SC Debate Thread Here: Live Blogger from SC Too

T-minus a few minutes with the debate. Post your thoughts here. A CJ/DUer I know is in the Press room and is getting ready to live blog!!

I missed EE, but I heard she was great..

wow.. Sweet!

Needs a couple of more minutes

Storm outside, but it will pass..I'll keep blogging here

The debate is going to be great

One minute to go!

He's right. We need honesty in our president, and we need someone who can admit a mistake if he/she makes one.

I really liked his answers, especially on energy policy, health care, and women's rights. He's the man with the plans. Did anyone notice how Obama parroted some of the specifics of Edwards' health care plan. Edwards is the only one with a real plan out there, I think.

I always thought it was just pronounced "Gravel," like the driveway material.

Hil up now

Go Dems, I think :)

Now Obama and about appropriations..

He never makes sense to me...next

...but not always so sharp on off-the-cuff remarks.

He stated he voted against the war. He also stated he spoke to a lady whose son was on the way. He said he voted to fun soldiers because they needed to equipment since they were already over there. He also said He devised a plan for withdrawal back in January. The plan was similar to the plan they voted on today and passed.

Now Everything he said made sense were you listening?

You know what, not everyone is on the attack.

There seemed to be a technical problem with the mic.

by attacking people for nothing?

My attitude toward Obama is distinctly different than it was 5 minutes ago.

Was it David something or other?

We need a leader who will be honest and open...about his decision on voting for AMUF. President of US needs to restore trust in the leadership in the world.

She doesn't apologize, but she does focus on what to do now

He says that the 'trust bond' is something that is essential in the next president as it has been destroyed in the last six years.

.

but not sorry?

Dennis has a plan...good thing too

...but did Edwards criticize people who voted for the IWR without mentioned that he himself did so?

Sure he's talked about it before, but didn't mention it here...that's sidestepping.

And has said so..

...but anyone learning about the candidates purely from this debate wouldn't have gotten that impression.

Whatevs, maybe it's not so big a deal.

No stammering on the toughest question she will face....Why she voted for Iraq War.

what he would do...pull'em all out !

He is answering the Iraq War vote.....essentially, he's saying...Nah, Nah Nah Nah,,,,,Everyone had the information and knew what they were voting on, I did not vote for the war....sorry Hillary...he's got you there.

:)

Excellent!

hehe

And got a good response going...he supports Reid-Feingold

this through their heads.

Works the camera well; good eyes.

Hillary, Obama, and Biden didn't answer what was asked of them. Instead, they each gave a rehearsed answer to something else barely relevant to the question. What a joke so far, except for Kucinich. lol

First time I've seen him...so embarrassed about G Bush

...but righteous anger never plays well.

this is so much like the MoveOn townhall forum .... less Gravel.

Whew, I just love all these messages..how does one decide ?

Gravel is packing verbal heat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES! What a great introduction for us.

Interesting..

...anyone else? I like the guy, so this is kind of weird.

A little nervous, but doing a great JOB!

He was reasoned and truthful.

I doubt if he was nervous,public speaking is his bathwater. IMO

and he understands what it means when Dad had to take his family out of a restaurant because they could not afford it. That happened to my family too.

for the last 2. Now Clinton again.

Agree the others should get more time, although Richardson is speaking at the moment

...but what do you think they'd be getting asked on Fox?

"Senator Hussein Obama, do you hate America more than you hate the troops?"

Good answer..

Love the hair cut answer, never will forget having to leave with Dad that couldn't pay.

Hurting himself right about now.

the post debate poll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My goodness...Gravel..good luck

Why are Republicans running against her with such zeal?

WTH...getting the Presidency again?

Edwards with SCOTUS...woman's freedom of health

Gave a good answer to the abortion issue.

Using Edwards' language "Truth of the matter is", but he looks at family issues and woman's right to choose.

I'm surprised he was surprised by the ruling the other day.

That the federal government failed the people at VA Tech because they didn't keep the guns from the hands of those mentally ill.

His Universal Health Care Plan was the first step in helping the mentally ill. He said that he would pay for it through changing the taxes cuts that George Bush had cut for the rich.

Sorry to rain on our little parade, I seriously don't like people trying to manage what I think.

