Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put Barack Obama on the spot Thursday, offering to debate with both U.S. presidential candidates when he arrives at the United Nations next week . Obama said early in his campaign that, as president, he would be prepared to meet the leaders of U.S. foes such as Iran and Syria. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he'll gladly debate Barack Obama and John McCain. The statement sparked a sharp rebuke from Republican candidate John McCain, who argued it showed the Illinois senator's inexperience in knowing how to deal with recalcitrant leaders on the world...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday he was ready to debate the men running for US president when he visits New York for the UN General Assembly, and dismissed Western threats of more sanctions over Tehran's nuclear drive. The outspoken president, who caused a storm of controversy during a visit last year, said: "I am ready for a debate with the US presidential candidates over global issues in the presence of the media at the UN headquarters. "I have no plans in my schedule to meet with US politicians," he told a press conference. "Last year, I said I...

ranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put Barack Obama on the spot Thursday, offering to debate with both U.S. presidential candidates when he arrives at the United Nations next week for its annual summit. The fiery Iranian leader, who provoked a storm of controversy when he visited last year, said he would debate global issues at a public forum in UN headquarters if the candidates agreed. Obama said early in his campaign that, as president, he would be prepared to meet the leaders of U.S. foes such as Iran and Syria.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Sunday brushed aside a challenge from Hillary Rodham Clinton to debate before the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. On Saturday, Clinton said she wants Obama to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas style. "I'm not ducking. We've had 21" debates, Obama said on "Fox News Sunday." "For two weeks, two big states, we want to make sure we're talking to as many voters on the ground, taking questions from voters," he said. "We're not going to have debates between now and Indiana." The...

Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton turned up the rhetoric Saturday in their increasingly heated primary battle as she issued a new debate challenge and he complained of a race that's largely been reduced to trivia while working families feel economic pain. Clinton took the debate dispute to a new level, challenging Obama to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas style. "Just the two of us, going for 90 minutes, asking and answering questions, we'll set whatever rules seem fair," Clinton said while campaigning in South Bend. Her campaign made the offer formal...

April 26 (UPI) -- Hillary Clinton challenged Barack Obama to debate her one-on-one in Indiana without a moderator. ``I'm offering Senator Obama the chance to debate me one- on-one, no moderators,'' Clinton said this afternoon at a rally at a baseball stadium in South Bend, Indiana. ``Just the two of us going for 90 minutes, asking and answering questions. We'll set whatever rules seem fair.'' Clinton and Illinois Senator Obama, 46, her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, have debated each other four times. Clinton, who trails Obama in total delegates, won the Pennsylvania primary this week, giving her...

George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson of ABC News weren't just criticized for their tough questioning of Barack Obama during last week's Democratic debate. They were flayed. Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker called their approach "something akin to a federal crime." Tom Shales, the Washington Post's TV critic, said the ABC duo turned in "shoddy and despicable performances." Walter Shapiro of Salon magazine said the debate had "all the substance of a Beavis and Butt-head marathon." Most of the media mauling consisted of anger that the ABC moderators brought up a series of issues that had surrounded Mr. Obama since...

The Democratic White House hopefuls vowed Wednesday to defend Israel against any Iranian attack but differed on how to engage the Islamic republic over its nuclear ambitions. At a televised debate ahead of next Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama agreed that a nuclear-armed Iran was unacceptable. Both called for diplomacy but Obama went further in renewing a promise of "direct talks" at a leaders' level with Tehran, along with other US foes. Iran should be presented with "carrots and sticks," the Illinois senator said, while stressing "they should also know that I will take no options off...

Last week's Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama really depressed me. And not just because the moderators spent the first 40 minutes on "gotcha" questions with no relevance to the problems we face. ABC News' Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos gave such short shrift to foreign policy queries, you'd think we had no overseas problems. Never mind that George W. Bush will leave behind a Mideast mess worse than any I've seen. Even more frustrating: On the few questions involving Iraq, there was no effort to get the candidates to flesh out their thinking. Both Democrats are more...

PHILADELPHIA -- Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton squared off last night in a debate to help Democrats choose their party's nominee, but the big winner wasn't either Democrat. It was Republican John McCain. Both Clinton and Obama were rattled as ABC moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous grilled them on a number of issues that have not been brought into focus before. Clinton came across as craven and dishonest, while the normally eloquent Obama buckled under tough questioning about his relationships with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. When the debate moved to policy, both candidates...

