Hillary vs. Rivals Is Vegas Bout Worth Viewing

To all who have shunned previous televised presidential debates, listen up. Tonight, pop a cold one, Tivo Grey's Anatomy or CSI, and catch the supper show live from Vegas: no cover, no minimum and no dancing girls, unless a certain candidate pirouettes around questions she'd rather not answer.

Las Vegas, home to as many boxing matches as showgirls, may prove the perfect venue for the next-to-last in a series of bouts that have gotten bloodier. There's a crack in Senator Hillary Clinton's vaunted electability since the last debate that may widen.

The more a frontrunner's status is premised on electability, the more a candidate forgoes appealing to old-fashioned voters who still care about where you stand and who you are, in favor of nailing down those who just want to get over the messy primaries. Forget about falling in love and just fall in line, the better to unite against the real enemy on the other side.

To continue reading, click here.

Comments

[vbond]

Tonight's Vegas Fight Card... for fans of "The Sweet Science":

John Edwards as Sonny Liston... tough, mean and ready to bust some.

Dennis Kucinich as Sugar Ray Leonard... petite, funny... unaware that this is a heavyweight fight.

Chris Dodd as Pinklon Thomas... whom no one else has heard of either...

Hillary Clinton as George Foreman, ... punchin'... and punchin'... and punchin'... and punchin'

Bill Richardson as Ferdie Pacheco (think about it...)... doctorin'

Barack Obama as Muhammad Ali... ropin' and dopin'

Mike Gravel (down the street at the Paris, in a solitary "alternative debate") as Chuck Wepner, the Bayonne Bleeder... self-inflictin'

[klondiker]

Does anyone know if the debate will be streamed online??

[heckleNjeckle]

Debate? Forget it. Gravel won't be on the stage, so whose face will she laugh in for raising serious issues?

Watch Mike Gravel unfiltered by the corporate media: "Alternative Presidential Debate" streaming live, link from http://www.gravel2008.us

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Tonight I think I'll listen to my "Nat King Cole At the Sands in Las Vegas" CD for my entertainment instead of watching that reality show on CNN hosted by the bearded one who, for some reason I can't recall, became very important a long time ago when I was a teenager and he had another hit series about bombing Iraq.

Maybe I'll miss some fun. Joe Biden, who should be a serious contender, will play the comic relief role, held the previous season by Al Sharpton (both must pay eternally for something they said ages ago). Kucinich, who has the clearest conscience, therefore the least chance of winning, doesn't factor in to this year's story lines (it's not entirely "reality," like most reality shows aren't).

Senator Obama will give a calm, nuanced answer, the sort Abraham Lincoln may have given in a non-televized era, and after the debate an ex-Clintonite will analyze helpfully: "He just gives no red meat, no passion-- and he's long-winded!"

Senator Clinton might intone: "It's tough to be the only woman candidate during this meeting of the boys' club, but as I was saying to my husband, the man who brought peace and prosperity to America, I told Bill, who is so popular in the African American community by the way, that I can handle these guys up here on my own."

Or maybe Comcast will move CNN to Channel 986 and I'll have no choice but to miss it.

[Seath]

Not that we will see a meltdown of Hillary - but we might just get sight of her as she really is and that could make a lot of people use the "B" word when describing her in the future. This would be a good thing. If Bush had been subjected to more careful examination maybe we would not have been cursed with his - I was going to say presidency but that doesn't come close to describing it - maybe just disaster is enough. In reality maybe just a spelling contest would have been enough in Bush's case.

[xrayman]

Margarette, are you channeling Chris Matthews on purpose? I can guarantee he is not someone to emulate.

Yes, come one come all to watch attacks on Clinton from all sides . Isn't it great! Watch Obama look erudite and Edwards sound angry and self important.

Given that there isn't a hair's breath of difference between Obama, Edwards, and Clinton on the important issues, personal attacks are really all they can resort to.

