Tonight I’m giving something new a go.  I am going to keep a live blog on the debate in Ohio at the Cleveland State University between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom who are vying to be president of a fairly well known country in North America called USA!

Brian Williams of MSNBC who looks like he is made from plastic is giving the usual introduction and thanking everyone for making this great night happen.  Apparently, there are very few rules to this debate.  Although if Hillary Clinton spits any venom at her adversary, I am sure she’ll be ruled out of order!

OK, let me pay attention to what’s going on here for a bit. 

9:06pm. (ET) Clinton has had to be on the defensive from the word go, being forced to explain her aggressive stance toward Obama and in particular, the appearence of a photo of Obama in Somali traditional dress on the Drudge Report.  This gives Obama the chance to nod his head and look sombre and… well… more presidential than his adversary.

9:11pm.  Well, technology is botching my first live blog!  This MSNBC streaming broadcast is spluttering along worse than my 1988 Dodge Aries before I was forced to sell it to a dump.

What can I tell you about the debate, therefore?  Well, this is getting testy, folks!  From as far as I can tell, Clinton is attacking Obama for having a lousy healthcare plan.  Obama, meanwhile, is attacking Clinton for getting negative in her campaigning.  But what will either candidate do as president to stop lousy MSNBC streaming live video, huh?

Now Clinton is sounding indignant, saying something about why would Obama insure children but not the parents — the breadwinners?  Good point.  I don’t know why either candidate doesn’t acknowledge Canada’s superiority in this particular issue!  I would like to hear them say, “Let’s just do it the way they do it up north!”

9:17pm Maybe lousy MSNBC has its advantages.  It just froze a facial expression on Clinton’s face that was pure gold.  She wanted to spit venom at Obama, no doubt about it.  In fact, I think she would have liked to eat his face clean off his neck!

9:20pm.  Boy, now Clinton is attacking the format of the debate itself.  She is “finding it curious” that she always has to answer the first question.  If I were her political strategist, I would be sticking pins in my eyes right now.  That was not smart politics, even if the accusation had merit, which I am not in a position to say, seeings how this is only the second debate I’ve watched!

9:23pm.  This debate has become so garbled that I am not only unable to fully report what is going on, I am also contemplating a move to another live-blogging venue, i.e. from Teena’s place to Ed’s place because Ed has a big fancy tellyvision.  Huzzah for Ed! 

I did manage to gather that they’re talking about free trade.  The moderator is asking a question that name dropped Canada and Mexico!  Canada… that’s us!  Will Clinton opt out of NAFTA if better terms for America aren’t negotiated?  Clinton seems to be hedging on that question.  Boy, from my totally cloudy vantage point here, she sure is getting all the hard questions.  Was NAFTA good for America?  Clinton is arguing that NAFTA was advantageous to some parts of USA and not for others.  Hmmm.  Maybe the same could be said about free market capitalism in general, eh?  Winners and losers!

Labour and environmental standards must be toughened up, says Clinton.  Foreign companies must not be allowed to sue the USA for protecting its workers.  I wonder what this means for the softwood lumber issue, wherein the USE is consistently ruled out of order for slapping tariffs on Canadian lumber.  Is Clinton contemplating renegotiating NAFTA so that USA just gets eternal immunity on these issues?

Free trade when it works for us, and when it doesn’t, boo sucks to free trade.  That’s what I’m hearing.

9:34 pm.  This debate is a downer, man!  What happened to the upbeat tone of the debate of several weeks ago?  Gloomy gloomy gloomy.  Is the USA headed for a recession or something?  I get the clear impression that it is.  Neither candidate has smiled or offered “hope” in 30 minutes, and you can’t blame MSNBC for that.

9:36 pm.  “The most important foreign policy decision in a generation.”  According to Barack Obama, that’s the IRAQ WAR!  Yes, and Bush bungled it.  And one must assume that he means that Clinton bungled it, too.  Bunch of bunglers!  “It’s a question of judgement.”  I agree, Obama.  Or may I call you Barack?

