Like that was so totally bogus, ya know?

Holy cow…I just finished watching the “Rock the Vote” debate among eight of the Democratic Presidential candidates (Gephardt skipped it) on CNN. The transcript will be up tomorrow, but it won’t do justice to just how vapid and vacuous this showcase was. The candidates should be embarrassed to have participated.

Working from memory:
- Judging by the responses, you’d barely know the United States had deposed a brutal dictator. Nearly every Iraq-related answer used the words “sweetheart deal” and “Halliburton.” It’s all about the oiiiiilllllll.....
- Three (four?) questions about homosexuality, in the military and elsewhere. Not a single query about the crushing debt that the younger generation will have to carry to support Social Security.
- John Kerry was in Vietnam.
- Repealing tax cuts creates jobs (I didn’t know that!)
- When the candidates were asked in turn if they had ever smoked pot, the audience applauded lustily if there was an admission of taking a hit. Devout religious man Joe Lieberman looked positively L-7 when he said he never chowed on Doritos and stared at his hands.
- The last question – God in heaven help me – was “What other candidate would you like to party with, that is, who would hold back your hair or be your wingman if you saw a hottie across the room?”

I would have mortgaged my house to hear one of them say: “That is the dumbest question I’ve ever heard. We’re running for the most powerful office in the world and you’re asking who we’d like to do tequila shots with.”

But, alas, it was all about the kids tonight and they would not be denied their clown show or their candy.

Debate winner: Gephardt.