1. Senator Barack Obama’s strongest defenders, led by Andrew Sullivan, were furious at the questioning directed at Senator Obama by two of the best in the news business: ABC’s Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. In Sullivan’s words: The loser was ABC News: one of the worst media performances I can remember — petty, shallow, process-obsessed, trivial where substantive, and utterly divorced from the actual issues that Americans want to talk about. What really irritated Sullivan is that the early part of the debate focused on issues like Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright Jr., Obama’s association with a former leader of...

Take cover, ABC! Incoming! “[Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos] disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself.” – Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News “Perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years.” – Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher “… all the substance of a Beavis and Butt-Head marathon.” – Walter Shapiro, Salon “… petty, shallow, process-obsessed…utterly divorced from the actual issues that Americans want to talk about.” – Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic “…Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos turned in shoddy, despicable performances.” – Tom Shales, The Washington Post What could ABC’s...

My, oh my, but weren’t those fellows from ABC News rude to Barack Obama at this week’s presidential debate. Nothing but petty, process-oriented questions, asked in a prosecutorial tone, about the Democratic front-runner’s personal associations and his electability. Where was the substance? Where was the balance? Where indeed. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her aides have been complaining for months about imbalance in news coverage. For the most part, the reaction to her from the political-media commentariat has been: Stop whining. That’s still a good response now that it is Obama partisans — some of whom are showing up in distressingly...

ABC has broken MSM rule#1: Do not ask Democrats hard questions; just stick to the script/template. Upon breaking this rule in Thursday's debate in Philly; when Gibson and Stephanopolous dared to ask the "Exalted" Barack Obama tough questions about his recent problems on the campaign trail, a furor has erupted on the left. How dare they ask these types of questions(of a Democrat). If this were a GOP debate, this type of questioning would be required under MSM rule#2: Do not ask Republicans easy questions; just stick to the script/template. So now the Left is scrambling to boycott ABC/Disney and...

Barack Obama seemed puzzled. Angrily puzzled. The apostle of hope seemed flummoxed by the audacity of the question. At the April 16 Philadelphia debate, George Stephanopoulos, longtime aide to Democratic politicians, was asking about his longtime association with Weather Underground bomber William Ayers. The Weather Underground attacked the Pentagon, the Capitol and other public buildings; Ayers was quoted in The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, as saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.” It was at Ayers’ house that Obama’s state Senate candidacy was launched in 1995; Obama continued to serve on a...

...Now comes 2008, a can’t-lose year if there ever was one. A united Democratic Party should be able to win this election in a walk. The economy is terrible and getting worse. The Republicans are demoralized. John McCain is no J.F.K. And the country wants to elect a Democrat. So what are the Democrats doing? The Clintons are running around with flamethrowers, gleefully trying to incinerate the prospects of the party’s leading candidate, Barack Obama. Senator Obama, for his part, seems to have lost sight of the unifying message that proved so compelling early in his campaign and has stumbled...

The left-wing blogosphere's outrage against ABC ["Boycott Fig Newtons!"] over its allegedly unfair questioning of Obama during Wednesday's debate has seeped over into the MSM in the form of Derrick Z. Jackson's Boston Globe column of this morning. While the headline moots the matter as a question "Tough questions or just plain bias?", there's no doubt of the answer in Jackson's mind. Just two paragraphs in, the columnist unleashes [emphasis added]: "In some 1,600 words of transcript, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos tried to eviscerate Obama in Philadelphia on Wednesday."

Wednesday night’s Pennsylvania Democratic debate hosted by ABC News’ Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos was a near revelation. Instead of snowmen asking inanities journalists were asking tough questions that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama seemed able to answer. The New York Times blog reports that “More than 10 million viewers tuned into Wednesday’s Democratic debate on ABC, making it the most-watched debate of the primary election season.” The poor performance by both Democrats -- in front of so large an audience -- benefits presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. The entire first 45 minutes of the debate was spent addressing...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Sen. Barack Obama, after accusing Sen. Hillary Clinton of "playing gotcha games," declined Thursday to commit to a debate in North Carolina before the state's May 6 primary. "We're trying to figure out what our schedule looks like, but I'll be honest with you, we've now had 21" debates, Obama said in response to an audience member's question at a rally at the state fairgrounds. Clinton has agreed to a debate proposed for April 27 in Raleigh. Over the last three days, Gov. Mike Easley, former Gov. Jim Hunt and Democratic leaders of the state legislature have...

