

Kim Jones-
You are exactly right I GUARANTEE you that not one of the people here complaining about the debate last night complained after the other debates when Hillary was the one getting hit hard with questions. But now they all cry fowl when their guy has to wing it without a pillow for a change.

“I will be able to withstand whatever the Republican sends our way.”
Trying to circumvent the actual votes for the nominee eh?
How can she think that she has the ability to win the general election when she can’t win her own party’s nomination?
I guess the same way she’s trying to get the nomination…

and southern bell …add to that the fact that she with her overwhelming name recognition and status from the beginning of this primary… add to that the fact that there has been no discussion of the lists of scandals that follow the Clintons in the democratic primary…which will not be the case in the general…how anyone could think that she could win.
If all of the Clinton supporters are blindly continuing to spout these created issues and gaffes from Obama…a list at maximum is what? 6, 8 …and Hillary has pages and pages of issues and questions and lawsuits and investigations and statements and scandals that no one is allowed to raise… all that have so-called “been vetted” …yet we have not seen any of them used in this primary…
well like I say…the tsunami that has been held back would sweep this party and the country to it’s knees from the RNC and 527′s if Hillary was somehow able to manage some kind of whirlwind trashing of Obama to get the superdelegates to fall back in line with the Clinton ranks(all the while he tells his campaign not to talk about “those” issues so we can stay on issues that won’t risk the party or the change we need…you know the stuff that matters…or maybe it’s just only matters that Hilary gets to take her thrown).

and why can no one answer me why we are not talking about this “umbrella” thing that Sen Clinton proposed last night.
Hello we are so wrapped up in these stupid issues taking our eye off the real issue…
an umbrella organization for ANY country who doesn’t go nuclear to be protected from ANY attack with MASSIVE RETALIATION?.
what does this mean? can someone tell me how this is different than George Bush and John McCain.
she didn’t say appropriate reaction…she said MASSIVE RETALIATION between any middle eastern country who is attacked by Iran who isn’t nuclear, who agrees to fall under our “protection” or “protective umbrella”
why are we not talking about that?
We are not supposed to be policing the world and expecting America to pay for it. …pay for it …not only in money but reputation and giving the terrorists more recruiting tools.
Somebody stop the madness and look at the red flag from last night.

The list for both of them stinks. Wright and the weather underground taint both of them. Billy boy’s pardon list though only taints one. Only one has an advisor that stole documents from a federal archive and then destroyed them. There’s where the trust issues start.

I just want to set some facts straight on a couple things. Regarding the Weatherman Underground
The two people members that Bill Clinton pardoned, first of all were not friends of his,both admitted to regretting their crimes and they served more than 15 years in prison.
Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn,on the other hand, didn’t spend one day in Jail. Ayers has never showed any regret for what they did. In Fact, not only has he publicly stated he WASN’T SORRY, but in an interview he did on 9/11 he said that ” I don’t regret setting bombs, I feel we didn’t do enough” then when he was asked if he would do it again he said “I don’t want to discount the possibility”.

judi: Eveyone who loves america!

Hillary proved last night why her negative numbers are very high!
Hillary proved to be the elitist, making her case to the Superdelegates, instead of the American people.
It’s clear that Hillary is not the candidate that will bring about the kind of change that the American people are seeking from Washington.
Hillary Clinton feels that Obama’s contraversies deserve exploration because she feels SHE will benefit from them, but isn’t thinking about the American people, including those in PA.
I don’t see how exploring these contraveries will benefit us in the least bit.

“Obama supporters complaining about ABC debate moderators sound like baseball fans blaming the Umpires after their teams got beaten.”
Obama loses the debate (because he is not EVEN qualified to run for Presidency) and then blames Hillary!!
What’s going on folks???
Just vote for Mccain.
Obama is making a fog of nonsense all the time.

I just want to know who will be Senator Obama’s pastor if he should be elected President?
Jim

60% of Americansaid that Hillary is not trust worthy. I think that this speak for itself. who is she going to defend? the 60% that dont truisth her. People can gamble on Obama but not her.

Considering the lies, war, treason, torture and the broken oath to uphold the constitution so help me god, makes me wish you republicans had looked into Bush’s pastor before he was elected.