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- I didn't see all of last night's debate (just when you're sure debates are boring...), but watching the first few minutes (the whole thing is available on YouTube) it was akin to what I imagine it is like to watch your parents get a divorce -- shocking, deeply uncomfortable and sad. A Democratic Party that demands that its leaders engage in vicious untruthful attacks against each other to prove their "toughness" reveals just how deeply dysfunctional it is after years of abuse from the right. It'd be one thing if there some real differences between them, but does anyone really think Obama actually believes Reagan was good for the country, that he really was consciously aiding a slumlord, or that he is secretly anti-choice? Mostly the debate was Obama defending himself, but his return shots were equally cheap. I mean Clinton served on the board of Wal-Mart? That's all you've got? I'd rather watch people club baby seals than see another debate like this one.
- Meanwhile, in conservative land, Fred Thompson drops out. But how can you tell? (badum-ching!) He will most likely not endorse.
- Edwards and Clinton had a private talk after the SC debate.
- How will the tanking market affect the presidential campaign? I dunno. A lot of folks seem to think it hurts McCain, but, though I'd love for that to be true, I'm skeptical since the media seem likely to transform him into a Nobel Laureate by November if he gets the nomination. And when has economic incoherence translated to bad press for a Republican anyway? Sure, there's 1992 but I think that was just the general condition of the economy rather than any particular lack of policy acumen on Bush's part.
- Jonathan Alter has a good piece on Obama and Bill Clinton.
- And in one of the more brilliantly nasty bits of campaign rhetoric I can remember Clinton is now continually describing Obama as "frustrated." Ugh.
--Sam Boyd
