The Official 2008 Presidential Election Thread

[masamuneehs]

Full transcript of Democrats Debate in Iowa

I think these debates are a very good way of seeing how these people actually carry themselves in the public spotlight (ie., how they'll act as politicians). It is of course full of propoganda, smearing and lies, but you have to decide for yourself what and who you're going to believe. Reading/watching these debates always gives me a firmer sense of who I want to support than an internet video or some online matching poll.

A few excepts from the debate I found compelling me for particular people:

we should describe for the American people both in presidential debates, as well as president, what our foreign policy is and what we're going to do. We shouldn't have strategic ambiguity with the American people when it comes to describing how we're going to deal with the most serious national security issues that we face...
And so, this is part of what I think Americans get frustrated about in politics, where we have gamesmanship and we manufacture issues and controversies instead of talking about the serious problem that we have...

I personally think, and I would as president, not talk about hypotheticals in nuclear weapons. I think that's not a healthy thing to do. I think what it does for the president of the United States is it effectively limits your options. And I do not want to limit my options, and I don't want to talk about hypothetical use of nuclear weapons. I would add to that that I think what the president of the United States should actually do, beyond stopping bunker-buster nuclear weapons, which this administration's moving forward with, is what America should do and what I would do as president, is to actually lead an international effort over time to eliminate nuclear weapons from the planet. That's the way to make the planet more secure.

That's very good but, under the last 25 years, this nation has continued to expand its nuclear capability.
I would say that, essentially, they're all wrong on this. They're, sort of, leading up -- the administration is cooking the books, the intelligence on Iran.
And we're playing into this. And I'm very concerned. I would hope the Congress would pass a resolution saying, under no circumstances do you invade Iran.
Stop and think. What have we -- what have they done to us?
They're giving us intelligence, saying that they're destroying our troops. Well, what about our trying to destabilize their government, which we've been doing for the last 25 years?
We destroyed their democracy. And now we're looking at them as an excuse to expand the war, which is the plan the neocons had back in 1997. And so, when Democrats buy into the problem of Iran, they just help Vice President Cheney, who should be committed, with his recent statements...

man, is it just me, or was Edwards kissing Clinton's ass for half that debate? Hilary had a good point on lobbyists, that people decrying lobbyist donations are taking from the people who employ the lobbyists. Also, I can't help but agree with this from Kucinich

Actually, George, this debate is insufficient, because you're really not including all the candidates here... ... and polarize -- you're trying to polarize people out of the race... So let's give the American people a real choice, not a conditioned choice, based on polls...

my man Gravel also had this to say on Iraq, that he believes we should actually bring in Iran and Saudia Arabia and other regional powers into Iraq.

This is American imperialism you're hearing up here. And that hasn't worked and it will never work.
Who are we to tell the Iraqis -- we're trying to make them the fall guy, not our stupid mistakes. Oh, it's the Iraqis won't stand up.
I'll tell you what. Pull everybody out and turn to the Iranians, who helped us defeat the Taliban initially. It was the Iranians. So if we don't bring the Iranians to help us, or the Syrians, or Saudi Arabia, of course it's going to be a disaster.

however, the only Democrat that I agree with on Iraq is Joe Biden, been in foreign relations for years. He knows it won't be easy and that pulling out now is a mistake. Unfortunately, he rejects the idea of partitioning, Richardson's plan... But Richardson is also too keen on pulling out too fast...

Then there was some crap about if the candidates believe in god... fucking a... that's got to be the least important issue you could ask... The question was literally: "do you believe that, through the power of prayer, disasters like Hurrican Katrina or the Minnesota bridge collapse could have been prevented or lessened?" Fucking goddamn retards... again, the only meaningful answer to this stupid question came from Gravel.