Just how bad was Barack Obama's debate performance last night? Not as bad as Britney Spears' song-and-dance routine at the MTV Awards. Not as bad as Bill Buckner's legendary error during the '86 World Series. Not as bad as Bob Dylan's music during his God phase. Not as bad as John Travolta's Scientology cinema experiment in Battlefield Earth. Not as bad as Mike Dukakis' fateful ride in a military tank. In other words, Obama could have done worse. Neverthless, if he still harbors any hopes of driving Hillary Clinton from the Democratic race by scoring an upset victory in Pennsylvania,...

Amid a storm of criticism that Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate focused too heavily on “gotcha” questions and not enough on substance, ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos defended his decision to ask Illinois Sen. Barack Obama about his relationship with former political radical William Ayers. Stephanopoulos denied he’d been spoon fed the question by Fox News host Sean Hannity. “We have been researching this for a while,” Stephanopoulos said in a phone interview from New York. ABC News political correspondent Jake Tapper, he said, had blogged about the issue April 10, after it was first reported by Politico, the political news website....

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Sen. Barack Obama is defending his relationship with a former radical whose provocative words were wrongly linked by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Facts were loose in both Democratic presidential campaigns Thursday as Clinton sought advantage from her rival's association with William Ayers, a college professor who was once part of the violent Weather Underground group. The dustup arose in their debate the night before when Obama was asked whether his connection to Ayers raised politically damaging questions about his patriotism. Obama struck back by calling attention to Bill Clinton's decision...

There's no debate: Pens trump politics tribune-review by salena zito Politics stops at the water's edge -- even if that water's frozen, apparently. About 57,000 more households in the Pittsburgh region tuned in to watch the Penguins beat up on the Ottawa Senators than tuned in to see two senators (Obama and Clinton) beat up on each other in the Democratic presidential debate, according to Nielsen Media Research. The hockey game played in 175,000 – or 23 percent – of all households in the Pittsburgh metro market, while the blame game played in 118,000 households – or 14 percent of...

The Debate: The mainstream media were taken aback by some of the questions asked of Barack Obama at the ABC-run debate in Philadelphia. We, on the other hand, were pleasantly surprised.We'll admit we weren't expecting much more of this debate than the earlier puffball affairs sponsored by CNN and MSNBC. And indeed, the first question out of ABC anchorman Charlie Gibson's mouth — about the chances for a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton dream team — had us muttering, "Here we go again." But when that went nowhere (Obama said such talk was "premature"), Gibson got down to business by asking about...

April 17, 2008 -- PHILADELPHIA - By sheer, drowsy default, Hillary Rodham Clinton won last night's debate against Barack Obama. Only because she came the closest to describing why everyone in America is so tired of this whole endless psychodrama.It came as she was trying to explain why she and Obama have both been making up so much nonsense on the campaign trail lately. "We both have said things that, you know, turned out not to be accurate," Clinton said. "You know, that happens when you're talking as much as we have talked."

Bitter: the gift that keeps on giving TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito John Brabender, a D.C.-based media strategist, put up the first "bitter" ad to be used in a congressional race -- for a Republican. "Barack Obama's statement about the small towns of Pennsylvania and the entire middle America for this cycle is the gift that you can use all year long," Brabender said. He said that you could say it is the gift that keeps on giving. Brabender's client Matt Shaner is in a tight Republican primary race to succeed retiring John Peterson in the biggest piece of congressional geography...

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

(CNN) — Barack Obama on Thursday suggested that he and Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton have debated enough and that he’d rather spend his time campaigning in the closing weeks of the campaign. The two debated Wednesday night in Philadelphia — their final meeting before Tuesday’s primary in Pennsylvania. Clinton has agreed to a debate next week, but Obama has not yet accepted the invitation.

Dear Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, It's hard to know where to begin with this, less than an hour after you signed off from your Democratic presidential debate here in my hometown of Philadelphia, a televised train wreck that my friend and colleague Greg Mitchell has already called, quite accurately, "a shameful night for the U.S. media." It's hard because -- like many other Americans -- I am still angry at what I just witnesses, so angry that it's hard to even type accurately because my hands are shaking. Look, I know that "media criticism" -- especially when it's one...

