PrintOctober 31, 2007
Democrats Drop the Gloves in 6th Debate
After putting on relatively quiet and uneventful debates previously, Hillary Clinton's Democratic rivals ganged up on the New York Senator and criticized many of her policy positions as well as her perceived flip-flopping:
Former senator John Edwards (N.C.), lingering in third place in most polls, took the lead in attacking Clinton as Democrats gathered for the fourth of their six official debates. He mocked Clinton for voting to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group, and he all but accused her of being corrupt.The candidates seemed to outdo one another in efforts to give the Iranian theocracy a pass. Frankly, it was nauseating. The Democrats were arguing that George Bush was the biggest problem, not the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran.
Voters, Edwards said, "deserve a president of the United States that they know will tell them the truth, and won't say one thing one time and something different at a different time."
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) -- under pressure to take sharp aim at Clinton -- criticized her directly for not releasing her correspondence as first lady. But he kept his cool demeanor, describing her tendency toward secrecy as simply "a problem."
The most telling exchange came minutes before the debate ended, when Clinton declined to answer repeated questions about whether she supports New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's proposal to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, after earlier suggesting that she does. Edwards pounced, arguing that Clinton had offered evasiveness when Americans want honesty and consistency from their leaders. "What we've had seven years is double talk from Bush and Cheney, and I think America deserves us to be straight," he said.
Hillary Clinton stood by her Iran vote, making the sensible argument that she was not in favor of "doing nothing." Evidently, her colleagues were perfectly comfortable with doing nothing about Iran and got loud applause from the audience when they said so.
Similarly on Iraq, Clinton at one point testily asked how we were going to deal with the terrorists in Iraq without engaging in combat? This was in response to Edwards promise to cease "combat operations" within 30 days of becoming president.
It appeared that Clinton was the only grown up present at the debate last night. At least she had a sense of what the world was like and the dangers we face. The same could not be said about her colleagues who seemed to vie with each other to see who could retreat the fastest.
And Obama? The Illinois Senator is stuck in a situation of his own design. Pledged to carry on a positive campaign, he did manage a few well aimed swipes at Clinton's integrity - especially with regard to Clinton's papers when she was First Lady which are locked up in the archives - but otherwise still tried to maintain his positive demeanor. The effort appeared half hearted and didn't appear to ruffle Clinton at all.
Michelle Malkin referred to Hillary's performance: "Have to say it: She is looking solid and grown-up. The men are nervous, small, and nutty."
And that's as good a summation as you'll find from Clinton's triumph last night.
