TIME not kind to my top two Democratic candidates Edwards and Richardson.
TIME weighs in on Monday's debate:
John Edwards:
Started out blazing, with passionate answers railing against banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies and special interests of all stripes. But CNN seemed to validate the CW that Edwards has dropped from the first tier by forcing him to go long stretches without talking, leaving the candidate looking aggravated and with nothing to do but tap his fingers in the cutaways. His submitted video* took on the infamous $400 haircut with cutting humor — but in a fashion that might have been too slick for some. Fumbled the story of a female American pilot and Iraq vet who was sitting with Elizabeth Edwards in the audience, and inexplicably told Hillary Clinton he didn't like her jacket** in an effort to offer an amusing response to a wacky question*** which had candidates saying something they liked and disliked about the person to their left. Passionate anecdote from his recent poverty tour showed him at his best near the end, but the slump in the middle (and the odd sartorial insult) cost him big.
* I don't think the $400 haircut video will achieve it desired purpose. In fact, during the debate Edwards appeared to need a $400 haircut. From the angle shown on television with his head turned, around his neck it looked as if he was wearing a wig.
** I didn't like her jacket either, if that what you can call it. I can't believe her handlers would dress her in something so unbecoming. But still, what was he thinking when he said as much.
*** It was, like many others of the evening, a wacky question.
_______________
Bill Richardson:
Didn't get to talk for the first 20 minutes — and it was downhill from there. When he did speak, Richardson's boisterous, engaging off-camera personality was nowhere to be found, and his staff should be sued for malpractice for allowing him to appear with make-up that made him look more like The Thing from The Fantastic Four than any candidate for president should. Had his best answer of all the debates with a stirring pitch for America to play a moral role in Darfur and elsewhere, although he got a bit caught in the weeds even then.
The pundits said Richardson needed to hit a home run during the debate. Regardless of why, he was scoreless for the evening. I especially could not believe he used the question about guns to discuss fighting poverty.
John Edwards:
Started out blazing, with passionate answers railing against banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies and special interests of all stripes. But CNN seemed to validate the CW that Edwards has dropped from the first tier by forcing him to go long stretches without talking, leaving the candidate looking aggravated and with nothing to do but tap his fingers in the cutaways. His submitted video* took on the infamous $400 haircut with cutting humor — but in a fashion that might have been too slick for some. Fumbled the story of a female American pilot and Iraq vet who was sitting with Elizabeth Edwards in the audience, and inexplicably told Hillary Clinton he didn't like her jacket** in an effort to offer an amusing response to a wacky question*** which had candidates saying something they liked and disliked about the person to their left. Passionate anecdote from his recent poverty tour showed him at his best near the end, but the slump in the middle (and the odd sartorial insult) cost him big.
* I don't think the $400 haircut video will achieve it desired purpose. In fact, during the debate Edwards appeared to need a $400 haircut. From the angle shown on television with his head turned, around his neck it looked as if he was wearing a wig.
** I didn't like her jacket either, if that what you can call it. I can't believe her handlers would dress her in something so unbecoming. But still, what was he thinking when he said as much.
*** It was, like many others of the evening, a wacky question.
_______________
Bill Richardson:
Didn't get to talk for the first 20 minutes — and it was downhill from there. When he did speak, Richardson's boisterous, engaging off-camera personality was nowhere to be found, and his staff should be sued for malpractice for allowing him to appear with make-up that made him look more like The Thing from The Fantastic Four than any candidate for president should. Had his best answer of all the debates with a stirring pitch for America to play a moral role in Darfur and elsewhere, although he got a bit caught in the weeds even then.
The pundits said Richardson needed to hit a home run during the debate. Regardless of why, he was scoreless for the evening. I especially could not believe he used the question about guns to discuss fighting poverty.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 8:24 PM
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