Clark's presence changed the tone of the entire debate..

[kentuck]

Good or bad, it seemed to be more civil and "professional". Maybe because he has been a career soldier? Regardless, it is not altogether bad. The General was welcomed into the Party by Al Sharpton in typical Democratic generosity.

There were legitimate questions raised about the General's ties to this Administration in the not-so-distant past. He had praised Ronald Reagan and even, the present occupant, George W Bush. Granted, this was before the War in Iraq, but nonetheless, it raised the eyebrows of many longtime Democrats. Does this mean we do not accept him into our Party? No, I don't think so.

Does it mean he automatically gets enough respect to get the nomination? No, I don't think so. His expertise can be very useful in the upcoming election but not as the candidate, in my opinion. My tolerance and acceptance would only go as far as the VP on the ticket. Others may disagree and will, I am sure. :)

[Cheswick2.0]

1. I agree

Vp is far enough. He may be a fine man, but I prefer a candidate a little less tied to the MIC.

[Solomon]

2. Agreed. And Al Sharpton did a great thing welcoming him to the

party. Gave the entire panel credibility when he did that even if he was kicking a couple of 'em by doing so.

[Tom Kitten]

5. So why not endorse Sharpton?

So what's the deal with shying away from him? Oh..I forgot...he is of the Negroid persuasion...He's a NCIH candidate so let us all just rub his head for good luck and wish ourselves the best for doing so...

[oasis]

9. And Sharpton would win what states?

[loudsue]

17. Sharpton is, IMHO, the BEST voice for Dems to have in this race....

The man is incredibly articulate, has excellent timing, the best Dem sound-bites of any of the candidates, and presses the talking points home clearly and succinctly. I'm hugely grateful to him for running.

No, he won't likely carry many States in the primary, if any. But his voice has been the most humorously, most cleverly focused voice for what zillions of Americans are feeling about what's going on in the good ol' US of A these days. I love his candidacy.

Sharpton doesn't have the broad political administrative skills I feel the country needs to start pulling things back together after this nightmare fiasco the bushco has plunged the country into. I feel we need someone who has 10 arms and legs, surrounds him/herself with brilliant, fair-minded, leaders who will execute their posts with integrity, responsibility and gusto, and a pres. who carries him/herself with an easy, respectable manner to try to pull our allies back together as a working coalition -- a TRULY willing coalition, to tackle the problems of the country as well as of the rest of the planet.

I don't see ANYONE on our side being able to do that with a repuke owned election system, and propaganda machine we call the press. But many candidates who are running don't appear to me to fit that bill, including Sharpton.

Sharpton, however, has taken the leadership in his speeches (and during the anti-war protests) to employ humor and wit (deadly weapons, politically) to hammer home the truth about some of the most heinous crimes against 'We, The People' since the neocons took power, and I am forever grateful and respectful of his candidacy for that reason alone.

He's a true activist.

:kick:

[ClintonTyree]

3. Kerry and Gephardt's.................

attacks on Dean sickened me. Don't get me wrong, Dean is far from the savior of the Democratic party, but their attacks wasted valuable time that would have been better spent attacking the real nemisis; Bush. They both received demerits in my book for that tactic. Tearing others down to elevate yourself is a tried and true method of political suicide.

[TLM]

4. For me it wasn't so much that they attacked Dean...

because you expect attacks on the frontrunner. What bothered me is that they were the kind of crap attacks you see here on DU. They were snide misrepresentations of some interview Dean did 10 years ago, where he answered some hypothetical questions about policies which were based around circumstances that have changed drastically since then.

Anybody who has read the statements in their context would not reach the conclusions about Dean's position, then and now, that Kerry and Gephardt tried to push.

I expect my leaders to put forth a better presentation than the average Dean basher on DU. Attack, but damnit, attack substance and policy... don't try to act like some out of context snipits from decade old answers to hypothetical questions are representative of current policy on current issues that are based on current circumstances.

[Ruby Newsbee]

13. I agree completely.

They were acting like attackers on the WWW.. (any political board) When we see that in our government we know we've all been reduced to kindergarten level. It was degrading to watch Dean squirm and defend himself also.

[sandnsea]

6. Dean's attack on Gephardt sickened me

Dean attacking Gephardt on whether he would raise the retirement age and whining about some unknown attack wasted valuable time that Dean could have spent attacking the real nemisis; Bush. Then when he exagerrated Gephardt's comment about the Gingrich policies and tried to tear Gephardt down to elevate himself he ended up looking like the lesser candidate. Real political suicide, it's too bad.

[GalleryGod]

7. I Saw it,too.

"Pulled it for a ground out to shortstop-instead of going with the pitch and hitting it into the corner for a double"
End of Analogy Land.

[clar]

8. You're so blinded

by dislike of Dean, you can't see straight. Practically no one either in the punditocracy or throughout blogland thought Dean blew it tonight. Many thought he won. You belong to that small cadre of people here who have gone off the deep end with their virulent dislike of one candidate or another. This bias makes everything you say regarding the object of your contempt, suspect. I don't for a minute understand letting rabid dislike sweep me away, but as is often said, it takes all kinds.

[Upfront]

15. Clar Your Right

I could not agree more. Gephardt is now down in the crap with Libberman and Kerry as far as I am concerned. Sad.

[PAMod]

10. Did we watch the same debate?

Gep brought up the Gingrich b.s., which by the way, was especially tacky yesterday, as Gingrich's mom died on Tuesday. Nice going Gep.

Actually I thought everyone was more or less civil.

[Rowdyboy]

11. To return, briefly, to Clark

The candidates were gracious, Clark showed that he was a center-left Democrat , and I'll proudly support him for any position from President on down. He makes me proud to be a Dem.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. You may very well be right...but...

I think I'll wait for more than 5 minutes of exposure before I draw any conclusions.

[Padraig18]

14. Al showed class!

:)

[RichV]

16. Al did well

I think he's really elevating his status as a politico by participating in these debates and handling himself well. Still don't think he could win an election higher than perhaps the House from NY, but it's good to have his voice in the mix now.

[depakid]

18. Maybe- but then again

it could just as easily have been that there was simply a different dynamic tonight, and it had little to do with Clark. Maybe it had to do with the tenor of the California debacle. Who can say?

At any rate, Gen. Clark did as well as could be expected under the circumstances, although I imagine a good many people had set their hopes too high and are today disappointed. That was bound to happen.

Personally, I'm going to reserve judgment until I see some position papers and watch how he runs with them.

I will say this- he'll need to do a lot better than citing Sarbanes-Oxley the next time he's thrown a softball right down the middle of an area of his expertise. That's speech communication 101- know your audience.

Hint- it's not the questioners nor the upper-level management of fortune 500 corporations. ;-)