+ Obama seems loose tonight. When they introduced him, he was all smiles, much more so than in past debates. But he also looks exhausted. Clinton seems tense - her opening statement seemed forced, and although there were plenty of familiar phrases, when you put them together they didn't really make much sense. But she looks exhausted too, so let's cut her some slack.
+ When are they going to stop asking them to run on a shared ticket? After the way Clinton has trashed Obama for the past month, why on earth does anyone still think they would want to do this?
+ Why is Charlie Gibson quoting parts of the constitution that have been amended out of the document? The whole second place finisher gets the VP slot thing was a horrible idea, and by 1800 everyone had figured that out. That's why the very same men who wrote the constitution decided to change it with Amendment XII, so quoting it as evidence that Obama and Clinton should share the ticket. And...erm...the two-thirds clause was in there two. Is Charlie going to quote that at Obama too?
+ I'm the granddaughter of a mill worker? I mean, Ok, but...
+ Now we're going to talk about Rev. Wright again? What, is there nothing going on in the real world that is more important than this? Really? "Does Rev. Wright love America as much as you do? Are you kidding me? This is a joke!
+ Can someone please explain to me why the fact that someone is going to say something horrible about OBama later on is an acceptable rationale for Clinton to say those very same horrible things right now? I didn't think it possible, but this might be worse than the whole "some people say" phenomenon. You can't say that the attacks are illegitimate while you are making them. That makes no sense. Am I the only one who thinks this is nonsense?
+ It took 50 minutes... 50 MINUTES... to get to a substantive question. If this is not a perfect illustration of what's wrong with the media, nothing is.
+ 8:53, and we finally get a real question. Obama's answer about the role of the Commander in Chief was far more coherent than Clinton's. The CinC sets the mission, the Generals then carry it out. Period.
+ George just channeled Krauthamer. This is honestly the worst debate I have ever watched. Look: Israel is an ally, but they are not the 51st state in the union. And they have their own nuclear weapons, including several submarines carrying nuclear tipped missiles. They can defend themselves, thank you very much. Nevertheless, both candidates pledged their undying loyalty to Israel. And for some reason that seems just fine with everyone.
+ Can I just say again that this is the worst thing I've ever seen? ABC NEws has absolutely no idea what people in this country care about. They do not understand the immense frustration, anger, and yes bitterness, that people in the country are feeling right now.
+ 9:03 and we get to the economy, an issue that according to George is "the number one issue on everyone's mind." And then the question is "will you make a no new taxes pledge?" Why should anyone make that kind of pledge? TAXES PAY FOR THINGS. What if the American public decides that it wants to increase their taxes to get, as just one example, universal health care. This is how we are going to talk about the economy in a Democratic debate? By borrowing right wing frames?
+ And the question about the capital gains tax was even worse. Tax cuts don't always lead to revenue increases. As I've pointed out a million times, by this logic cutting taxes to 0% would generate infinite revenues. And that's nonsensical. Charlie Gibson keeps saying that cutting the capital gains tax cuts leads to higher revenues. But higher than what? Higher than they were the year before? Higher than they would have been without the cuts? That's a huge difference, and only one of those two - the second one - is relevant. The question is, after the cuts, were the revenues higher or lower than they would have been otherwise.
+ I give up. This is a pathetic excuse of a joke of a debate. Is there anything we can collectively do to make sure that ABC never gets to host a debate again? 9:37 and we get a one minute question about energy policy. I mean, this is beyond belief.
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