Debate: The Bad, the Good, and the Ugly

Here's the detailed review of quotes from the debate that I promised last night. Wanting to end on a positive note, I'll start on a negative note.

The three dumbest quotes of the night. It should be no surprise that two come from Lieberman.

1. LIEBERMAN: This is a very important answer for the 140,000 Americans who are in Iraq and the military today and their families here in America, a disproportionate number of whom are African American. I would be prepared as president to send American troops in there to protect the 140,000 who are there today, because international peacekeepers may not be there for months to come.

In other words, protect our troops by putting even more in harm's way. Brilliant, Joe.

2. DEAN: First of all, let me just address Juan's question. I have never said that African American cities need gun control and white states don't. I have never said that. What I have said is that rural states -- and this includes places like Tennessee, perhaps, that have low homicide rates -- don't need the same gun laws that urban states do.

And if urban states want to have lots of gun control, let them have it, but just don't impose the same gun laws that you have in New York City or New Jersey or California on states like Vermont, which have a very low homicide rate.

To paraphrase Dean: I've never said what I'm about to say--here it is.

3. LIEBERMAN: In 2000, Al Gore and I went all around this country and warned the American people about George W. Bush. We said he would squander our surplus. We said he would compromise civil rights, he would abandon the middle class and he would turn his back on the poor. Let's be honest about this, the presidency of Bush has been a worse nightmare than even Al and I warned America about.

Funny thing is, Joe, about all I remember from you and Gore in 2000 is prescription drug plans and lock boxes. Let's be honest about this, if you said anything about Bush squandering the surplus and compromising civil rights, you didn't say it very loud or very often. Maybe you could have told us that he's a warmongering maniac, too. You could have told us about PNAC. No surprise that Bush has been a worse nightmare than you warned us about--you hardly warned us at all.

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Okay, on to the in-between stuff. This started with Gephardt describing conversations he had with Bush last year:

GEPHARDT: [Bush] said, "I need your help. If I'm going to get the U.N., I got to show that I've got Congress behind me."

I said, "Fine, but I want language in the resolution that says you're going to exhaust the process at the U.N. and you'll have a plan."

He never had the plan and, incredibly, four, five months after the war is ended, he does not have the help that we need. It is an abomination that he has not gotten our country and our troops the help that we need.

To which Kucinich replied: Dick -- who is a good friend of mine -- Dick, I just want to say that when you were standing there in the Rose Garden with the president and you were giving him advice, I wish that you would have told him no, because as our Democratic leader, your position...

(APPLAUSE)

As our Democratic leader, your position helped to inform mightily the direction of the war. And I believe -- I am glad -- and I share your passion now about the direction the administration is taking this country.

And Sharpton added later, citing Gephardt's applause line: And what bothers me is that some in the Congress that supported the president should have asked him before they gave him entrance what the exit was. I've never heard of people acting like they didn't know we needed an exit when they gave him the entrance. That is a miserable failure, for us to allow this president to play these kinds of games.

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Finally, on to the good stuff! These are just in the order they appeared in the debate, since I don't have time to rate them:

SHARPTON: So I think that what we all need to do on September 11th is say to George Bush, promises made were not kept. We still have bin Laden at large. Newsweek magazine can find him, video and audio coverage can find him. This guys has out more videos than a rock star, but George Bush's intelligence agencies can't find him.

KUCINICH: I think we have to understand that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, nor with Al Qaida's attack, nor did they have anything to do with the anthrax attack. I think Senator Kerry described well the direction we should be going in. I only wish that he had joined with me in an effort to organize Congress to vote against the war.

GRAHAM: I will support whatever is required to protect our brave men and women in Iraq. I will not support a dime to protect the profits of Halliburton in Iraq.

GRAHAM: Let me read to you what the resolution was that most members of Congress on this podium voted for, Congressman Kucinich and I voted against. The president's resolution said, "The president is authorized to use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate." My friends, those who voted for that gave the president a blank trust, a blank check. We cannot trust this president with a blank check.

GRAHAM: Ed, the president knew or should have known that there was no relationship between 9/11, there was no relationship between Osama been forgotten and Saddam Hussein.

MOSELEY BRAUN: This administration will not work with others, will not ask directions.

EDWARDS: These very liberties, this privacy, these constitutional rights -- that's what's at stake in this fight. And we cannot let people like John Ashcroft take them away in an effort to protect ourselves.

GEPHARDT: Well, first, I think we've got to ask a question and that is how many Americans have to lose their jobs before George Bush loses his?

DEAN: Well, if the percent of minorities that's in your state has anything to do with how you can connect with African American voters, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King.

LIEBERMAN: George Bush is the most fiscally irresponsible president in the history of the United States of America.

EDWARDS: Here's what we ought to do, we ought to go over to the White House and hang a big warning sign on the door of the White House that says, "This president is hazardous to your health."

MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, you know, a generation ago, the president of the United States told the American people that all we had to fear was fear itself. This administration, on the other hand, has pandered to fear and frightened the American people at every turn. And the PATRIOT Act is just part of that.

KERRY: Well, I'm glad the president finally found an economic development program. I'm just sad that it's only in Baghdad.

GEPHARDT: Like father, like son, four years and he's done. We're going to get rid of George Bush.

GRAHAM: For instance, there is an excellent governor of Michigan who would be an outstanding candidate for president of the United States. She is denied that opportunity because she happened to have been born in Canada.

SHARPTON: My favorite song is James Brown's song on the Republican Party, "Talking Loud, Saying Nothing."

KUCINICH: John Lennon, "Imagine," as in imagine a new America.

KUCINICH: I am going to vote no because I believe the best way to protect our troops is to bring them home.

SHARPTON: I'm also running because a lot is at stake. We are witnessing a nonmilitary civil war. It started with the recount in Florida, it went to the redistricting in Texas, now it's the recount in California. From the recounting of the votes to the redistricting to the recall, it's a rejection of the American people. We need to fight back. I'm a man of action. And unlike Schwarzenegger, I never had a stunt man do my hard work.

And all of this was on Fox News in Bill O'Reilly's time slot! I must be dreaming.