Hmmm ... who's head is going to explode first. Mine, Shelby's, maybe even Benson?

If no explosions occur I will be thoroughly disappointed :)

Okay, now I'm pissed. Not at Hillary or any other candidate, but at Tim Russert.

You fucking assclown! How dare you blubber your fat ass on and on about how the Democrats are just as corrupt as the Republicans and horribly ineffective!

Also, jackass - digging out random quotes from the past is *not* quality news analysis. Any Redstate idiot can pull that off ... how about we synthesize a fresh idea or two, Timmeh?

Yeah, we could have been a bit tougher, but the Senate has set a record rate for filibusters with the obstructionist GOP folks in the way. In the grand scheme of things, we ain't the problem.

Oh, and props to Biden for one line at least:

"All Guliani ever says is noun, verb and then 9/11!"

Meanwhile, the interviewers for this debate round are the worst.

Where was our dear wingnut Gravel tonight? Dodd is always impressive. Why he and Biden are behind Edwards is beyond me. Richardson did a nice job of running interference. Maybe he is actually running for VP. Dennis has seen a UFO? Damn.

Now Richardson is pumping the UFO myth to boost tourism in NM?

Oh what fun.

Oh, and I vote Joe Biden the most entertaining candidate of the lot.

Here's the MSNBC Poll. Biden is leading the pack for "Best one liners":

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21528788/

I also have to give Richardson some credit for speaking of Iran as something other than a monolithic evil empire. Lots of interior resistance that might be a good lever in future talks.

I like Edwards best when he gets a chance to hammer on class warfare ... he didn't get much chance on this one. I did like his mentioning of the nursing crisis being as bad or worse than the doctoral crisis. All Dems were good on this one in not taking the tort reform bait and instead blaming insurance adjusters in HMOs for making medicine miserable.

Honestly, if Biden got just a little bit more focused on fixing things at home as well as abroad, I can definitely see backing him. Maybe Biden / Edwards (seems better to have the foreign policy master at the top of the ticket, and the domestic guy doing his best work in the back office).

Richardson was awesome. Even though I don't get MSNBC.

I heard Dodd wanted to legalize pot...He wants a doobie...with his brothers...

I wasn't that into the debate... however I will the follwoing grades:

HRC- A+ for keeping the message, um er you know about the message!
JRE: B+ minimal whining but overall still not making some connections
Obama & Richardson- B.. these are long format folks who really need to learn the art of the sound bite
Biden-A, all about the sound bite last night.
Dodd-A, nice answers and yeah we need to talk about some issues other than the war..good for him to bring up at least 3 of those
DK...he passed the class, nothing new ecept the UFO thing, not helpful

Being overly "awarded" the top result for question-dodging on the poll immediately after the debate didn't hurt HRC much either. I think she pulled 70%, with everyone else drawing between 5-10 percent.

Anyone that wants to sort through the rubble themselves, check this out:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/30/us/politics/20071030_DEBATE_GRAPHIC.html#video

The NY Times is really starting to figure out this Internet thing.

PS - I must say one nice thing about HRC. She was the only one last night to make an mention of lower level employees of the government. When she spoke about "fanning people out" across the world, it did show a healthy respect for the civil service, which is sorely needed in a post-Bush world.

Odin.. good catch, problem is that I doubt anyone will be left. Last 6 years the civil service corps basically doesn't exsist, everything and I mean everything is being out sourced or contracted.
Anyone left is hanging on by their fingernails till they can retire.
Condi's threat to send 500+ diplomats to the Mideast was basically completely shot down.

Odin.. good catch, problem is that I doubt anyone will be left. The 6 years of the "decider" has descimated the civil service corps; frankly it basically doesn't exsist, everything and I mean everything is being outsourced or contracted.
Anyone left is hanging on by their fingernails till they can retire.
Condi's threat to send 500+ diplomats to the Mideast was basically completely shot down.

Yup, the War on Professionalism as I call it. These are folks that believe schools like Regent are legit (even though they do barely hold on to accreditation). Personally, I think anyone that teaches at these schools should have their PhD immediately revoked.

I wish they'd stay a little away from the integrity bit, though. Hillary isn't lying about being a centrist - she puts it out there in public just fine.

I also wish that someone would play up the fact that the Democratic establishment absolutely hates Edwards. Being enemy to the Rahm Emanuels and Steny Hoyers of the world is a great step in the right direction for me.

Imagine a world in which the President promises to veto anything written by Blue Dogs and Republicans, rather than having the Progressives held hostage to their more backwards counterparts.

"Imagine a world in which the President promises to veto anything written by Blue Dogs and Republicans, rather than having the Progressives held hostage to their more backwards counterparts."

Surely, you're kidding. Government is all about compromise. I want leaders who can find that nuance and work it. Figure out where the commonalities are and strengthen them. At the end of the day, there ARE Americans who don't agree with me. We should be able to find some common ground on many issues (obviously not all).

And if the Dem establishment hates Edwards, then how is he supposed to work with the Congress? Oh, and how the F is he going to get elected if these guys "hate" him?

Oh lordy. I'm headed back to work - it's more fun.

I don't mean he's the enemy of the entire Congress. I mean he's the enemy of the part of it that we need to have marginalized.

Also, if the voters chose him in the face of the establishments' desires, we'll see a strong position starting any negotiations. When he has an approval rating of fifty-sixty percent versus the Congress' current standing in the teens, he'll have a strong place to start.

We've had a pretty major swing to the right in overall philosophy in the past few years. Having someone who's first instinct is to triangulate follow this is not going to do much more than put the "bipartisan" stamp on a lot of rather bad precedents.

Now, it's better than an out-and-out jackbooter like Guliani, but I'd like to hope that there's enough anger out there to get things corrected.

My head a'splode.

Goddamn Russert for the way talk time got distributed last night.