Debate Thread

by dday

Since I wasn't actually allowed to get into the spin room until I name-checked Hullabaloo (yes, Digby, I'm throwing your name all over town), I feel obligated to check in. I'm at the Kodak theater for tonight's big debate. I'm really just watching this in a big room on TV, so you're as equipped to deliver your thoughts as I am. Although, The Nation's Mark Cooper and HuffPo's Max Follmer are sitting in front of me, and Todd from MyDD and John Amato of Crooks and Liars on either side, so it's a somewhat bigger living room.

I'll check in where needed. This won't be a full liveblog.

...We are getting a live feed of Wolf Blitzer warming up the audience. He just said "I love politics." I expected him to say "I don't understand it, but I love it..."

Someone in the audience just asked him "Where's Anderson?" Har!


5:02Digby here, watching on television: here's a little observation. Californians are all still at work. Therefore, it's most likely they'll hear the gasbags' spin before they see the debate itself.

I have no idea what that will mean, but it's worth paying attention to.

D-Day:

...The crowd erupted upon their entrance. People are really, really excited that the Democratic Party will be making history this year. It's not so much the money or the "star status" that drove everyone else from the race, it's this concept of making history that is so attractive to Democrats.

...It's nice to see a debate about ideas in the Democratic Party, up from the wonkery and the white papers and onto everyone's television screens. Some say that Democrats get bogged down in the details. I think it's perfectly fine to explain this clearly in the primary stage and refine the message for the general.

...I have a feeling that the gasbags are going to be upset because there aren't any "fireworks." They should shut their pie hole. This is a solid spotlight for progressive ideas so far. A debate with discussions about universal health care, open government, transparency and sunlight as a way to offset the power of special interests? I'll take it.

5: 57 Digby here watching on television.

This has been interesting. Both candidates are taking pains to promote the Democratic party and calling their ideas explicitly "progressive." I've been wishing we heard more of this and I'm glad to see it. You don't get this kind of attention very often and it's good that they are using it for more than personal promotion.

...Boy, the liberal Hollywood stereotype isn't being too goosed tonight with these constant shots of Bradley Whitford and Diane Keaton and Rob Reiner and Pierce Brosnan, ay? It may just be that love of celebrity from the media class. If the right-wingers run with this, it should be mentioned that the Republican debate featured about 100 cutaways to Arnold Schwarzenegger. And Kelsey Grammar.

...I do like Obama's aggressiveness - against John McCain. He has hit McCain time and time again in this debate. There's this idea that he's not a fighter. Certainly, he's drawing a clear contrast with McCain tonight.

...Blitzer teases questions about "character!!!" coming up. Ooh, great, a bunch of hit jobs on deck! Can't wait!

7:16 Digby here

Watching MSNBC it's obvious that the media found all that icky policy talk was "like,ew" as Tucker would say. They were like totally bored with all those "tall weeds" on health care and junk.

Gene Robinson: They chose their words carefully and chose not to fight very much.

Keith Olbermann: And there seemed to me to be at least four or five invocations by each of them of Democratic unity, which is, uhm, against everything that we've been raised with in Washington.

I have a sneaking suspicion that people who watched this at home were just fine with all that tedious talk about things that actually matter in their lives.

*sigh*


Update: Finally MSNBC has some fresh thinkers on the air. Here's our pal John Amato, in a segment with Josh Marshall and Arianna. Good job.


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