The Daily Background

This is a liveblogging thread for the PBS Democratic debate, 9PM EST to 10:30. The debate is hosted by the excellent Tavis Smiley and ins meant to address in particular issues that an African American audience is most interested in. Those reading this in RSS readers should jump to the full entry on the website for the latest updates. Most recent material can be found at the top. Also, times may not be exact due to some delay in PBS’s online stream.

10:30 Sorry my timestamps got messed up and I only covered about half of the debate. It’s over now, and Clinton is skirting the edge of the stage saying how nice it was to have “met” people. If by met, you mean debated in front of them, then yes. “Meet.” Also, PBS will make a video of the full debate on their website in a short amount of time, for people to download it if they missed it. This really was a good quality debate, unlike some of the other ones so far, and I know I’ll be downloading it to watch the full thing later.

10:21 Audience murmuring follows everything Gravel says now. Also, is it just me, or is this the first time Katrina has been asked of the candidates in a debate forum? I know the GOP debates didn’t bring it up, but did previous Dem debates? Or is this the first time? Also, one thing I like about this format is that every single candidate gets to answer every single question. None of that bullshit where Wolf Blitzer asks specific questions tailored for specific candidates and then you have Duncan Hunter squealing and raising his hand to ask if he can have 30 seconds to address the issue as well.

10:19 Richardson tackles crime from the poverty angle, unlike all of the other candidates so far. Also, Edwards is the first candidate to menton job training for people convicted of a crime. Good job, Senator.

10:17 Sharpton and Belafonte listen to Hillary speak. Also, is Biden trying to get applause by saying he’s the one who wrote the crime legislation that everybody else is criticizing right now? If so, it’s not working.

10:14 Kucinich calls for an end to mandatory minimum sentencing. Gets big applause. Also, Dodd tries to get an applause line by talking about differentiating between crack cocaine and powder cocaine in sentencing requirements. Somehow I don’t think the CNN/MSNBC audiences would be applauding that line.

10:10 Richardson: “I’m almost finished.” Smiley: “Yes you are,” signalling he’s done, and gets a good laugh. Smiley seems to be doing a good job as host so far. Also, damn, are they cutting the candidate’s mics?

10:07 Joe Biden refers to a point that Obama made, saying “as someone else, earlier said.” Nobody’s forgotten who made it, Joe. It was like a minute and a half ago. Hahaha also Biden just refered to himself as one of the “average folks” as opposed to “the wealthy.” Who is he kidding?

10:04 Dodd says “We need to get back to those days again” when the Clinton Administration was handling taxes in the 1990s. Hillary has to be loving this.

10:01 Gravel has said that “This is the fairest debate or forum that we’ve had thus far this year” and they’ve already addressed issues like economic disparity and AIDS that haven’t been brought up elsewhere.

9:57 Obama gets huge laughter/applause saying “I just want to make clear: I got tested [for AIDS] with Michelle.” Biden tries to reclaim the moment, but Obama has already stolen it.

9:54 Joe Biden knows “I got tested for AIDS, I know Barack got tested for AIDS,” but he isn’t sure about the rest of the candidates. Also, says that the black community is in denial about AIDS. While there might be some truth to what he’s saying, I’m not sure I’d say “You are all in denial!” to the primarily African American audience. Hillary Clinton is nodding and can’t stop. PBS just cut to Sharpton who has the most sour look on his face after listening to Biden talk.

Okay, I started a little bit late.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog