A Great Chicago Debate Watch Party
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| Also listed in: Illinois For Richardson |
Last night about 15 of us got together on Chicago's North Side to watch the CNN/YouTube presidential debate. All of us were pleased to see Gov. Richardson finally hit his stride in the debate. He was relaxed and really caught on fire when he spoke against No Child Left Behind and Darfur.
Both topics were something he was intimately familiar with, since as a Governor he has struggled to implement the broken NCLB and as a diplomat he's been to Darfur a number of times. Clearly he's getting better, as his opponents seemed to plateau.
We also had a number of new faces at the meeting. Each of the new volunteers were ready to jump in, and we've already got a number of great outreach tasks for them.
Bill Richardson just keeps rolling in Illinois!
Both topics were something he was intimately familiar with, since as a Governor he has struggled to implement the broken NCLB and as a diplomat he's been to Darfur a number of times. Clearly he's getting better, as his opponents seemed to plateau.
We also had a number of new faces at the meeting. Each of the new volunteers were ready to jump in, and we've already got a number of great outreach tasks for them.
Bill Richardson just keeps rolling in Illinois!
way to go bill.
if they would let u talk more you would win the country.
The questions gave us a lively, enlightening dialogue freed from the rules and pomposity of the usual televised candidate confrontation. It also provided the clearest view into the Democratic Party’s division over the Iraq war, uncluttered by the fudging and spins of much of last week’s Senate all-night session on Iraq.
Gov. Bill Richardson clearly reflected the view of Democrats who want to get out of Iraq ASAP, a view that was submerged in the Senate debate by the equivocations of the majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. “I’m trying to provoke a debate here, because there’s a difference between the senators and me on when we get our troops out,” Richardson said Monday night. “I’ve been very clear: six months, but no residual forces.” He went on to say, “Sen. Clinton has a plan that I understand is maybe 50,000 residual forces. Our troops have become targets. … The diplomatic work cannot begin to heal Iraq, to protect our interests, without troops out. Our troops have become targets. …”
Kucinich agreed. “Let’s get those troops home, and let’s take a stand and do it now. Send a message to Congress now.”
Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden reflected the phased-withdrawal view of most Senate Democrats.