Liveblogging the Democratic Debates

Update 27: Kucinich says he doesn’t believe in assasination, even with Osama bin Laden. Obama says he doesn’t believe in assasination, but would take out bin Laden. And my train has arrived in San Francisco…I am cutting out of the debate about a half an hour early.

Update 26: Clinton was asked what she would do if diplomacy with Iran failed. She said “I am not going to get into hypotheticals.” That isn’t very reassuring. John Edwards said that he “wouldn’t take any option off the table.” Joe Biden much more realistic about this question, saying that Iran is a decade away from getting a nuke and that nukes are the only thing keeping us from attacking them. But at the end of the day, if they stuck a nuke on a pad, he would take it out. No one mentioned anything about our own nuclear arsenal in response to that question.

Update 25: So far, there has not been a single mention of the number of dead Iraqis. There have been approximately 400,000 to 940,000 Iraqis killed as a result of the Iraq War, as of one year ago.

Update 24: Dodd says that the principal responsibility of the United States president is to keep the American people safe and secure.

Update 23: Obama has been asked about his desire to increase the size of the military. I didn’t hear from him why he wants to do this.

Update 22: Kucinich is advocating cutting military spending.

Update 21: Christopher Dodd took the subject of rising gas prices and turned it around to a question of global warming. I like that. Mike Gravel “There is nothing I would do as president to lower the price of gasoline.” Even better.

Update 20: Bill Richardson thinks Bill Clinton would make a good Middle East “peace envoy.”

Update 19: Clinton says we should allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Joe Biden agrees, and is pissed. All of the Democrats now agree.

Update 18: Kucinich is putting forth the best health care plan; completely not for profit, health care for all. Applause from the audience (rare so far in the debate).

Update 17: Edwards is really sucking up to Obama. Is there going to be some Obama/Edwards ticket or something?

Update 16: Obama is letting Blitzer have it for asking the question about “Should English be the official language of the United States?”

Update 15: Again with the “If I had known then what I know now…” from Clinton. I am getting sick of that line.

Update 14: John Edwards is criticizing Hillary Clinton for not apologizing for her original vote to authorize the war. Obama isn’t criticizing her at all.

Update 13: Wolf is getting on Hillary Clinton for authorizing the war without reading the NIE report. She says she knew all the issues and was “briefed.” She didn’t say she regrets not reading the report. And she is blaming the Iraqis for their situation, not what we’re doing over there.

Update 12: Joe Biden is pissed off at Kucinich. He is saying the Democrat’s need 67 votes in the senate so long

Update 11: Kucinich is saying we should end the war by ending the funding.

Update 10: Mike Gravel is speaking. Already letting them have it. He says it is a Democrat’s war as well.

Update 9: They haven’t let Mike Gravel speak yet, 17 minutes in. They have given Kucinich about 15 seconds.

Update 8: Clinton is calling this “George Bush’s war.” I think it is just as much her’s.

Update 7: John Edwards is calling Clinton and Obama out on not speaking out on the Iraq War.

Update 6: Hillary Clinton says that all of the Republican candidates support the Iraq War. Is she not familiar with Ron Paul?

Update 5: Joe Biden says that if he funds the troops, he is protecting them.

Update 4: Kucinich says the PATRIOT Act needs to be overturned as unconstitutional. Wolf Blitzer is giving the candidates about 15 seconds per answer.

Update 3: John Edwards is calling the war on terrorism a bumper sticker. Right on, Edwards.

Update 2: Obama offering strong words on Iraq. Saying that the war there has only hurt our country’s security. He says we need to focus on Afghanistan. Question from me: Is Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan?

Update 1: According to this page, only two candidates, Democrat or Republican, supports same sex marriage.

The next Democratic debates are coming up. They are airing at 4pm PDT. I’ll be liveblogging them, in this post. You can watch the debates live on CNN.com. Hopefully my Verizon card won’t crap out on Caltrain.