The first thirty minutes of tonights debate was muddled to say the least. Wolf Blitzer lost control immediately after the debate started. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stole the show during the first twenty minutes and both said absolutely nothing note worthy. Wolf Blitzer, in an attempt to pose "gotcha" questions, wasted time seeking "yes" or "no" responses from each candidate on undocumented immigrant drivers licenses. Hillary Clinton continues to "eqivocate" in each of her responses. The "disingenuous" smile and the "shrill rhetoric" do not a candidate make. Barack Obama attempted to tell everyone how he would initiate a "comprehensive" immigration plan. Unfortunately Barack Obama did not provide one specific action he would initiate, referencing his comprehensive plan. Joe Biden continues to sound like the next Secretary of State. Biden will not capture the Democratic nomination. Governor Bill Richardson said he would cut off aid to the Pakistan Government. Wolf Blitzer challenged Richardson on this point. Richardson's answer is democracy and human rights are the most important points in dealing with Mushariff. Richardson said moderate forces can win in Pakistan if fair elections are held. The number of conflicting answers, nebulous answers and I agree with so and so on this and that point from all of the candidates has not seen one candidate particularly stand out. Congressman Kucinich has a right to complain since he has all but been passed over. Wolf Blitzer just asked Kucinich a question that allowed Kucinich the opportunity to sound more cogent than any of the other candidates so far. CNN should be embarrassed by the poor performance of the moderators Wolf Blitzer, John Roberts and Campbell Brown. They individually and collectively look like they are asking questions from their desks in High School. Hillary is talking about free trade and is stating China should be held accountable for problems with products entering the United States. Barack Obama tells us that Japan sends their own inspectors to China to inspect goods prior to being shipped to Japan. Obama asks why the United States does not take similar actions? John Roberts asked Barack Obama about nuclear waste. Obama's answer is, it is not fair to send nuclear waste to Nevada. However, Obama does not offer an alternate solution. The usual rhetoric from Obama on how we need to penalize polluters. But how? Blitzer asked Obama, where do we send Nuclear Waste? A fair question which Obama has no answer for. Richardson says to turn Yucca mountain into National Laboratory. Yeah, maybe next century. Congress would never agree to do something like this. Campbell Brown is asking Hillary Clinton about the "boys" ganging up on her. Hillary is exploiting the issue to her advantage. Hillary was able to get the line in, "she is not being attacked because she is a woman, she is being attacked because she is ahead". In the first 75 minutes of this debate no one candidate stands out as qualifed to be President of the United States. I only hope that the viewers and voters see this debate for what it is, poor questions with poor moderators and candidates never answering. Joe Biden comes the closet to actually answering a question closely followed by Richardason and Kuchinich. Kuchinich made points when he said he did not vote for the Patriot Act because he Read it! Bill Richardson is against a border fence with Mexico. He says we should double the number of Border Control agents and retain National Guard troops at the border. Finally Richardson says we need a plan that will provide for legal immigration and not an amnesty program. The candidates we, as citizens, have to choose from include, Barack Obama, Dennis Kuchinich, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, & Joe Biden. The candidate that should be running is Al Gore. Gore is the only person that has the credentials to handle the job of President. Mr. Gore wake up and get into the race. Comments, opinions......................
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