Thank you, Rush Limbaugh for making this Democrat primary the most entertaining one ever. As we have seen, Operation Chaos has already caused DUmmieland to go into full MELTDOWN and now the Daily KOs KOmmies are following suit. It wasn't even a half hour into last night's debate when some KOmmie went berserk with this THREAD titled, "Tomorrow We Take On ABC, and Disney." YEEHAW!!! Break out the ropes! Tomorrow we're gonna HANG 'EM HIGH for daring to ask tough questions. So let us now watch the crazed KOmmies mentally wilting under the effects of Operation Chaos while the...

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama certainly did their homework before the 21st Democratic debate. Hillary Clinton knew what had been printed in the bulletin at Obama's church, and Obama knew the details of Bill Clinton's pardons. As Sen. Obama defended himself against elitism charges, he was clever enough to sneak in a reference to Hillary Clinton's famous 1992 line about how she didn't much bake cookies. This to prove that Yale-educated lawyers have just as much out-of-touch snob baggage as Harvard-educated lawyers do. Neither candidate had read up on the D.C. gun ban before the Supreme Court—because that way, they...

The journalist’s job is to make politicians uncomfortable, to explore evasions, contradictions and vulnerabilities. Almost every question tonight did that. The candidates each looked foolish at times, but that’s their own fault. We may not like it, but issues like Jeremiah Wright, flag lapels and the Tuzla airport will be important in the fall. Remember how George H.W. Bush toured flag factories to expose Michael Dukakis. Second, Obama and Clinton were completely irresponsible. As the first President Bush discovered, it is simply irresponsible statesmanship (and stupid politics) to make blanket pledges to win votes. Both candidates did that on vital...

Clinton came across as craven and dishonest, while the normally eloquent Obama buckled under tough questioning about his relationships with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Gibson reminded Obama that more than year ago he asked Wright not to attend the announcement of his candidacy, reportedly telling his long-time pastor, "You can get kind of rough in sermons. So, what we've decided is that it's best for you not to be out there in public." Gibson then asked Obama why, knowing Wright was "rough in sermons," it took him more than year to distance himself from...

The last Democratic debate has finally concluded, and perhaps the last chances of ending the primaries early. Thanks to a surprisingly tenacious set of questions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from ABC moderaters Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous, Barack Obama got exposed over and over again as an empty suit, while Hillary cleaned his clock. However, the big winner didn’t even take the stage tonight. The first 45 minutes of the scheduled 90-minute debate (which went 15 minutes over) wound up focusing on the series of gaffes and stumbles from both candidates. Hillary more or less defused the Tuzla...

OBAMA WOOS GUN-TOTING GOD NUTSApril 16, 2008 The Democrats' "Fake-Out America" adviser, Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakoff, must be beside himself. Despite Lakoff's years spent training Democrats to "frame" their language to stop scaring Americans, B. Hussein Obama was caught on tape speaking candidly to other liberals in San Francisco last week. One minute Obama was bowling in Pennsylvania with nice, ordinary people wearing "Beer Hunter" T-shirts, and the next thing you know, he was issuing a report on the psychological traits of normal Americans to rich liberals in San Francisco. Obama informed the San Francisco plutocrats that these crazy...

Maureen Dowd, among others, was less than impressed with Barack last night: [quote]The Democratic presidential candidates met in Philadelphia for a final face off before next week’s Pennsylvania primary. You know things have not been going well for Barack Obama when his most enthusiastic MSM cheerleader (well, after Chris Matthews and his “tingling leg”) Maureen Dowd writes this on the morning before the debate: Behind closed doors in San Francisco, elitism’s epicenter, Barack Obama showed his elitism, attributing the emotional, spiritual and cultural values of working-class, “lunch pail” Pennsylvanians to economic woes. The last few weeks have not been kind...

WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama said today that last night's contentious debate, where he was peppered with questions about his words and associations, was a preview of Republican tactics against him in the fall election. "That was the rollout of the Republican campaign in November," he said at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, N.C. "They will try to focus on these issues that don't have anything to do with how you're paying your bills at the end of the month." Saying that he has shown "some restraint" in running against a rival Democrat, the Illinois senator said, "If the...

A fatigued and hesitant Barack Obama appeared badly rattled when peppered with almost relentlessly hostile questions combined with strident attacks from his rival Hillary Clinton during a televised debate this morning. Mr Obama, who holds a clear national opinion poll lead and seemed to have weathered recent crises before Tuesday's crucial Pennsylvania primary, gave what even his allies said was perhaps his poorest performance of the 21 Democratic debates. He was taken aback by the succession of questions about his recent comments that voters were clinging to religion and guns because they were "bitter", his association with a former member...

