Today is the anniversary of the Democratic debates first airing on television one year ago. I vividly remember all candidates on stage, slugging it out, and all fighting for airtime. Gravel was there yelling, Kucinich was there yapping, and Clinton, as the frontrunner, was being attacked by everyone on stage. And, Obama’s slow but steady increase as the Democratic frontrunner was more and more noticeable as the debates progressed.
There have been a total of 21 debates, of those, 4 were forums, and 1 was a radio debate.
With the help of YouTube, I thought I would recap the best moments of these debates we’ve come to hate so much!
April 26, 2007 to November 15, 2007
South Carolina – April 26, 2007: Gravel makes his angry debut to America.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=iKILujVlpDg[/youtube]
New Hampshire – June 3, 2007: In this moment, Hillary is questioned about her vote in favor of the Iraq Resolution. Another thing I noticed about this video was how different Hillary sounded. Her voice, like the other candidates sounds much different after a year of campaigning.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=vfTpgYPQcew[/youtube]
Washington, D.C. – June 28, 2007 “All-American Presidential Forum: There were two memorable moments from this debate that focused on issues of the African-American community. First, Biden gets laughed at when he says both him and Barack got tested for AIDS. Later, Hillary said if AIDS were a disease that afflicted a majority of young white women, there would be an outrage in America.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=YZzWYCxjdnY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q_EHq7tvEu8[/youtube]
Detroit, Michigan – July 12, 2007: It’s what happened after this debate that caused the most controversy. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards were overhead on mic questioning the other candidates sincerity in the race, and how to best lower the number of their opponents.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5CnISxTTxwE[/youtube]
South Carolina – July 23, 2007: This was the CNN-YouTube debate. In this moment, Bill Richardson talks about No Child Left Behind, saying he would scrap it.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZvwjNBZ1z8E[/youtube]
Chicago, Illinois – August 4, 2007: This was the “Yearly Kos Presidential Leadership Forum” where the connection between progressive bloggers and Barack Obama began to strengthen. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also went at it over lobbyists, and Hillary was asked whether or not she would continue to accept money from lobbyists.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FaAkcXynqLA[/youtube]
Chicago, Illinois – August 7, 2007: The AFL-CIO debate was important because it showed the relationship that exists between Democrats and union workers. This time Chris Dodd and Barack Obama went over Obama’s comment on Pakistan. Hillary also gets booed.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=MkDZWLPkJs0[/youtube]
Los Angeles, California – August 9, 2007: Television network Logo hosted this presidential forum on LGBT issues. Edwards retracts his statement that his religion prevented him from supporting full marriage.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=tbfiEpyDtyw[/youtube]
Des Moines, Iowa – August 19, 2007: After this debate, Dennis Kucinich experienced a short surge of support following his excellent debate performance. Kucinich also coined a new term, “Jusdom.” A combination of Judgment, Wisdom and Maturity, give or take Maturity.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=NfgpZPUGDj0[/youtube]
Coral Gables, Florida – September 9, 2007: This debate appeared on Univision, and was dubbed over in Spanish. During the debate, Bill Richardson attempted to speak Spanish to the audience, but was quickly denied to do so. After the debate, he was not happy about that.
Davenport, Iowa – September 20, 2007: Joe Biden makes the case that the next president should be smarter than their advisors.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=E854Ui0OjhE[/youtube]
Hanover, New Hampshire – September 26, 2007: Gravel takes Hillary to task over voting for the Iran Resolution declaring rogue fighters infiltrating Iraq as part of a terrorist organization from Iran.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzN3dZR6JM[/youtube]
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – October 30, 2007: This was the first debate Gravel was barred from attending. This was also the debate that began the downfall of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Her terrible debate performance was caused by her alleged double talk on giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Joe Biden also calls Rudy Giuliani “the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency.”
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=MqkNqhEXLLA[/youtube]
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=tyxi0T37JmY[/youtube]
Las Vegas, Nevada – November 15, 2007: Dennis Kucinich takes on the Patriot Act, and the other candidates who voted for it. He also calls for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=gGwwovW_t4s[/youtube]
CLICK HERE to Read Part 2
for December 13, 2007 to April 16, 2008
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I love Al Sharpton’s reaction to Joe Biden’s statement about AIDS testing.
But, I didn’t see my personal favorite moment of the debates listed above, which was Joe Biden’s rant against Giuliani.
Interesting article. It brings back pleasant and unpleasant memories. It was interesting seeing the “process of elimination” for the candidates again. You notice that they decided to cut Gravel out of the debates immediately following the debate where he challenged Hillary Clinton on the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment and told her that he was ashamed of her for voting for it. Well, that just goes to show that you shouldn’t mess with the Clintons. Fortunately, I don’t think that Gravel learned his lesson. And then poor Dennis Kucinich got kicked out of the debates, although I don’t really remember him challenging the other candidates like Gravel did (my memory, though, could be wrong).
I have to say, I miss Gravel’s and Kucinich’s presences in these debates. They were quite a breath of fresh air for me, personally. (Much better than all of the quibbling about flag lapel pins and sniper fire and “Bittergate”, now.) And Joe Biden. He was a good fellow, too. He was my third favorite candidate when all eight of them were running. Biden really should have gone much farther than he did. He was honest and intelligent enough. And Dodd was all right, too. I unhappily feel that we passed over the best candidates, instead going for the celebrity candidates.