Did Edwards dropping out of the race help make this debate much more civil?

[EffieBlack]

No knock on Edwards at all. But the dynamic of two candidates in a debate is much, much different than three - for some reason, having three in the debate seems to make the participants work at showing off, which can lead to contentiousness. Clinton and Obama also seemed to go out of their way to praise Edwards and, perhaps, try to show that they deserve to be the ones left standing. It seems that if they started trying to rip each other's throats out, such behavior would have left voters thinking, "bring Edwards back - and one of you get off the island."

[Occam Bandage]

1. No, the enormous backlash to the SC pissfest made the debate more civil.

[Jed Dilligan]

4. I think there might have been a phone call

and some ground rules agreed upon after that shit.

[K Gardner]

22. Absolutely 100% agreed. This was staged and JEs departure was all part of the big plan. It went off

well.. it looked "real" and made people happy.. hell, even I liked Hillary tonight.

So, I guess whatever The Plan was.. it worked. We are all puppets.

[cobalt1999]

24. I agree and called it before the debate.

Neither side could come off looking petty again.

[JDPriestly]

2. What debate? Edwards "dropping out" made this depiction of a debate a sham.

This was no debate. Gloating Hillary showed to the world what a b***h she is, and Obama showed to the world how little spine he has.

[EffieBlack]

10. I don't know what you were watching, but I saw a debate

And I didn't see any gloating or any bitches or spinelessness tonight.

It must be miserable to be as angry and hateful as you seem to consistently be. Poor you.

[JDPriestly]

27. I am angry about the travesty that our democracy has become.

I am angry that the media chose Obama and Hillary as the top candidates.

I am angry that the media ignored Edwards -- who was the best candidate running.

I am angry that Hillary is such a b****h.

Did you not notice that the issue of Hillary's corporate donors was not mentioned a single time tonight? That is no accident.

[Yukari Yakumo]

18. You deserve one of these...

[El Supremo]

3. No. And I was an Edwards fan.

They just didn't want to give fodder to McCain.

[mth44sc]

5. Oh for goodness sake

lets not blame Edwards for the previous mess

I suspects that tonight both of them decided they needed to act like President...

[EffieBlack]

11. Oh, please - read my post. I didn't blame Edwards for anything

Methinks you're a tad bit sensitive . . .

[mth44sc]

19. perhaps

I just don't think Edwards presence caused the rumble (or that 3 more than 2 was the difference). He certainly retained the disapline to remain above the fray.

[flyarm]

6. i think he was kicked out so there wouldn't be a damn debate..that was theater..

theater performed for the most elite in the country..the $$$$ boys..

get real this was deliberate..they shoved edwards out the door so they could perform this display of bullshit called a debate..that was no debate!

that was bullshit!

fly

[JDPriestly]

15. You are right.

This was pablum for the unwashed masses. Unfortunately, some of us wash and have brains. We saw through it.

That much harmony in politics is a danger symbol: Beware. Fascism.

And in the Democratic Party no less.

Somebody really big got to Edwards. DUers. Something was wrong tonight.

When Hillary is that relaxed and happy. Something is amiss.

And did you notice, no aspersions on the corporate domination of our "democracy." What harmony. The corporation was totally in charge. Its representative has done her job. I wonder what she will get out of that.

[Raine]

7. No, made it dull, boring and bland nt

[flyarm]

9. i literally fell alseep in the middle..this was total bullshit,.this was not a debate..

whe n the fuck are americans going to fignure this bullshit out?

you have been conned america

fucking conned!

fly

[EffieBlack]

13. Yeah - God forbid they just sit and talk calmly and let us know where they stand on the issues

A foodfight is so much more fun.

[Raine]

21. They don't have to fight

but it needed some personality thrown in or something. They even seemed to speak in monontones.

[JDPriestly]

8. I have to ad. I have this ability to hear character and emotion in voices.

When I heard Hillary's voice, I thought, Wow, this is the real Hillary. She is so relaxed tonight.

Then I watched her. She was like the cat that just caught the canary and swallowed it whole. Until tonight I never appreciated what a vicious person Hillary really is. She forced Edwards out of the debate. She is behind this. She was grinning in her victory. If you want to see the joy of a dictatorial personality, you saw it in Hillary tonight.

No wonder Bill is the way he is.

[EffieBlack]

16. Well - if Edwards - a seemingly grown-assed man - could get forced out of a debate by Hillary

thank God he won't be Commander-in-Chief.

Jeez.

[ecstatic]

17. Imagination gone wild?

I mean, can we use facts when discussing these candidates and not weird conspiracies?

[JDPriestly]

28. Edwards promised he would stay in.

Something or someone made him leave. That something, that someone was Hillary and her corporate sponsors. I'm sick of the sham that our democracy has become.

[EffieBlack]

29. Again - if Edwards can't stand up to "Hillary and her corporate sponsors" why would you want him to

be president? The way you describe him, he sounds like a wimp.

[JDPriestly]

32. Someone in the party put pressure on Edwards.

It isn't a matter of his strength. It is a matter of this election being fixed -- fixed for Hillary from the very beginning. What a farce!!!

[EffieBlack]

33. Whatever . . .

[northzax]

12. no question

but it's not about Edwards. Anytime there is a third place candidate, he or she has an incentive to attack. Frontrunners don't attack, and both Hillary and Obama think they are frontrunners and are trying, in the debate at least, to act like it

[Maddy McCall]

14. Edwards is great, but he ain't Jesus.

We will know soon why he left the race. I doubt it was a self-sacrifice to make the race more civil, though.

[EffieBlack]

20. Who said it was "a self-sacrifice?"

I just asked if the debate was more civil because it was just two people.

[Maddy McCall]

23. Your headline.

Asks if he dropped out to make this debate more civil. If he only dropped out to make the debate more civil, that means that he supposedly sacrificed his candidacy to make the debate more civil. Equals "self-sacrifice."

[EffieBlack]

26. Excuse me? I asked if "Edwards dropping out of the race helped make the debate more civil"

How do you get from that headline that I asked whether Edwards dropped out to make it more civil?

Let me break it down for you:

The question was whether Edwards dropping out of the debate RESULTED in the debate being more civil, not whether Edwards dropped out of the debate IN ORDER TO MAKE the debate more civil.

Get the difference?

[JDPriestly]

34. Edwards isn't Jesus, but he sure comes a lot closer than Hillary or Obama.

[Lucinda]

25. Super Tuesday is what made the debate more civil

Neither could afford a misstep. So they stuck to specifics.

[Monty__]

30. In a word

no. Edwards showed both Obama and Clinton how they should act in a debate in SC and they finally caught on.

[balantz]

31. It was much easier for them to follow the script

without John there to get them flustered and confused with real talk. Now they can comfortably follow the corporate shoe-in plan and say all the goodies the public want to hear without having to delve into uncomfortable scaries, like: "We need to dismantle the corporat stranglehold the war profiting corporations have on this country and give the government back to the people!" That kind of talk had them sweating. Mustn't mention the bad man behind the curtain and the things he is doing to keep us out of our Kansas.