[NYTr] Dems Debate on CNN/YouTube: Sharper Focus?

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

sent by Ed Pearl

TruthDig - Jul 24, 2007
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070724_youtube_debates_democrats_in_sharper_focus/

CNN/YouTube Debates:  Democrats in Sharper Focus

By Bill Boyarsky

Let Dennis debate.  Mike, too.  In a television debate that had room
for the YouTube guy from Michigan holding an assault-style rifle he
called "my baby," there was certainly space for long-shot candidates
Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel.

The questions from YouTube on the CNN/YouTube debate Monday night gave
us a lively, enlightening dialogue freed from the rules and pomposity
of the usual televised candidate confrontation.  It also provided the
clearest view into the Democratic Party's division over the Iraq war,
uncluttered by the fudging and spins of much of last week's Senate
all-night session on Iraq.

The debate showed that Sen. John Edwards was wrong several days ago
when he suggested to his Senate colleague Hillary Clinton that "we
should try to have a more serious and smaller group." She was wrong
when she replied, as picked up by television microphones, "our guys
ought to talk." The YouTubers' questions, from bathrooms, bedrooms and
backyards, changed the nature of debates for the better.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson clearly reflected the view of Democrats
who want to get out of Iraq ASAP, a view that was submerged in the
Senate debate by the equivocations of the majority leader, Sen. Harry
Reid of Nevada. "I'm trying to provoke a debate here, because there's a
difference between the senators and me on when we get our troops out,"
Richardson said Monday night.  "I've been very clear: six months, but
no residual forces." He went on to say, "Sen. Clinton has a plan that I
understand is maybe 50,000 residual forces.  Our troops have become
targets. ... The diplomatic work cannot begin to heal Iraq, to protect
our interests, without troops out. Our troops have become targets. ..."

Kucinich agreed.  "Let's get those troops home, and let's take a stand
and do it now.  Send a message to Congress now."

Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden reflected the
phased-withdrawal view of most Senate Democrats.

Biden said: "There is not a single military man in this audience who
will tell this senator he can get those troops out in six months if the
order goes today.

"Let's start telling the truth. No. 1, you take all the troops out.  You
better have helicopters ready to take those 3,000 civilians inside the
Green Zone where I have been seven times and shot at.  You better make
sure you have protection for them, or let them die, No. 1.

"So we can't leave them there.  And it's going to take a minimum 5,000
troops to 10,000 just to protect our civilians. ..."

Clinton said: "Joe is right.  You know, I have done extensive work on
this. And the best estimate is that we can probably move a brigade a
month, if we really accelerate it, maybe a brigade and a half or two a
month.  That is a lot of months. ...

"And so, with all due respect to some of my friends here-yes, we want to
begin moving the troops out, but we want to do so safely, and orderly
and carefully."

Obama said, "At this point, I think we can be as careful getting out as
we were careless getting in. ...  We have to begin a phased withdrawal,
have our combat troops out by March 31st of next year, and initiate the
kind of diplomatic surge that is necessary in these surrounding regions
to make sure that everybody is carrying their weight."

It couldn't be clearer than that.  Get out in six months or stick
around for a while.  The Senate talked all night, but YouTube sharpened
the differences between Democrats in two hours.