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The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

PBS Democratic Primary Debate: The LiveBlog

7:54 Phew! I was worried there for a bit. The floodgates opened here in North Texas, and we suddenly lost our satellite TV. Beer and politics, hold the politics? I don't think that would make for a very good liveblog. But we've got it back, and we're on! Just in time for the cheesy, cheesy PBS intro.

7:59 Turns out I have a backup plan — you can watch online as well.

Just seen on PBS's All-American Presidential Forums website, a question from a viewer:

“If you were not running for the presidential candidacy, given the remaining candidates, who would you choose to represent the Democratic Party, and why?”

A Viewer, Horsham, PA

Is it bad that I desperately hope they ask this question? It's a train wreck waiting to happen. And train wrecks make great TV!

8:00 Here we are — goooo Tavis Smiley! Oh, wait, no, the president of Howard University gets to speak first. Welcome, we're privileged, thanks to everybody's work, and all that other stuff you'd expect. Aaaaand Tav— nope, sorry. Tom Joyner gets to talk as well. He's a Scorpio, in case you were wondering.

8:07 *sigh* OK, now Tavis is talking. I think at some point we're supposed to get some side commentary from the presidential candidates as well. I think. Not that I've seen any sign of that yet.

8:12 Finally, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is introducing the candidates. The loudest audience cheers go to Sen. Gravel. This should be interesting. That, and the camera isn't being shy about showing Mrs. Kucinich sitting in the audience. Hmm.

8:14 First question: from the winner of a BlackAmerica.com contest, the question: Is race still the most divisive question in America? I'm not exactly sure who is supposed to be answering, and from the silence after the question, neither are the candidates. But Clinton jumps in first — points for seizing the moment there. "We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go." Quite what you would expect, but forcefully delivered, at least. Biden, picking up on the crowd's penchant for forceful delivery, throws his fellow senators under the bus first by looking at today's Supreme Court ruling and noting that he got a hard time for being tough on Roberts and Alito, but clearly the others weren't being tough enough on them. Richardson gets a way-too-subtle jab in in saying that the problem goes beyond picking good justices, and points out that he's the first Hispanic to run for President, which doesn't get quite the positive response I think he expected.

8:20 Edwards gets the first "thank you to the hosts" comment in — I'm sure we'll see absolutely everyone follow suit in that regard. Glad to get an opportunity to talk about inequality, as it's the primary point of his candidacy. We've got a long way to go and need to work together to create — wait for it, wait for it — One America (you knew that was coming) that works for everyone, regardless of race. Obama — oh, Barack, you didn't just me-too Clinton, did you? "We've come a long way; we have a long way to go." That's apparently the right answer, and I have the funny feeling everyone's going to dupe it. Kucinich: "I'd like to echo the sentiments of Barack Obama" — see, told you so. But he goes into specifics. Man, no wonder he's not a frontrunner. At least he beats on the easy target, No Child Left Behind. Gravel does not. Thank you for making this interesting, Senator. He's just called on all his colleagues to join him in what seems decidedly like a War on War on Drugs. "Ravages inner cities," disproportionately criminalizes the poor and minorities, etc. He's right, of course — but jeez, that's a hard sell.

8:26 Dodd goes off on the Supreme Court decision today. In case you're wondering, the decision barred schools from making placement decisions based on race, which blocks racial integration plans in schools in Kentucky and Washington. Then the "real person" is thanked, and the real panelists come on. The first question is on education in poor America; Biden cites the importance of stressing education by starting with early childhood education, and actually apologizes when he goes over time. Huh? Richardson goes into funding &mdash "nobody asked how we would fund the war" gets some applause — and advocates a minimum wage for teachers. Edwards again points out that poverty is his thang, and talks about funding along with touching on Biden's early education theme. Obama is a little thin on actual policy — we need to recognize that disadvantaged children can learn, and we need someone in the White House that will recognize these children as our own. Sooo exactly what does that mean we *do*? Kucinich starts by channeling FDR. Mentions the war, of course, as we all know he's not a big fan. Wants to cut the Pentagon budget by 50% — did I hear that right? — to fund things like education. Gravel thinks he said 15%, so maybe I'm wrong. And man, you've got to love how interesting he makes debates. He says Democrats haven't done appreciably better than Republicans in helping the poor — and then he blames the crowd. OK, OK, he says that it's the responsibility of the people to change that. Al Sharpton's in the crowd, nodding, and Gravel gets a surprisingly positive reception to that. Dodd talks about how he "walks the walk" on things like early childhood education; apparently, Head Start named him Senator of the Decade or some random thing like that. Clinton talks about how it takes a village to educate a child, and the American village has failed.

