ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" took their show on the road for the second time to Des Moines this morning. The democrats' debate, though predictable in many ways (how many questions CAN you ask about Iraq???), this one was not a slam dunk for Hillary Clinton as many of the others have been.
First of all, they shunted Hillary off to the end podium, which to me is always a subtle mental cue to take someone less seriously. I think it really affected her performance. She was still better than Obama, who always looks like a deer in headlights at these debates. But this time Edwards did a really good job. He seemed confident and relaxed, not like a little boy jumping up off the rug in kindergarten with his arm stretched toward the ceiling, saying, "Pick me!" like he usually is.
The dumbest question of the debate by far (written and submitted by The Rev. Jerry Falwell before his death, LOL, kidding) was from Seth Ford of South Jordan, Utah.
"My question is to understand each candidates' view of a personal God. Do they believe that, through the power of prayer, disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the Minnesota bridge collapse could have been prevented or lessened?"
I cannot believe they insulted the intelligence of the American people by talking about that. The candidates seemed a little dubious about whether it was a serious question, then managed to put on straight faces long enough to answer the question. Edwards had the best observation. He said, “I have prayed most of my life; pray daily now. He's enormously important to me.But the answer to the question is: No, I don't -- I prayed before my 16-year-old son died; I prayed before Elizabeth was diagnosed with cancer. I think there are some things that are beyond our control. But I don't think you can prevent bad things from happening through prayer.” (Amen, brother)Mike Gravel responded that all he needs is love. Did I mention that Mike Gravel is a bit strange?
More later in Part II.
A lot of people have been claming that the question I asked was from a religous zelot. Really it was a question to understand each canidantes level of devotion. By removiing the last part of the question "Does God listen and answers prayers or just roll dice? " it totally missed the point. The point of the question was to understand what level of religous devotion will guide each canidates presidency. Will they pray just for strength or go as far as to pray for direction. Some claim that George Bush relied on God to direct his actions in Iraq, I wanted to understand if each democratic canidate would take a similar stance.
Posted by: SDF | August 20, 2007 11:30 PM | Permalink to Comment