David Weigel | June 28, 2007
The would-be Democratic presidents are meeting for the third time tonight at Howard University for a forum on minority issues. The questioners: Michel Martin, DeWayne Wickham, Ruben Navarrette, Jr. The host: Tavis Smiley.
The video feed will be here at 9 p.m. but I have a prior engagement and won't be liveblogging. I may swing back for some post-debate spin and slander. Some predictions:
- Hillary will trumpet her endorsement by David
Dinkins, the greatest urban leader of the 20th Century.
- Barack Obama will talk more about his law school and community
organizer days than his days (ok, months) in the Senate.
- John Edwards will try to talk about Ann Coulter before breaking
down in tears.
- Bill Richardson will promise to appoint the most diverse cabinet
ever-ever.
- Joe Biden will have to apologize for something around 20-25
minutes after the event.
- Dennis Kucinich will pledge to do something for minority
Americans "on the first day of the Kucinich administration."
- Mike Gravel will break his vow of silence.
- Chris Dodd will be there, too.
Consider this an open thread.
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I'd like to offer an open invitation to all candidates, to insult my intelligence.
Doctor Duck, I can assure you that an Edwards administration would not insult your intelligence in any way. We would make healthcare affordable to the forgotten Americans, and we would make sure that ducks, and waterfoul of all kinds, are not discriminated against in the health care industry.
So far, the only bumper stickers I've seen around town are Ron Paul stickers. However, I'm torn between him and Mike Gravel. Seriously, his stance on building fires and throwing rocks into lakes really mesh with my own.
David Dinkins is still alive? Of course, when he was mayor of NYC, I still wasn't sure that he wasn't a postage stamp, so what do I know?
Maybe Gravel will throw a stone into the still, silent waters that make up Edwards' forehead.
How do you quote with a cute silver bar (.999 I hope) instead of italics? Open thread, it says, it says so right there.
<blockquote>How do you quote with a cute silver bar (.999
I hope) instead of italics? Open thread, it says, it says so right
there.</blockquote>
will give you
How do you quote with a cute silver bar (.999 I hope) instead of italics? Open thread, it says, it says so right there.
Open thread?
Well I'll point out that Reason continues to ignore the erosion of
liberty in America.
Louisiana has banned cockfighting.
"Ten years ago, whites were 70% of those arrested, while blacks were 26%. How come now only 40% of those in prison are white, while 38% are black?"
Looks like this whole debate is going to be about black issues.
Not that those aren't important, but these fools are just going to
treat it as a pandering contest.
(Before the racism hounds get here, I would say the same of a
debate of Republican candidates that focused on abortion/stem
cells, in which case I would be among those being pandered to.)
Say, do you know the etymology of pander?
A new South Park song and character,
(*tinkly music*) "Racial Discrimination ... PANDA!!"
Listening to Bill Richardson's zombie speech rhythms at Howard, all
I could hear was a voice lilting, "I think / that I shall never see
/ a race / as lovely as a tree ... "
The fun will be watching Edwards, Clinton et al "get religion,"
fake a Sunday black church cadence in speech, and out-promise Obama
in the racial pie and chips handout of 2008. Obama will play skin
privilege claiming that Martin Luther King's dying words were
"ELECT BARAK!!!"
And lastly, once someone mentions the recent Supreme Court decision
on race and diversity in education, everyone will join hands and
sing a chorus of "Strange Fruit" comparing some mediocre black
middle class student's inability to get into Georgetown Law School
with the lynching of Emmett Till ...
Dodd just used the word "barrio" which makes me think that there's a race riot going to break out between the Zoot Suits and the Crips and Bloods ...
the recent Supreme Court decision on race and diversity in education
Would, oh would that 'twere in education. Alas, 'tis only in
schooling.
Interchangeable phrases, M. However, I think "U.S. Department of
Schoolin'" has a funkier sound than "Department of Education"
...
This is turning out to be the most useless of all of the so-called
"debates" held by the Dems, so far. Sadly, all you have to do is
uncritically promise most black audiences just about anything under
the sun---with more money----and you get a round of applause and
high fives.
And I get sick of all the "crisis" histrionics and statistics that
left-liberals throw about. I'm looking at a bunch of well-coiffed
overweight African-Americans on PBS acting as if they are on the
same socio-economic level as starving rural Ugandans that have to
shit and piss in plastic grocery bags. If I believed half of the
doom and gloom that the fools on stage at Howard are throwing
around, I'd be living in fear that as a black male I'm going to
spontaneously combust at any moment ...
Interchangeable phrases, M.
I never let my schooling interfere with my education.
Best of all, Mike Gravel called everyone out on the War on Drugs. Of course, no one responded in any way to his challenge, either for or against.
A portion of my commentary:
9:33 Barack thinks parenting counselors should be there from the
cradle, no word yet on where the counselors are at the grave.
9:34 People don't succeed because we think they can't succeed, or
something. maybe Obama recently bought "The Secret."
9:35 the child mayor wants us to stop the war so we can buy books
on tape for lil' feti in the womb
9:36 OOH! Gravel calls out everyone on supporting the war, says
something about "leakage." Subsidised Depends?
9:38 Hillary wants villagers to raise children. Perhaps we need to
get illegal immigrant villiage idiots to do the job americans don't
want to do.
9:41 eee... Bill Richardson wants to penetrate African-american
communities to prevent AIDS. Seems counterintuitive.
9:44 HELL YEAH! The War on Drugs gets called out by Gravel!
Simultaneous boos and applause - how the hell will the other
statists deal with this?
9:48 the trademark Clinton cackle comes out. Clinton panders about
how if she had AIDS people would be outraged. Wait, what?
9:50 Joe Biden is obviously from slower, lower Delaware. 'nuff
said.
I admit, I didn't watch these debates. I just read a pretty
brief summary on msnbc this morning:
"In turn, the candidates discussed their hopes to stem poverty,
close the economic gap between the rich and poor, fight AIDS and
overhaul a judicial system that doesn't always seem
colorblind."
Sounds about par for the course. But in terms of the last thing on
the list -- overhauling a not always colorblind judicial system --
didn't all of the candidates slam the Supreme Court's decision to
make admissions in public schools more colorblind?
If you believe in racial quotas, fine, but don't advocate them and
then say you want a "colorblind" society.
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