8:39 I'd tell you what the question was, but PBS's audio died. It's something about health. Oh, it's about the AIDS epidemic. Richardson talks mostly about helping AIDS in Africa. Compliments Bush on how much he's done with that. Doesn't that seem a little tacky, considering the setting? And no, I don't mean thanking Bush. Edwards: Black women are 25 times more likely than white women to have AIDS. I guess this is the "impress them with how much I know about the problem" take on answering the question? Ooh — he says the best solution is to cure AIDS. Audience likes that. Obama: steals a page from Edwards — problems like AIDS and other health crises are just symptoms of the problem of poverty, and that has to be addressed first.

8:43 Kucinich, with the line of the night: "Michael Moore is right on this." That's going down in the history books. Gravel goes on again into ending the war on drugs. The crowd is definitely, uh, surprised? by his take on the AIDS epidemic. Also gives Kucinich a shout out as having the only health care plan that would actually do something to solve the problem instead of moving backward. Dodd seems to like Edwards' "blinded them with science" approach, and decides to rattle off some facts. A few too many, apparently: he goes over, and Tavis retorts with, "if you were Paris Hilton, you'd have an hour, but you're not." Yuks all around. (Heck, even I laughed.) Clinton: if the problem was with white people between the ages of 25 and some other age that defines majority white America but which I missed, there would be a public uproar at this problem. Wild applause, of course. Neglect on educating the minority community. Biden — we knew he would put his foot in his mouth. He does it fanTAStically well. He apparently thinks he's an exception, because he has spent a lot of time in his community trying to convince black man that it's not unmanly to wear condoms. *sigh* And that it's not unmanly to get tested for AIDS; after all, he's been tested, and he knows Obama's been tested. Wow. Obama's quick to clarify he got tested *with his wife*, in Kenya, and Biden says he got tested after a blood transfusion. Doesn't that sort of dodge the whole point? I don't think AIDS is primarily passed on by blood transfusions, last I checked.

8:53 Last minute-per-answer question; after this, they'll be cut to 30 seconds. Wow! That's not much. Edwards gets to answer first on the question of tax responsibility, and Buffett's claim that the wealthiest don't actually get taxed. Softball for Democrats. Edwards talks about killing Bush's tax cuts. Kucinich says, yeah, and Carthago delenda est — uh, I mean, quit using war as an instrument of policy. Gravel says, no, everybody's wrong, the tax problem can only be solved by getting rid of the income tax and employing a progressive retail sales tax. Dodd, back to tax cuts. Clinton, points out that the payroll tax cutoff of $95 million is also a big deal, and Buffett is patriotic enough to say "tax me, because I'm a good American, and I should be taxed like everybody." Good call! Biden kicks the Republican ideology that the wealthy know how to grow the economy more than the middle class. He sounds much more subdued after the icy reception to his last statement. Richardson agrees with the rollbacks of Bush's tax cuts, but wants to use them to give tax cuts to the middle class. Gets sassed about going over — and now we're at 30-second questions. Oh, dear.

9:00 Easy question: more white people were picked up for crimes than black people in the last X years, but percentages of those in jail are about even. What does this suggest to you? Obama: that the criminal justice system is not colorblind. Kucinich: kill minimum sentencing, end federal death penalty. Gravel: is no money, no justice a surprise to anyone in this room? Become lawmakers, and change the system. Politics as usual today. Ouch. Dodd: get rid of minimum sentencing. Charlie Rangel's push to change differential treatment of cocaine and crack will make a big difference — got praise from the crowd; guess that's something I'll have to educate myself on. Clinton: go after racial profiling, go after mandatory minimums. Basically, she summarizes everybody else's thing, plus gets a jab in at Attorney General Gonzales. Biden: I wrote the drug court legislation that is in law. Richardson: 68% of those in jail are minorities. 1 of 3 African American males spend some time in jail (way to read Tavis' book!) Increase the living wage, expand child care, encourage unions. Edwards: Everything said has been correct. Justice system definitely not colorblind. Help first-time convicts get back into community. Jeez, these 30-second things are killer for livebloggers.

9:06 New Orleans and federal involvement: Kucinich says New Orleans never should've happened in the first place. Feds should've assured the levees were up to snuff. Now, business interests and dirty contractors, etc. But that wasn't the question: would you support a federal law guaranteeing return to New Orleans, based on UN human rights standards? Gravel: yes, and money that could be being used to fix that is getting spent on the war. Dodd: yes; if it was any other American city, we'd want to make sure people have their needs met. Clinton: we can guarantee the right, but we have to rebuild New Orleans first. Biden: we don't need to go to the UN; the US constitution should be enough. It's a national problem; we should guarantee the reconstruction. Richardson: yes, I would support that. Basically says same as others. Edwards: went to NO with kids that gave up their Spring Break to help. Very proud. Wants someone assigned to report to him daily regarding what was done yesterday to rebuild. Let NO residents rebuild NO; pay a decent wage and supply health care to them. Obama: John's idea is important; let's continue. Too easygoing approach to rebuilding; thought they could just roll in "with their sparkling water" and fix it.

