DEBATE BLOG: Mistake-a-palooza

Tue, January 15, 2008 - 9:48 PM

And Sen. John Edwards hops on the mistake admission bandwagon. Both he and Sen. Hillary Clinton say they were wrong to vote in favor of legislation that made it harder for people in deep debt to declare bankruptcy, legislation that banks and credit card companies both sought.

And we've hit the time for the candidates to question each other directly.

"We should know right away if this is a bad idea," Williams says. How can this possibly be bad.

Edwards starts. He asks Sen. Barack Obama -- with a backhanded dig at Clinton -- whether the employees of drug companies that donate money to his and Clinton's campaigns "expect something from this money?" Obama points out that he does not take money from lobbyists or PACs, and says that the employees of drug companies who donate to his campaign are not seeking favorable legislation in Washington, but rather are "mid-level executives" who are excited about his campaign.

Clinton does take money from lobbyists and PACs, including drug companies. Edwards probably should have asked this question of her.

Clinton's turn. She asks Obama to join with her to prevent President Bush from "binding the hands" of the next president on Iraq, by requiring Bush to come before Congress before he builds new bases or ups troop levels in the country. "We can work on this, Hillary. We have unity in the democratic party on this. The notion that Presidnet Bush could tie the hands of the next president" is wrong, Obama says.

And a strange thing happens with Obama. In his answer about the Iraq war, he starts to asks Edwards a question, apparently by mistake, then quickly pulls back. That's your question, the ref (Brian Williams) rules. Too bad for Obama here. You have to imagine he wanted to ask Clinton a question.

--Sean Mussenden