Saturday, January 31, 2004
I watched Thursday night's debate in South Carolina. Actually, I'm getting really sick of watching debates, but I figured I'd catch just one more. Will Saletan has a nice rundown of it. I'll offer some of my usual observations
Once again, Dean swung for Kerry. It didn't help either of them. Kerry got to make a snide remark with the implied meaning that Dean doesn't understand how Congress works, but then cited an ambiguous record on health care.
Dean can't escape, won't escape, doesn't want to escape attack politics. It's too central to what he's done up to now to attack his colleagues for their votes on Iraq or records as "Washington Democrats" and the fact that he's hired a quintessential Washington Democrat as his campaign manager won't stop him. Of course, Dean's style of attack was what capped his support to begin with. Snide remarks like "In some ways the terrorists have already won" won't help him either. He likes himself too much to reinvent himself. There's some nobility in that, depending upon how much you like him, but my doubts about his viability are pretty clear at this point.
Dennis Kucinich wants to heal the legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Shit, why stop there? I think that there are a lot of latent traumas left behind from the War of 1812. Of course he also wants to "heal this country about the dispossession of lands by Native Americans." (I think he's got that one backwards) Of course, we shouldn't underestimate his healing abilities. Just look at his pointy ears and Spock hairdo. Mind-melds for all!!
Edwards was, as Saletan suggests, getting some deft blows against Kerry. Oddly, he seemed nervous, and was blinking visibly on questions. Kerry had placed himself between the Bush view and the European view on 9/11, but never distinguished himself from the European view. Edwards reasonably added "It's just hard for me to see how you can say there's an exaggeration when thousands of people lost their lives on September the 11th." He also managed to mention pressing Saudi Arabia and developing new sources of fuel while pressing for higher emissions. His performance may not have been standout, but it was probably good enough to keep his poll standing steady.
Lieberman was in good spirits as always, but it's starting to seem to me that he should close on a good note. I'm mostly in the Edwards camp, a little bit in the Kerry camp and convinced that a Dean nomination would be disastrous. If a situation develops where Lieberman's share of the electorate could make a difference for either Kerry or Edwards, he should consider stepping out of the race. He might win in Delaware this Tuesday, which would be a nice enough prize before conceding.
Last I read, Michigan is strongly for Kerry (45), with Edwards the only other candidate in double digits (11). If Dean gets his ass kicked in Michigan, the Wisconsin Scenario looks like a fantasy.
Last I read, Michigan is strongly for Kerry (45), with Edwards the only other candidate in double digits (11). If Dean gets his ass kicked in Michigan, the Wisconsin Scenario looks like a fantasy.