On gun issues? Doesn't she have a position of her own instead of being in the shadows of her spouse?

I'm here in Orangeburg...it's been a long hot day. ;)

I'm in the media room, not the debate hall.

.... than substance.

What bullshit.

like he's getting all of the right-wing attacks out of the way right off the bat.

OTOH, he's giving them a chance to refute those same talking points.

Love that man...the best "I love to talk on talk shows" politician.

Healthcare next

What was Hillary's plan on Healthcare?

He's right, "rhetoric is not enough."

Edwards is the man with the plans!

Wow, Edwards is on fire about healthcare..

Rolling back Bush's tax cuts to pay...gives people a choice, and no pre-existing conditions for healthcare.

No new money to put into current system but no plan otherwise.

On his part..with healthcare, but Biden went overtime.

:eyes: He said he hoped Democrats would not look to raise taxes first.

Obama...his wife has a longer list? Terry Schrivo? Why not Condi Rice confirmation?

They all voted for Condi what's the problem



YEAs ---85
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chafee (R-RI)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Frist (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Talent (R-MO)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---13
Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)

Not Voting - 2

arrogance!"

And to trust his own instincts.

Instead of workers, but she is parroting Edwards on this one otherwise. Linky to come later.

22 million barrels of oil, good plan about energy to get away from it.

and I'm paraphrasing from memory:
Edwards in response to energy prices: "We ought to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war...we ought to be patriotic about conserving."

Obama had a couple of things to say about the ME, but Edwards knows what it takes..

what "they" as candidates support or want to accomplish as President!

Go, Johnny, Go!

Kucinich has the correct answers on THE WAR, but seems too strident or something.

Why don't you quote him correctly.

It's more of experience...isn't it.

They will be able to tell exactly what you are doing.

pressure anyone who doesn't think the way we want them to.

I actually was pretty neutral about him. Not anymore.

I didn't hear anything new from Obama regarding Palestine. He didn't say anything other than Bush has been disengaged and he/Obama will be more engaged on the issue. He disappoints me by refusing to tell the truth about Israel. Someone who is really trying to do something different wouldn't be afraid of upsetting AIPAC.

'You suck so I'm not going to vote for the guy you support. You blew it!!'

Now I truly have seen it all here.

Perspective pershmective.

I kept replying to my own last post, not to yours. I think Edwards is doing great. His reponses are specific, concise, and to the point. He was especially great on health care, women's rights, and energy policy.

The specifics on health care he mentioned sounded a lot like a few of the points from Edwards' health care plan, but I don't think Obama has a plan of his own out yet.

making my socks go up and down and I REALLY REALLY wanted to see a homer here!!! Even IF he's not my first choice.

Please you need to go to his website and read his plan. His plan did not sound like Edwards plan. He announced his own plan.

Obama's Plan:

Extending Health Care To Children.

Nine million children lack health insurance coverage in America. As a state senator, Barack Obama sponsored and helped pass legislation that extends and expands Illinois' KidCare program to provide coverage for an additional 20,000 children and 65,000 more Illinois adults.

Empowering Health Care Consumers with Hospital Report Cards

Consumers do not have enough information to make good choices about their health care. Senator Obama introduced the Hospital Quality Report Card Act to require hospitals to report on the effectiveness, safety and timeliness of the care they provide. This legislation, which is similar to a bill that Barack Obama passed in the Illinois State Senate, would help patients make healthcare decisions and help providers and insurers get the right information to improve quality and contain costs.

Encouraging Medical Information Technology

Every transaction consumers make at banks across the country costs them less than a penny. Yet, because we have not updated technology in the health care industry, a single transaction at a hospital still costs up to $25--not one dime of which goes toward improving care. The lack of modern, interoperable information technology at our hospitals costs in time, money, and medical errors. Senator Obama worked with Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) to introduce the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Efficiency Act to leverage the federal government's purchasing power to encourage the development of health information technology. The bill would require medical insurance companies that deal with the federal government to implement an electronic system for efficient and effective settlement of medical claims.

Fighting Health Disparities:

Minorities, the poor and those in remote areas are less healthy and receive lower quality health care than other Americans. Barack Obama championed the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act to understand the root causes of health disparities and to start to address them. The bill puts new emphasis on disparity research by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to collect and report healthcare data by race and ethnicity, as well as geographic and socioeconomic status and level of health literacy. The legislation also outlines mechanisms to conduct educational outreach to disparity populations, increase diversity among healthcare professionals, and improve the delivery of health care to minorities and other underserved groups.