PHILADELPHIA DEBATE (I presume from this website it can be watched) Get out the popcorn, and let's have fun. May there be blood on the floor.

CLEVELAND — After 20 debates, Barack Obama now can say he's able to hold his own onstage with Hillary Clinton. Cool and crisp in a 90-minute showdown Tuesday night in Ohio, he answered her charges with countercharges of his own. He spoke in the quick sound bites that the format demands. When Clinton sensed that she could box him into a corner on support for Israel — by questioning how strongly he rejected an endorsement by Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan, a virulent anti-Semite — he realized it quickly and got out. And, in a bow to the old...

Hey, thought I should probably start a thread. Debate starts in about a half an hour. Obama vs. Clinton.

ok y'all, it's time to determine the drinkin word for tonights debate. In order to make it a little more difficult, and to avoid gettin completely smashed in the first 10 minutes since we have to go to work in the morning, (unless you're a Dem and don't work anyway), the following words are NOT allowed: Hope Change Bush Iraq Afghanistan War on Terror Let's see how creative we can get now and let's see if we can agree on one word by say, 6 p.m. eastern time..

Oh, Ohio. Tonight’s Democratic debate (9 p.m. E.T., MSNBC) will be the last face off between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama before the state’s bellwether primary one week from today — and with none scheduled for the future, it could be the last one, period. Mrs. Clinton is hanging on to her edge in the early polls in the Buckeye State despite recent gains made by her rival, who’s looking to extend his primary winning streak to Texas and Ohio on March 4. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland supports Mrs. Clinton, but on Monday Mr. Obama picked up the endorsement...

Maybe not since Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan met on a stage in this blue-collar city have two candidates debated with so much at stake. And if recent campaigning is any indication, Tuesday night's debate between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama won't lack drama. Just a week before Ohio's crucial March 4 primary, Clinton and Obama will face off on a dark stage punctuated by a circular red carpet and red, white and blue banners. About 1,600 people, most invited by host Cleveland State University or the Ohio Democratic Party will watch the debate live. "I...

OBAMA: You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq. OBAMA: And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief. OBAMA: Now, that’s a consequence of bad judgment. And you know,...

AUSTIN, Texas - Hillary Clinton, the front-runner no more, sought to bury Barack Obama, but also to praise him in their latest campaign debate and revive her own White House hopes in the process. "No matter what happens in this contest — and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama," she said at the conclusion of the 90-minute forum. "Whatever happens, we're going to be fine." It was an unexpectedly gracious moment in a debate that was supposed to be a game changer for Clinton in the run-up to crucial primaries in Texas and Ohio...

Barack Obama laid out numerous liberal policies he would pursue if elected President and dodged a blow from Hillary Clinton in a critical Democratic presidential debate before the March 4th nominating contests in Ohio and Texas. In the run-up to the CNN debate in Austin, Texas Thursday evening, the Clinton campaign accused Obama of plagiarizing speech lines from Democratic Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Obama brushed off the charges. He said, “The notion that I plagiarized from somebody who is one of my national co-chairs who gave me the line and suggested I use it, I think is silly. This is...

With all the talk about Obama ripping off Patrick and especially the way Hillary went after him for it tonight with his "change you can xerox", check out how Hillary totally rips off Bill in her closing statement tonight. She literally steals from him word for word in an attempt to get the sympathy vote. I wonder if the media will use this to deliver the coup de grace? They sense she's down and a day or two of this on the news will finish her off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7Cs3QvT3U Bill in 1992: The hits I took in this election are nothing...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton needed to do more than hold her own in Thursday's debate with rival Sen. Barack Obama. She needed a U-turn heading into the Ohio and Texas primaries, just 12 days away. Anything short of a 5- to 7-point win in both states, and even her most ardent backers say her hopes for the presidency will vanish. It might take more than that, and Thursday did not seem to get her any closer.

I'm not watching the Democratic debate, but I've followed the commentary at The Corner and at The Fix with Chris Cillizza. I hadn't anticipated putting up any commentary until after the transcript got published by CNN, but one point at The Fix made me laugh out loud. Hillary Clinton came prepared with an attack line, but apparently not a sense of irony: Asked about his lifting of lines from Gov. Deval Patrick (Mass.), Obama sought to dismiss the charges of plagiarism as the sort of politics the American public is sick of. "The notion I had plagiarized from someone who...