IMHO, Edwards Won The Debate

[DemocratSinceBirth]

He was poised....

He gave cogent answers

He's got the Clinton mojo......

[Maddy McCall]

1. I like Edwards...

He does have that Clinton charisma. Best looking candidate in the field, and his father, I believe, was a postal worker, as my dad was before he retired.

Common folk roots, good looks, populist charm...I will gladly support him if he gets the Dem nod...as I will any candidate in the present field who gets the nod.

[Cush]

3. that was him mom (postal worker)

I think his dad worked in the steel mills

[AP]

5. His mother's last job was with the post office. She took it because they..

...needed health insurance.

[Wetzelbill]

4. his mom and dad worked in a mill

[Wetzelbill]

2. I said it from the moment I first saw that guy

"This man is going to be our next president."

I think he just "has it." Although, he doesn't have my primary vote though. My opinion is people are just going to catch on to that guy. He'll be tough to beat once he gets going and the media catches on to him somewhat. If he doesn't win the nomination he's going to garner enough attention that he just may be the VP pick.

[AP]

6. Clinton didn't get my primary vote in 92, and I'm not going to make

the mistake again of not realizing who the winner was from the beginning.

[JI7]

13. why not ?

why didn't clinton get your vote in 1992 ? and who did get your vote. i was like 13 at the time and wasn't into politics. i don't think i knew of clinton until he was declared the winner who would challenge bush. i do remember liking him though.

[AP]

20. Because I didn't think he was liberal enough.

I thought Jerry Brown was the most liberal (Mayor Brown has put the lie to that impression).

I suspect that the Democrats intentionally ran Brown to make Clinton look more moderate. I fell for it. I certainly did like Clinton a great deal once I took a look at him. The Rick Ray Rector and Sister Souljah stuff really bothered me at the time. I don't forgive him for the Ricky Ray Rector thing. However, I suspected the Sister Souljah thing was strategy, and subesequent events proved it was just that (Clinton ended up being phenomenal on the issue of race).

[sfecap]

8. Not our next, I afraid...

but he WILL be President someday.

He does very, very well in these debates.

I think he'd make a fantastic VP candidate.

[synthia]

24. if you hink he handles debayes well, wait till you see him

at a town meeting!! that's when i really got interested.

[Castilleja]

31. Yes, he does seem to have "it"

I think he comes across especially well when he is doing those town hall speeches, he seems totally comfortable with the people he is speaking to. Very genuine, IMHO. Thus far, I still like Howard Dean, but I would like to hear more from John Edwards. I guess time will tell.....

[VolcanoJen]

7. In my humble opinion, WE won the debate.

What an excellent forum for the display of our outstanding field of 10.

A Field of Dreams, it is.

We're all winners today,
Jennifer :-)

[DemExpat]

9. After Clark, Edwards is my favorite.....

but I also think they ALL (except one or two...) are great candidates.

It feels good being a Dem after seeing our team in action.....through DUers eyes and ears, that is!

:kick:
DemEx

[LiberalVoice]

15. Edwards

Ive honestly liked him from the beginning. I was looking at it from the perspective of who's got the mojo to beat Dunya's dumb ass. Technically a bag of wet mice could beat bush. If it wasnt for the idiotic mind set that most american citizens are known for i wouldnt be worried at all about this election.

[SEAburb]

10. I agree, right answers and right tone

Clark did a great job, for being his first debate. Dean had his best showing in a debate. I don't think anyone had a bad showing.

[LizW]

14. Yay! I'm so happy to hear this kind of talk!

It is wonderful to hear that everyone did well!

:bounce:

[janekat]

11. He's improved - he moved a slot in my book - after Clark n/t

[Manix]

12. Edwards does articulate the best arguements...

...maybe thats the lawyer in him.

[LiberalVoice]

17. btw

I just want to give props to Al Sharpton who if it werent for the fact that most people would dismiss him immediatly would make a fine president.

[Wetzelbill]

21. Al has got some sand

[im4edwards]

19. you don't succeed in law if you can't sell yourself

and Edwards was very successful. And he does have the correct accent to win the White House.

[mlawson]

16. ???? When was there a debate????

It wasn't last night; that was the Arnold Show. Was it during the day, today???

[synthia]

26. all the prez cabdidates.......replated tonight onMSNBC

at 9 pm eastern

[mlawson]

29. I can't pick up MSNBC. What about CSPAN???

Besides, MSNBC is a horrible place to air them. The media SLUTS there will tear up our guys!!!

[RichM]

18. He's good on domestic issues, not so good on the war. Your remarks

all seem justified; plus, he seems like an exceptionally decent guy.

I don't think he "won," but I have a good deal of respect for him.

[AP]

23. Think of this. Edward's vote on the war resolution is the 2004

equivalent of Clinton's failure to grant give Ricky Ray Rector reprieve from death sentence and his little dust up with Sister Souljah.

Clinton won partly because Republicans couldn't pull the Dukakis soft on crime things, and because he suggested there was a limit on how much he related to the black man (when, in fact, he governed as if there were no limits on his understanding of what it was like to black in America).

[PurityOfEssence]

25. Nicely said

That "decent" and "nice" stuff actually goes a long way in elections, too.

Of course the jackals on CNBC made sure he wasn't even mentioned. Man, I hate Chris Matthews, he was super ugly. "Anyone who's listening to Bill Clinton is crazy." He was saying that Clinton didn't want a Democrat to win this time on purpose. My hatred of Matthews as a liar and a screeching bully are well-nurtured over time, but he was just a derision snorting hate-filled blowhard of titanic proportions this time.

But back to joy and warmth: Edwards is for real, and it shows. We need a person like this to heal the wounds. He's quick and honorable without being threateningly intelligent. No wonder Kucinich likes him. Did you see the Iowa steak-fry? He and Kucinich were hugging, laughing and chatting with each other with a true friendship. One is to be judged by the company one keeps.

Unfortunately, I only saw the last 40 minutes of this one, but he was very good when deliberately tripped up on the subject of poor foreign farmers wanting us to end our farm subsidies. He didn't duck it, did say that he wanted millionaire farmers taken off the dole, and went on to tidy up previous business.

I also liked your comment in a previous thread of his supporters being generally decent sorts. We do have at least one serious firebrand, but it is a bit telling: one's supporters tell a lot about a candidate.

[Wetzelbill]

28. Edwards and Kucinich were hugging etc?

Damn, Edwards impresses me. If Kucinich likes the guy that much then he must be something special. Sure, some of us Super Liberals may be put off by the war vote, but people make mistakes and Congress was duped by all the administration horseshit. I see no valid reason to not like Edwards. None at all.

[PurityOfEssence]

35. Kucinich mentioned Edwards on "The Daily Show"

when asked who of the bunch he really liked. It was an interesting dynamic at the steak-fry: Edwards and Kucinich hacking around a bit while standing next to each other; to Kucinich's right was Dean, with no seeming connection. John and Dennis really seem to click, and one can see why: their basic human politics.

It's amazing how the press portrays Edwards as a centrist and Dean as a liberal; to my eye, the only candidates farther right than Dean are Graham (maybe), Lieberman and Clark. Edwards is a serious workers' rights guy, and believes in the system when buffered and bolstered with controls and safeguards. I completely agree: I'm pretty left, but I'm an avowed capitalist. There should be major regulation, safety nets and market substitution to cushion the thousand natural shocks, but there's no substitute for private property and capitalism for getting people out of bed and producing.

There's a core middle-class hero element of the celebration of what this country has almost been on occasion, and if it's portrayed uncut and truthfully, he's a serious winner. He's also a truly good person.

For those lefter than me, it's nice to note that he points out that one of his very favorite books is "The Trial of Socrates", by none other than that pinko agitator I.F. Stone. I'll bet Izzy'd like him if he was still around...

[synthia]

22. months ago, like last spring i had a repub customer say

about Edwards, "i know that guy.....he's their new clinton.

[Bombtrack]

27. He has done well in every debate, but others also did well this time

I thought Clark did as well as he could have done.

I think that the only one's who slightly lacked were Kucinich and Braun

And I think Gephardt has been aweful all along.

[Myra]

30. Well

I just try to pretend Gephardt and Leiberman
don't exist. So, 'nuff about them.

I agree Edwards was spectacular. So were
Dean and Kuchinich and Sharpton. Clark
was good. All in all they were a damn impressive
group. And as Rev Sharpton said (and I paraphrase),
we need to unite against King George.

"Eight lifetime politicians, an officer, and a
gentleman." Heh. Good one.

[chimpymustgo]

32. Edwards has been terrific since the 1st debate in SC.

He's personable, telegenic, and in command of the issues. Don't count him out.

[Starpass]

33. How in the hell would you know---they only gave him like 2 questions

that's what I've been raging about all night. They cut Edwards, Clark, Sharpton and M-B basically out of this debate. Did you notice?? and really, also Kerry. They just kept going around the same loop and then sayig they were balanced. If I were an Edwards fan, I would have been furious.

[tjdee]

34. Yeah, really, he had to cram his whole deal into like 2 questions.

John Edwards did a fantastic job at handling quickly and succinctly the few questions he did get.

[AP]

36. If you read through the transcript, I think he got 5 maybe 6 questions...

...which he answered in single paragraph statements, and he was allowed no followup. You scan through the rest of the transcript, and you see the other candidates being engaged by the moderator and the questioners.

Edwards is going to need to make one of those "Boy from Hope" videos and he's going to need John Grisham to help with the script and maybe get Spike Lee to direct it, and maybe J.Lo can get a cameo. He's going to have to find some way to bypass the media that reaches more people than a town hall mtg.

[yaledem]

37. Edwards has a DVD

If you to to his website and donate $10, you get a dvd with several "place called hope" type videos. I haven't seen it myself, but I spoke ot someone who did and they thought it was great.