CNN/YouTube Debate Live Blog! Part 4

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


A question in the form of a rap song about No Child Left Behind. Kind of cringe-inducing, but kind of neat. Richardson and Biden, who have differences on Iraq, as documented below, both agree on scrapping it. This is Bush’s single greatest domestic accomplishment! What an awful legacy!

Wait, Biden’s wife and daughter were killed? Did he just say that? How can everyone talk about John Edwards’ dead son without ever mentioning the fact that Biden has lost his wife and daughter? I’m hitting Wikipedia.

Okay, here’s what Wikipedia says (authoritative source, I know): “In 1966, while in law school, Biden married Neilia Hunter. They had three children, Joseph R. III (Beau), Robert Hunter, and Amy. His wife and infant daughter died in an automobile accident shortly after he was first elected to the U.S. Senate [in 1973]. His two young sons, Beau and Hunter, were seriously injured in the accident, but both eventually made full recoveries. Biden was sworn into office from their bedside.” Biden remarried in 1977.

We just had a question from two fake hillbillies and a question from a snowman. CNN’s producers are punchy tonight. (Boy, awkward transition.)

The candidates on stage are trying to illustrate how their environmental positions can be distinguished from one another. Gonna be tough — they’re all just about the same, which is to say, equally excellent.

Clara Jeffery, MoJo’s Editor-in-Chief, writes in, “Dennis Kucinich just asked us to text peace! Arrrgh I want my computer.” Yes, Kucinich did ask us to text peace, but I’m not exactly sure what that means — maybe DK’s website has more? Also, two girls with incredibly bright smiles just spoke on behalf of raising the minimum wage and then asked everyone on stage if they would work for the MW. Pretty much everyone said yes. And now there’s a question about taxes in the form of a song, with a joke about a parking ticket pardon at the end. This is shaping up to be the most entertaining and yet substantive debate ever. I am fully, completely on board with YouTube politics. This is awesome.

Other notes: Everyone loves God. Seriously, everyone on stage looooves God.

Richardson is surprisingly inarticulate for a man who has spent a lifetime in public service. It’s so disappointing that he’s less than the sum of his parts. Biden, who looked sad and defeated frequently tonight, is the source of fantastic one-liners. Barack Obama can’t reach rhetorical heights in this clipped format.

And we’re going to go out on a lovefest. The final question — the 36th, I believe — asks the candidates to look to their left and say something positive and negative about the person standing there. Everyone is thanking each other for their courage and lives of service. Everyone loves everyone, Joe Biden especially loves Dennis Kucinich’s wife!

Fun night; maybe the best debate I’ve ever seen. Honest.

Postscript: John Edwards is answering additional questions in a live webcast right now, which is pretty neat. You can vote on the questions he should answer. Also, Chris Dodd is in the spin room answering questions from reporters; that’s being fed live here.

More live blog: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate