The Tahoma Activist

"Changing the Media, One Story at a Time"

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Sunday, June 03, 2007

Democrats deliver the goods while CNN delivers the corporate pablum in NH Debate

Well, there it is. Two hours of back and forth between the 8 candidates. Whoever it was at DU that said Gore would be there was wrong, but I would definitely say that the ghost of Gore was there: global warming and constitutional law was mentioned several times in between questions about other things.

Kucinich, as usual, dominated the forum with real crowd-pleasing punchy statements that really could change America for the better. Of course, because he didn't get as much time to speak, and because the questions were stage-managed to avoid really controversial issues (Israel/Palestine, the peace movement, corporate monopolies, media consolidation) he wasn't given enough of an opportunity to shine.

Overall, I would say all candidates did well, which for those candidates who are not Edwards, Obama or Clinton is not good news. As we know, the only way for so-called lower-tier candidates to rise in the polls is if the top three fumble. None of them did so. Overall, I think that all candidates handled themselves well and delivered an awful lot of good solutions. Hopefully if there were any independent voters watching they have a very good perception of the Democratic Party and the vision they have for the future following this performance.

Some highlights: Gov. Richardson suggests that we threaten to pull out of the '08 Olympics if we don't get movement on Darfur. Sen. Biden wants us to have a no-fly zone in Darfur and UN troops to stop people from being slaughtered. Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel ranted very nicely, showcasing the weakness of the front-runners for being pro-war and hooked into special interests.

Kucinich of course (can you tell he's my favorite) got the opportunity to break out of the corporate mold with a call for universal, single-payer healthcare and the total withdrawal of all US troops as well as withdrawal from NAFTA and the WTO. These positions drew rounding applause despite the fact that applause was not supposed to happen in the audience. There were a few other applause moments, but I can't remember what they were. I will be looking for a transcript to see what those might have been.

More later.


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