Making Prescription Drugs Cheaper:

Spending in the U.S. for prescription drugs was $200 billion in 2005, more than five times more than the $40.3 billion spent in 1990. As a state senator, Obama helped pass legislation to reduce drug costs for seniors and low-income patients by discounting drugs, reducing copayments and encouraging the government to negotiate down the costs of drugs. Obama supports giving Medicare the right to use the federal government's buying power to negotiate down the costs of prescription drugs, just like the Department of Veterans Affairs does for our veterans' prescriptions.

Fighting AIDS Worldwide

There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS. Every day, AIDS kills 8,000 and HIV infects 6,000 more people. The disease is set to become the third-leading cause of death worldwide in the coming years. Senator Obama has been a global leader in the fight against AIDS. He traveled to Kenya and took a public HIV test to encourage testing and reduce the stigma of the disease. The Senator joined Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle. At this conservative Christian event, Obama pushed a balanced approach to fighting the disease that includes condom distribution. Senator Obama also worked with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and others to introduce the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.









Edwards plan:



Require businesses and other employers to either cover their employees or help finance their health insurance.
Make insurance affordable by creating new tax credits, expanding Medicaid and SCHIP, reforming insurance laws, and taking innovative steps to contain health care costs.
Create regional Health Care Markets purchasing pools to give every American the bargaining power to purchase an affordable, high-quality health plan, increase choices among insurance plans, and cut costs for businesses offering insurance.
Once these steps have been taken, require all American residents to get insurance.
Under the Edwards Plan:

Families without insurance will get coverage at an affordable price.
Families with insurance will pay less and get more security and choices.
Businesses and other employers will find it cheaper and easier to insure their workers.
Broken Health Care System
The American health care system is broken. It allows 47 million Americans to go uninsured and tens of millions more to remain at risk of losing coverage. It is needlessly expensive, burdening families and businesses without consistently delivering the high-quality care they need.

47 Million Uninsured Americans: There are 47 million uninsured American residents, nearly one in five non-elderly residents. For these people, preventive care is expensive and even major illnesses may go untreated until it is too late. An estimated 18,000 uninsured people die every year because they lack access to care, according to the Institute of Medicine.

Tens of millions more Americans are at risk of losing coverage. One in three non-elderly Americans goes without insurance at some point over a two-year period. Some families see their claims denied or insurance cancelled after they incur large bills. Half of US bankruptcies are caused by medical expenses, even though two-thirds of bankruptcy filers had health insurance. Insured Americans also pay higher premiums – $922 on an average family policy and $341 on an average individual policy – to pay for the cost of treating the uninsured.

Spiraling Health Care Costs: The U.S. health care system is needlessly expensive. Health care costs have consistently grown faster than wages for almost 50 years. Over the past five years, families have seen premiums grow by 90 percent while benefits have been cut. One in four Americans say that they or a family member have had trouble paying a medical bill in the past year. More than a quarter of low- and middle-income households with credit card debt have charged medical expenses.

Fragmented System of Insurance: While the job-based system of health insurance works for tens of millions of Americans, it has serious shortcomings. Workers lose insurance when they lose or change their jobs. Worker mobility discourages insurers from investing in care that would prevent later, larger costs for illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. Meanwhile, businesses spent $16 billion in 1999 administering their own benefit plans, an inefficient and duplicative process.

Small businesses and Americans without insurance from their job, including entrepreneurs, part-time workers, and independent contractors, must turn to an unpredictable and often unaffordable insurance market. Applicants with the wrong age, weight, job, medical or prescription drug history face unaffordable premiums or cannot get coverage at all. In California, insurers often refuse to cover users of dozens of widely prescribed medicines as well as roofers, athletes, and firefighters, even if they are in good health and can afford coverage. In 2005, nearly 60 percent of adults seeking individual coverage had difficulty finding an affordable plan. One in five were denied coverage, charged a higher price, or had a specific health condition excluded from coverage.