9:13 Outsourcing: problem? Gravel doesn't think so. It's trade practices that encourage corporate foreign income that is the problem, along with the income tax and who knows what else. Dodd: yeah, it's a problem; keep jobs. Clinton: yes; give tax breaks to keep jobs here. Biden: yes, but tax breaks aren't the solution. Build innovation and infrastructure here instead. Richardson: yes, and outsourced jobs are mostly technical. So improve schools so we have the best tech workers. Invest in high-tech industries here. Edwards: Seen it up close, when father's mill closed. (Son of a mill worker, don'tcha know.) Education, high labor standards, eliminate tax breaks for sending work overseas. Obama: no federal effort to help workers displaced after layoffs like that, so yes to everything said, plus invest in communities burdened by globalization. Kucinich: Real solution is to cancel NAFTA, end WTO, back up rights of workers on human rights principles. Applause for that.

9:18 Last question already? Why don't we do anything about Darfur, and what does that say about our moral leadership? Dodd: we lost our moral standing with Iraq, but we should still be able to take some unilateral action to stop the slaughter there. Clinton: move peacekeepers into Sudan, pref. with NATO; no-fly zone above Sudan. Applause. Biden: Been saying we should do something about this for three years. Richardson: I upset people when I said that we should push China to do something since they have influence there, using the leverage of the Olympics there. But I think the deaths in Sudan are more important than sports. Edwards: yes to everything (including pressure on China, by the way) but have to get our moral credibility back. Obama: all that is important, but what about paying attention to Africa outside of this? Trade, economic development? That will solve the root problems. Kucinich: have to stop looking at Africa as place to exploit people; if there were oil there, we would've occupied it already. Gravel: need a president with moral judgement. People on that stage don't have that judgement and have proven it by what they've done. ZING! Wow, way to cut everyone at the knees when they have no time to respond. And it's over; guess they didn't mean 9:30 after all.

Southern Obama?

When did Obama decide to try and speak with a Southern accent? I think Jesse Jackson possessed him there for a minute.

southern accent?

You sir, have not heard Obama speak in person. So innuendo and rumor should not be posted here. You sir, are posting rumor and blowhard stuff from Limbaugh.

well

To be fair, several candidates have been busted putting on a little bit of the airs. It happens. I didn't see what he was talking about, but, you know, from time to time it happens.

accent

It is not an accent, it is a preaching cadence. I know, my Dad was a preacher.....

sjt in Texas

What rumors and innuendos?

No, merely an observation. As someone who has lived in both the North and South and is a master of switching an accent on and off, I picked it out rather easily.

And for the record, I have heard Obama speak publically, and do not listen to AM radio.

Ditto, but with South and...

Ditto, but with South and... er, Souther. (Very South, if you will.) I do that all the time. And Obama was caught doing that after the first debate as well. I'm sure he doesn't even notice the switch. I usually catch myself doing that only after the fact.

He can switch from straight

He can switch from straight LA accent to Southern twang on a moment's notice. Enviable, really.

A war on the war on drugs

That could get complicated.

nah

Just sick the ATF on the DEA and everything will work itself out.

Do you know the history of the "war on drugs?

I signed on to this blog assuming I would see discourse from well informed individuals. I was wrong. History is not part of your understanding of the issues.
Get off your high horses folks and try to make sense. This is BS otherwise.
sjt in Texas

Humor is allowed here, even

Humor is allowed here, even within "discourse from well informed individuals."

But if you prefer: the War on Drugs, success or failure, was a defining characteristic of the Reagan presidency, and led to a standard method of "dealing with" social ills that at least half of America sympathized with: just declare war on them. Like it or not, Wars on This-or-That-Social-Ill are popular and successful talking points; they imply direct, decisive action leading to a clear victory, and people like that image. Maybe if Gravel had actually *said* "War on the War on Drugs," it could garner a little popularity. But when you're talking to people looking for an answer as to why they're twice as likely as average to contract AIDS, and drug needles are a popular (again, whether rightly so or not) cause to blame for the problem, saying that we shouldn't be for "the war on drugs" is just a really bad idea. So let's not pretend that starry-eyed idealism is the solution you want to push for every problem.

HIV

I liked the HIV comments from everyone. Best one was Clinton's "if HIV was the leading killer of white women aged 18-34 in this country, then there would be an outrage!". So damn true.

I am now also picturing a public service commercial with Joe Biden yelling at people to go get their HIV test.

Public Service announcements

We should have a PSA with Biden yelling at people to go do everything.

PSA

I would use Senator Gravel on the commercials about marijuana.

Biden really hasn't been

Biden really hasn't been much of a yeller today. Then again, Gravel clearly didn't take his meds.

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