Iowa Dem debate or Seattle vs. Green Bay? Hmmm. Well, I hadn't watched either a presidential debate or a football game since the Eagles lost the playoffs last year, so I split the difference. Once the debate got just too boring, I switched over and watched what I thought were the last five minutes of the game. (Wrong.)
I did get to see both Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt make total asses out of themselves. That was mildly entertaining but not unexpected.
My slightly fuzzy recollection:
MODERATOR: What do you say to Iowans who get the impression that you're more angry with President Bush than you are with America's enemies.
DEAN: My campaign is about hope, not anger, dammit. People should be angry at Bush. We have to beat Bush. And we will beat Bush. We'll do whatever it takes to beat Bush. Um, what was the question again?
Actually, the real transcript is here. And the following (as opposed to the above) are actual verbatim excerpts that caught my attention.
DEAN: I am going to balance the budget, and I'm going to do it in the sixth or seventh year of my administration. We're also going to have health care...
(LAUGHTER)
What?
"What?" Too funny. And this.
GEPHARDT: Now, everybody up here, except Dennis, voted for NAFTA and voted for the China agreement. They did the wrong thing. I don't think we can win this race against George Bush with a trade policy that's exactly like George Bush's. I'm the only one who has led on this issue for over 20 years. [. . .]
EDWARDS: First of all, I didn't vote for NAFTA. I campaigned against NAFTA. NAFTA passed before I got to the Congress, to the United States Senate.
And I might add, you could pick out any one vote of anybody on this stage -- you, for example, voted for fast-track authority for Bush I that led to the passage of NAFTA. [. . . ]
GEPHARDT: Well, John, you weren't in Congress when NAFTA came up, so you couldn't vote. But you voted for the China...
EDWARDS: But you just said I voted for it.
GEPHARDT: I understand.
(LAUGHTER)
EDWARDS: You understand?
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
Does that mean you're wrong? You'll take it back now?
GEPHARDT: I'm quite willing to say that you weren't there and you didn't vote for it.
But you voted for the China agreement, . . .
Too late, Dick. Gong!
Score at least one good partial answer for John Edwards:
[NPR's MICHELLE] NORRIS: Senator Edwards, a major foreign policy challenge for any administration is the Middle East peace process. Are you willing to negotiate directly with Hamas, and would Yasser Arafat have a seat at that table?
EDWARDS: No. First of all, I know from having served for years on the Senate Intelligence Committee that there are clear, overwhelming evidence of Arafat's connection to terrorism.
And, in all fairness, one for Kucinich, as well:
KUCINICH: But we have to break the hold that the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies have on our health care system.
You know, hundreds of years ago, they used to treat patients by bleeding them with leeches. Well, you know, the insurance companies do that very well today.
(APPLAUSE)
Yessiree. Don't get me started on insurance companies.
Meanwhile, the Eagles play the Packers next week. They're getting psyched big time in Philly.