Inconsistent Quality: The U.S. spends nearly double the amount on health care as the average industrialized nation, and yet it ranks near the bottom in critical areas like healthy life expectancy and infant mortality rates. In 2005, the U.S. had fewer physicians, nurses and hospital beds per capita than the average industrialized nation. Despite the excellence of our doctors and nurses, patients receive optimal care little more than half of the time. Health care administrative costs totaled $294 billion in 1999, or $1,059 per capita, and more than one-quarter of the U.S. health care labor force works in administration.

He worked on a TF for a think-tank to examine democracy in Russia. It's diminishing.

Task force? Can you elaborate on that?

Good answers

Dennis says he doesn't think so and is offering some ideas.

And how we have a poor Homeland Security System?

n/t

Great response by Edwards.

Edwards gave the best response so far. He sounds ready to not only respond appropriately to an attack, but it sounds like he has very good ideas about how to prevent such attacks.

He's ready.

with how he handled the question about impeaching Cheney. Damn, he's been good tonight.

The others are afraid and won't sway from the mainstream.

The public wants impeachment....the fact the none of the other cnadidates raised their hand is VERY telling. I predict DK will gain alot of support this evening.

Biden and Obama have similar plans, but only according to Biden..

Obama is teaching his daughters about lightbulbs. Why doesn't he co-sponsor the Boxer/Sanders bill that would cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050? Seems to me he's talking, not doing.

And now a question about Castro to Richardson, who is ducking the question...sorta

Maybe they are dissapointed at Hillary's mediocre showing.

And it's a bit of speech, but also some quicker answers.

Tree thing, light bulbs, trying to teach daughters, but going back to teriorism...interesting.

Interesting...

Obama to dennis

He has an option right now in the Senate to be backing a bill that would cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050, and he hasn't done it. Environment is not Obama's strong suit.

Edwards, on the other hand, has made a public commitment to 80% by 2050 and spoke at a recent Step It Up rally.

Obama is unsure of himself.
Edwards is eloquent.

I don't feel like this debate is giving all of the candidates a fair amount of time.

I would be interested to find out how many minutes each candidate was given to talk.

Everyone being REAL careful, not to say too much.

Except Gravel who was kind of Wild, shall we say.

He was taken aback on that question. His deity, his wife, his parents, etc. He was so humbled.

I think the pause is going to be over-played... but the ANSWER was good!

Edwards thought about that one for a while, then gave a great response. His God, his wife, and his father, who taught him to have respect for everyone.

Not too bad, but Edwards did great...!!

Both of them sound like they're shouting. Not very presidential.

Hillary needs to fire her fashion consultants. She's in a stern drab gray suit with a pearl choker and coupled with her too-stern facial expressions that makes her look like Cotton Mather. Obama has great posture and a really great tie. Edwards, astonishingly enough, has a great haircut but his facial expressions make him seem more natural & at ease than many of the others do. Kucinich is coming across as very thoughtful, prepared, & extremely relevant. Biden is coming across quite well, as is Bill Richardson. Dodd seems very solid, well worthy of his place on the stage. Senator Gravel seems like the requisite huh? say wha? representative of the old school fuddy-duddy type of politician, definitely not a 21st century guy.

My shallow surface impressions of them is that Hillary seems very arrogant, hectoring, pedantic. Edwards & Obama both seem like very viable candidates for President, I'm glad they're both running, that makes it a really good run for the roses. I'm also glad Dodd & Biden are in the Senate and I hope they both will continue to be influential there. Richardson would make a very good cabinet officer. Kucinich is much more real & definitely more salient than his characterizations in the field might indicate. And Mike Gravel needs to retire at the end of his current term.

That's just one otter's opinion, though. Your Mileage May Very.

Hillary and Richardson the losers.

Gosh, good stuff tonight.

Actually... the only person I was
impressed with was Kucinich.

This debate made me long for Al...

Kucinich and Edwards were the "winners" in my opinion. The rest were ok but not great. Gravel proved to me that he is a no-go. The "LOL" award goes to Biden for his one word answer regarding his tendency to be to verbose.

Kucinich and Edwards were great. Edwards had control and class. Kucinich had guts.

They all were thoughtful in answering, showed some realism along the way. They made me proud to be a Dem. Biden and Edwards are my favorites, at the moment.

Go to the DK:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/26/185638/299