Thursday, April 17

Today I am in Los Angeles, at LAX to be exact, awaiting my delayed flight back to Chicago. Since I have some time I thought I would take this opportunity to voice my opinion on last night's Democratic Hit Job, er, Debate.

In a word? It sucked.

Charlie Gibson and George Snufalupagus should be ashamed of themselves. First of all, it wasn't a debate. The first 45 minutes were pure Sunday morning talk show, and a bad one at that (and GS should have shined here - it's his day job, for crying out loud - instead he sounded like a dimwitted Ross Perot). They had to give equal time to Hillary Clinton so for every question about Obama's past she would simply say that it was despicable, intolerable, regrettable, disrespectful, or some such bullshit. You all no I am no longer any kind of HRC fan but she had no chance in the first half to demonstrate any knowledge of the issues, which is her strong suit. My favorite moment of the debate was this exchange (apologies for the long paste):

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: I want to give Senator Clinton a chance to respond, but first a follow-up on this issue, the general theme of patriotism in your relationships. A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He's never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11 he was quoted in The New York Times saying, "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough."

An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house, and your campaign has said you are friendly. Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?

SEN. OBAMA: George, but this is an example of what I'm talking about.

This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George.

The fact is, is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.

Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either....

....SEN. CLINTON: Well, I think that is a fair general statement, but I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.

And if I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11 and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more. And what they did was set bombs and in some instances people died. So it is -- you know, I think it is, again, an issue that people will be asking about. And I have no doubt -- I know Senator Obama's a good man and I respect him greatly but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising....

....SENATOR OBAMA: I'm going to have to respond to this just really quickly, but by Senator Clinton's own vetting standards, I don't think she would make it, since President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me --than me serving on a board with somebody for actions that he did 40 years ago.

Zing! That'll teach her to agree with Snufalupagus. So, we've sunk to new lows in campaigns, in attack ads, in blog posts, and now, as was, I suppose, inevitable, in political debates.