Dem Candidates

Well I watched the debate last night. A brief rundown of each candidate's performance follows, but first let me say this: Absolutely any of these candidates would be a perfectly acceptable replacement for the current resident. You really, really couldn't do any worse. Hell, if it were between Dumb-ya and Dan Quayle, I'd go Quayle all the way, weirdo wife and all.

People who proclaim there are "too many" candidates for President and therefore aren't going to pay attention at all might as well just wear a "I'm Simpleminded" t-shirt. They should be forced to refer to themselves as "politically retarded." This is only your democracy , people. This is only the choosing of the one person who is going to have the biggest impact in your life outside your family or employer, that's all. It's only a question of our entire way of life and its preservation or destruction (which, make no mistake about it, would be the result of four more years of Bush).

Yes, there are ten Democratic candidates. Yes, that's a lot of names to attach to positions (or lack thereof). Yes, it could possibly get confusing. Oh dear. Whatever shall we do .

I forgive those people who are honestly trying to make an informed decision who get a little befuddled occasionally -- after all, the Dems, being Dems, mostly agree with each other on most everything. They quibble about silly details like exactly how much their health-care plan will cost, or exactly when they will pull troops out of Iraq. It's nitpicking compared to the draconian, insane plans of our current (mis)leader.

But the rest of you -- you know, you keep "forgetting" to vote, you want to wait till there are no more than two candidates (one for each party -- gosh those third-party thingies make my pretty little head spin! ) to choose from, you routinely forget which candidate is from which party -- you people are pinheads who have gotten exactly the corrupt, evil government your inaction demanded. Once we get this mess sorted out, those of us who do all the work keeping your lazy misinformed ass free are going to come give you a civics lesson you won't soon forget.

Kerry - continues to be smugly Presidential in the old-fashioned way, and maybe a little too pleased with himself. Maybe nobody's told him that the electorate (or at least the Democratic side of same) are a bit tired of slick, polished "politician" types. His proposals sound fine, but they're awfully vague -- and he had trouble keeping a coherent speech going.

Gephardt - still the most abrasive of the candidates, his finger-wagging and table-thumping are getting old (and we're 13 months from the election!). He invokes Clinton an awful lot, and talks a lot about the things he tried to do (and failed -- but of course he doesn't mention that part) while battling the Republicans. Again, his proposals sound perfectly fine and I haven't got a real problem with him except that he's too quick to change his message to suit his audience, and he like Kerry are hard-core career politicians who might compromise too much if the polls ever started blowing the other way. He got the smack put on him by Howard Dean when he compared Dean to Newt Gingrich, whose name was treated like the plague. :)

Lieberman - This is the one Democrat I would hold my nose to vote for. A vote for Lieberman is a vote against Bush, and that's pretty much all. He's way too pro-war, pro-Iraq, and has on previous occasions been entirely too pro-Bush. Many refer to him as a closet Republican and although he didn't really seem that way as much tonight as he has on previous debates, he's still the least-liked of the candidates. Where he's getting his money and numbers from is a mystery, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was mostly disaffected moderate Republicans.

Dean - still looks kinda funny, often looks angry when he's not. But everything he said made great sense, he rebuked distortions of his record without resorting to personal attacks, and he smacked Gephardt back hard for his personal attack and also put to bed a previous distorted issue with Lieberman. He reminded the panel that attacking each other would only strengthen Bush, and he vigourously defended his ability to come up with a good health-care plan. I mean really -- who would you think could write a good health-care plan, a gaggle of career politicians or an actual doctor? I think this nomination is his to lose, quite frankly.

Graham - gosh I wish I could support Graham. He's my senator and he's done a great job by every measure. He's just not forceful enough, not different enough, and his focus on economic minutia doesn't give people the confidence they need that he can handle the war and the foreign policy stuff. He'd be great, in all probibility, and maybe he'll end up as VP nominee and get a chance to do all that neat economic reform he talked about.

Clark - despite being the hot shit at the moment, he didn't really impress me much. Kind of wishy-washy. Seemed nice, and certainly knows what he's talking about, but gave off kind of an irritating "forgive me, I'm new here" vibe that might keep going when he's in office. Can't afford that. Again, he might be good VP material.

Kucinich - the only one of the 10 who scares me a little. I admire his very principled, honest views from the very left wing of the party, and I'm sure many of his suggestions are good ones. But he still comes off too radical, ready to cancel treaties and instantly raise wages and other such moves that would destabilise the economy and business if implemented too quickly. Unelectable in his present form.

Mosley-Braun - continues to impress me by being a calm, reasonable, intelligent lady with the grace to stay above the fray. It's clear she is in the race primarily to grab a VP or Cabinet slot from the real nominee -- she just doesn't have a great sense of "fire in the belly," for lack of a better term. Her ideas are sound and she certainly gives rise to the thought that maybe we could have a woman or black (or black woman) President in our lifetime.

Sharpton - consistently more reasonable than his rep would suggest, but he masks an ignorance of the details of issues that rivals Bush's. He is also consistently the funniest guy at these debates. He'd make a great mayor or possibly even congressman, but President? No way.

Edwards - continues to impress, and could be great president someday. But he still looks too young and doesn't seem to have the experience one would want. Besides, I don't think this country is ready for another southern Democrat as President just yet. Maybe next time.

Register and vote, ya bum!