The debate tally: $40,000.00 more for the Bat!

[sfecap]

Last hour the Bat total grew by 40 thousand or so.

The Debate bump. :bounce:

[wryter2000]

1. Yahoo

Can't wait to get home and watch the re-run.

[Cha]

2. People liking Dean in the debate? How do you think Dean

did in all that forum circus, sfecap?

[sfecap]

3. I think he was excellent, despite the attack frenzy.

Edwards was most impressive, too. I really like him.

Gephart needs to stay home.

Kerry is absolutely the most boring candidate ever.

Clark was a bit vacuous.

DK was, well...DK. :-)

Sharpton, the best soundbites. Ya just gotta love him.

CMB class, as always.

Graham, very good, but not in the running...

Lieberman is a pathetic cretin. He'll be toast after this quarter.

Dean actually answers the questions. He handled himself like the frontrunner, and put Gep in his place after putting up with his shit long enough. The mods were blatently baiting him, Kerry and Gep. They were pandering to the TV audience who wanted to see a catfight. I think the Gov. kicked Gep square in the ass, and he came away looking much better then Gep.

[Cha]

4. Thank God! And thank you for that report, stecap!

I hear gep has attacks on Dean on his site and, of course, gep is the one that sent "blonde monica" to Vermont to dig the dirt on Dean..

Do ya think he's after Dean so much because of Dean being one of the lead or what!

I think it is saying more about gep..who had nothing but praise for bush in the rose garden.

[sfecap]

5. Gephart is desperate...as are others.

They have no other way to get at Dean except attack.

It's laughable that Gep has nothing more than out of context quotes from 10 years ago to attack Dean with.

He'll be history after Iowa and NH.

And he'll be critically impaired after this quarter when he only raises a pittance compared to Dean.

Gephart is merely a bump on the road.

[CMT]

6. I agree with your analysis

great job.

[tsipple]

7. Another Bump: NBC Nightly News

Did anyone see NBC Nightly News?

By the way, commentators ranging from Pat Buchanan (!) to Gloria Borger declared Dean the winner of the CNBC/MSNBC debate today. Here's perhaps the most important moment, as printed in the debate transcript:

Dick Gephardt: Howard and I just have a basic disagreement. He said in, I think, 1993 that Medicare was the worst federal program ever. He said that it was the worst thing that ever happened.

He also supported, at our darkest hour--when I was leading the fight against Newt Gingrich and the Contract With America, he was shutting the government down--Howard, you were agreeing with the very plan that Newt Gingrich wanted to pass, which was a $270 billion cut in Medicare.

Now, you've been saying for many months that you're the head of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. I think you're just winging it.

This is not the view of Democrats, in my view.

This program has been under attack from the Republicans since the beginning. And we need a candidate against George Bush that can take the fight to him on it, not someone who agreed with the Gingrich Republicans.

Howard Dean: That is flat-out false, and I'm ashamed that you would compare me with Newt Gingrich. Nobody up here deserves to be compared to Newt Gingrich.

(APPLAUSE)

First of all, I did say that Medicare was a dreadful program because it's administered dreadfully.

I've done more for health insurance, Dick Gephardt, frankly, than you ever have, because I've delivered it to a lot of seniors and a lot of young people. And I'll stake my record on health insurance against anybody up here.

Of course, we're not going to get rid of Medicare, and you are wrong to insinuate so, but we're going to run it properly because we're going to have somebody that actually is taking care of patients running Medicare and Medicaid in the FDA so we can get the things that we need to get to patients.

To insinuate that I would get rid of Medicare is wrong, it's not helpful, and we need to remember that the enemy here is George Bush, not each other.

(APPLAUSE)