With Hillary’s support fading fast around the country, tonight’s debate between her and Obama should be a good one. Lets hope things get a little nasty between them.
UPDATE (9:00pm ET):
The talking heads think that if Clinton shows any vulnerability, Obama should finish her off tonight. I like to think that they weren’t speaking metaphorically. That would be very interesting to see.
UPDATE (9:03pm ET):
Obama has a very serious look on while Clinton just has one of her goofy smiles on. I take this to mean that Obama is ready to put the smack down on and Clinton is really, really nervous
UPDATE (9:10pm ET):
Clinton just accused Obama of using incorrect information then denied releasing the photo of Barack in native garb. Obama responds that Clinton has sent out a lot of mass mailings with false information about him. There is no civility tonight folks, none whatsoever.
UPDATE (9:11pm ET):
Haha…Hillary just said that the health care issue goes to the “heart” of America. Then she said it again. She’s so witty…
UPDATE (9:17pm ET):
Hillary won’t let the issue of Health care go away and she is already getting all up and arms about. Obama is just sitting there smiling and trying to get a chance to speak. The Moderators really need to step in and just move the issues along. This is really like beating a dead horse; these issues have been talked about ad naseum. Basically, both of them want universal health care and thats that.
UPDATE (9:22pm ET):
About dang time, they finally are talking about NAFTA. Basically, Hillary hates NAFTA and thinks that we need a “trade time out” to fix it. Obama said that he wants these kinds of trade agreements to not only be good for Wall Street but also Main Street. Thats the same line he has been saying for a very long time. He needs to come up with some new lines.
UPDATE (9:29pm ET):
Tim Russert brought up the fact that Clinton supported NAFTA for several years. He then asked if she would tell Mexico and Canada that we will get out of NAFTA in 6 months if she is elected president. She got really offensive about this and said that she wants to renegotiate NAFTA, not abolish it. She will threaten to opt out of NAFTA to get things rolling.
When asked the same question, Obama did a major cop-out by saying that he agrees almost completely with Clinton.
UPDATE (9:34pm ET):
Tim Russert asks another tough question about how she promised new jobs in New York in 2000 when in fact they have lost a lot of jobs. He compared this to the fact that she has promised creating 5 million new jobs in the US if she is elected president. The best part of her answer was she blamed Al Gore losing as the reason she wasn’t able to create jobs in New York. I wonder who she will blame when she doesn’t create 5 million new jobs if she is elected president.
UPDATE (9:39pm ET):
Just a note: This debate has basically become a time for Hillary to bash Barack and him respond to all of her attacks.
UPDATE (9:49pm ET):
Tim Russert just asked what they would do if the Iraqi president asked them to leave because he didn’t want any help from a country who doesn’t want to protect them at our current levels. Obama says yes, we would have to leave and Hillary said yes also.
Russert then follows up with the question about what they would to if Iraq is then taken over by Al Qaeda. Hillary dodges the question by saying that he is speaking in too many hypotheticals. Obama also dodges the question by focusing on Afghanistan. However, he does state that he, as a president, reserves the right to protect Americans at home and abroad.
UPDATE (9:51pm ET):
Its a break and here are some other Live-blogs you might want to check out.
Vodka Pundit
Michelle Malkin
Ann Althouse
Gateway Pundit
UPDATE (9:58pm ET):
Clinton claims that her personal attacks on Obama are just her having some “fun” because it is “high time [she] had some fun on this campaign.” Ha, what a joke.
UPDATE (10:07pm ET):
Tim asked why Clinton won’t release her tax returns. She answered by saying that she won’t release her returns until after she is the nominee because she “is a little busy” now.
UPDATE (10:10pm ET):
Obama won’t reject the support of a Muslim cleric (leader of the Nation of Islam) who is very anti-semantic. Obama then quickly interrupted Tim’s listing off that cleric’s faults. He seems very nervous about this subject.
UPDATE (10:15pm ET):
Hmmm…Obama said that he can’t stand antisemitism yet one of his advisers is a little iffy on this subject. Read Powerline’s take on this here, here, here, and here.
UPDATE (10:23pm ET):
I like to imagine that every time the questioning transfers to Tim Russert, both Obama and Clinton have a mental “Oh s***” moment. He has not been pulling any punches tonight and his questions have been slaughtering the candidates.
UPDATE (10:28pm ET):
Clinton wants to take her vote back about the Iraq war. Obama wishes that he would have taken more action in the Terri Schiavo (sp) debate back a couple years back.
UPDATE (10:35pm ET):
Fundamental question Clinton must answer to prove her worthiness (according to Obama): She is already qualified but Obama feels he is better. Both would be better than McCain. The reason he thinks he is better because he can bring the country together in a unique way across religious, racial, and cultural divides. H
Fundamental question Obama must answer to prove his worthiness (according to Clinton): He is qualified just like me. She is thrilled to be running as the first woman president of the United States. She feels that either one can change history. However, she wants to ask which one of them will be better to make the changes that we all need to see.
I really wish Clinton would have been allowed to answer this question first. I bet she might have asked a real nasty question. Then again, she might have had enough sense to play it safe, but I guess we will never know.
UPDATE (10:43pm ET):
So who do I think won this debate? I believe Obama won this one once again. He might not have “finished her off” like one of the talking heads suggested he should but he at least didn’t go down to the level Hillary was at. What was this level? Well, as I stated before, Hillary basically attacked Obama all night and had to use his time to reply to her attacks. Very rarely did he launch a very drastic attack on her (the health care issue at the very beginning being one of the few exceptions).
Congrats Obama, you seemed to leave this debate fairly unscathed while letting Hillary continue to portray herself as a cornered animal. You shouldn’t have a problem come next Tuesday.
18%
45%
23%
14%