[jbstonesfan]

Look, you have one (1) debate where Senator Clinton is less than brilliant and the media, led by Russert and the Clinton hater Mathews, jump on her like a school of piranha on flesh. It's all a game and most of us with a high school education get. We live in a society where we love to knock down the front runner, make then repent, and then love them all over again. From celebrities to politicians, it's the American F--king way!!!
Whether you love her or hate her, she will be the Democratic candidate for president. Sadly, many here will not vote for her, and just like in 2000 when the extreme lefties wasted their vote for the ego maniac Nader, we will lose. They justified it then by saying "it didn't make a difference". I wonder how many of those Nader supporters can look themselves in the mirror knowing they contributed to Bush being elected!!! Yep, Gore would have been no different than the "Bush".
Today, we live in a country whose ignorance is second only to it's greed. The average "Joe" will still vote for a cowboy like Bush or Giuliani because he will "get then terrorists".
Face it, moderate Democrats are being outnumbered by both the extreme right wing and the lefties who would rather make a statement than win an election. Hillary is far from perfect, but compared to those Republicans she is clearly the choice for any thinking Democrat.

[RedSt8r]

Yeah, this is worth watching - like paint drying is worth watching.

The field combined vs. Shillary is like the Washington Generals vs. The Globetrotters.

Shillary's "struggle" against these midgets is a complete farce. The last time a more scripted "fight" came to Vegas was Wrestlemania.

[VSamuels]

And to think, you could have used this space to speak about what things in Hillary's senatorial career makes her qualified to be considered the frontrunner. For sure, Hillary's so-call visiting of 80 or so Heads of State she says she knows by first name, should not be hard to find in the archives to paint a picture of what exactly was her role during those official and unofficial meetings.

Frankly, Hillary herself should release portions of relevant material where she feels it may show her learning curve with such leaders.

C'mon, when can we get some substantive data to back up Hillary's claim for being able to hit the ground running if elected?

[oldpotsmuggler]

"A wife succeeding a husband in the White House is a first- in-a-lifetime possibility in America. Shouldn't we at least talk about it? It's different from Bush father and son. George H.W. Bush didn't move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. after his son was elected."

A quote found in the "click here" part of the hit piece. Anyone who can make that statement with a straight face really needs to engage in some self reflection.

After spending 12 years as part of the tag team that just absolutely set this country up for every negative thing that has happened since 1980, Daddy gave poor little Gerogie the money machine, and assigned Cheney to make sure that the kid never strayed too far from the chosen path. And that path wasn't chosen by Junior. He literally is not bright enough to run his own life well, let alone this country.

The historical connection between Bill and Hillary is obvious. But having the dedicated assitance of the best president that this country has had since JFK is not the worst baggage to bring to the Whitehouse. The Billary team is clearly not perfect, they're just a whole hell of alot better than anything that the right can or will put on the playing field from now to eternity.

Only a fool would over look the fact that our country is in a real mess right now, and there can be no excuse for any supposedly sophisticated person to believe that the idiot in the Whitehouse is the true CEO of BUSHCO. In fact, he's so patently pathetic that it's questionable whether he even makes it on the Board of Directors in retirement. I can see the kid doing the most basic ceremonial stuff in the future, but anyone who thinks that he's going to have any more impact than that hasn't been paying attention.

Yeah, Hillary inherited the "Clinton Machine" but it's like a kiddie car next to a Peterbilt when compared to the advantage of being the BUSHCO hand picked candidate.

[StephenDedalus82]

If there's anything the media likes more than a frontrunner falling, it's a comeback--­especially if it's a Clinton. She is prepared this time, and knows what's coming (heck Wolfie even announced he'd be asking about the drivers license thing). Regardless of what actually happens at the debate (reality is a footnote to the media), I predict the story will be Hillary's inevitability returns, and Obama peters out (he never does well at debates). Oh and that Edwards guy is still ranting. That's what I predict.

[jmpurser]

Hillary, along with Obama, Dodd, and Biden FAILED to stand last Friday when the Senate confirmed America's second publicly pro-torture AG.

If she and the other 3 won't do their duty as Senator what in God's name makes you think they will as President?