Fridays in THE WEEKLY STANDARD office are always a flurry of activity--especially this week with the boss in Paris for some hush-hush meetings, sending his editorial via BlackBerry. There isn't much time for coffee-room chatter, but we can't ignore the hype from last night's Democratic debate.
The blogosphere is just buzzing about the CNN debate--particularly the performances of frontrunners Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. And the biggest buzz is Hillary's so-called "come-back" after the guys "piling on" her in the last debate--and Obama's and Edwards's blunders.
Roger Simon at the Politico says:
In a Democratic debate here Thursday night, Hillary Clinton was not the passive, parsing, punching bag that she was at the last debate in Philadelphia two weeks ago.
She gave as good as she got. And those who tried to kick her stubbed their toes.
Although many bloggers agree with this analysis, some aren't buying it.
The Anon Guy at Pajamas Media says her performance wasn't anything spectacular: "Though not overpowering, Clinton managed to stay on message, mix it up with Obama and John Edwards and get off the sound bite of the night. In other words, a return to form."
Sister Toldjah has a slightly different take: "Pressies and pundits alike are declaring that Hillary 'fought back' last night, and some are outright saying she 'won the debate. I have to say that from what I saw of it (in the replay late last night) she proved that the phoney charm Bill Clinton used to win over voters rubbed off a little on her, too."
Hugh Hewitt agrees: "You can't put graciousness and warmth into the public Hillary, and you can't turn a '60s girl into a moderate. We got a glimpse of what a President Hillary would look like last night, and it wasn't reassuring."
Moral of the story: Even if Mrs. Clinton did make a "come-back," it's not really going to change anything.
Bloggers are better in agreement on Obama's and Edwards's big blunders. First, let's have a chuckle at Obama. More from Roger Simon:
When CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Obama if he supported giving out such licenses, Obama replied: "When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention."
But Blitzer was not going to settle for a non-answer answer and said: "Do you support or oppose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants?"
Obama replied: "I am not proposing that that's what we do."
This led to laughter in the debate hall, and it was not the good kind of laughter.
"No, no, no, no, look," Obama said, trying to stumble his way out of his own answer, but Blitzer was properly relentless.
"This is the kind of question that is sort of available for a yes or no answer," Blitzer said and the audience laughed again.
Yikes. Obama finally answered: Yes, he supports giving licenses to illegal immigrants. Clinton--with a slight change from the last debate--answered a firm no, she does not.
Our own Dean Barnett has the cringe-worthy video, and says, "I just want to go on record here that Barack Obama did more than just shoot himself in the foot at last night's debate when he supported drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants. If he should somehow get the Democratic nomination, that one ill-considered position could well make him unelectable."
Michelle Malkin grades the candidates, and I think Obama's grade is the best: "O-BOMB-A: D. For dud. He looked and sounded like a state senator from Illinois, not the next president of the United States." Ouch!
Lest we forget another frontrunner-no-more, HotAir has the video of Edwards...getting booed.
Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post blog the Fix says, "For those pushing the idea that Clinton's decision to directly respond to Edwards was a sign that the race is now officially a three-way contest, we say hogwash. Clinton effectively shot Edwards down in their first exchange and when Edwards tried to again go at Clinton later in the debate he was all but booed down by the audience."
Finally, Michael Scherer at Salon has minute-by-minute coverage of the debate, noting the excitement you missed while watching the premiere of Project Runway. (Note: Project Runway was actually on Wednesday, but no matter; it's clear you didn't miss anything anyways.)