9:39 pm.  According to Clinton, this fella Barack Obama said he would bomb Pakistan.  Good grief…  What a rush being able to bandy about the BOMB word like that, and be able to consider following through with the threat if made president. Scary, scary.  “Who’s making the decision to drive the bus into the ditch?” asks Obama, wanting to return the subject to Clinton’s lousy decision to wage war on Iraq.  Good point.  That bombing Pakistan issue was getting scary.  Pakistan has nuclear bombs, man.

9:42. pm.  So what’s the exit strategy for Iraq?  Obama is first to answer this one.  If Iraq doesn’t want us there, then we shouldn’t be there, that’s what Obama says. 

9:49 pm.  I have a headache.  I have had the same headache now for over two days, as faithful readers will no doubt know.  I wonder if the next president of the USA will be able to find a cure for the common headache.  Tylenol and Ibuprofen just aren’t cutting it right now. 

Anyway, back to the debate.  They’re taking a commercial break.  Maybe during the break they’ll fix whatever crappy server is serving up this slow-as-molasses streaming bowl of crapola.

My breaktime reflections?  Basically, the world is going to hell in handbasket.  I’m not sure why either candidate would want to be the one taking all the blame for it a year from now.  But if either of them gets the job, at least let’s have a nice guy like Obama.  Hillary Clinton is scary!  I think we’re seeing the slow unraveling of someone who expects power to be served to her on a plate every morning.  Now what is she going to do?  She’s toast!

BREAKTIME OVER!  BACK TO THE DEBATE. 

Teena just called her friends in USA.  They are not watching the debate.  Wow.  That makes three people up in Canada, none of us going to vote, watching the debate for no apparent reason but our own entertainment.

9:55 pm.  Obama is now speaking about the special interests that are dominating Washington.  Who are those special interests?  Why do they get such special treatment?  If I got treated as specially as a special interest, maybe I wouldn’t be over $20,000 in debt and have a headache right now.  Yeah, Obama is totally right on this one.  Bush and Cheney have NOT being going out to bat for the average American.  They’ve been out batting for their corporate fat piggy friends! 

9:59 pm.  MSNBC is playing a clip where Obama called Hillary Clinton the “co-president” during the Clinton years.  In other news, ED CRACKED THE CODE!  He found a new site that is streaming this debate without all the annoying spluttering bits!  Hoorah!  Now your faithful correspondent can report on stuff even more faithfully!

Obama now says that he does not begrudge Hillary her experience during the 1990s.  He says she cannot claim credit for the good things that happened and at the same time deny responsibility for the bad things that happened. 

10:04 pm.  My blog ate the last paragraph I wrote.  Technology bites our proverbial ass again!  I’m not going to rewrite that paragraph.  It was good though.  Believe me.  Clinton is now getting grilled for not releasing publicly her tax return something or another.  This sounds like a very tough question indeed!  Oh boy.  Stay tuned for the response.

10:09 pm.  Clinton is sounding evasive on this one.  “I’ve hardly had time to sleep,” she just said.  I don’t know if that cuts it as an excuse.  If I don’t get time to sleep, I’m still expected to turn in my homework at school.  You better believe it.  “We’ll move as expeditiously as possible,” she says.  “As soon as possible.”  This is all sounding like waffling.

10:10 pm.  Now it’s time for Obama’s tough question.  Does he accept the support of Louis Farrakhan, head of Nation of Islam, who called Judaism a “gutter religion.”  Obama is handling this better than Clinton handled her toughie, no doubt about it.  He said that I can’t stop someone saying that “I’m a good guy,” but that he finds Farrakhan’s comments unacceptable.

More questions about Judaism.  Obama calls himself a “stalwart ally of Israel.”

10:14 pm.  Now Clinton is trying to outdo Obama on the love for Israel.  Clinton is saying she not only denounces Israel hatread but also rejects it.  Semantics!  Obama makes a joke that makes Clinton looks like a lamo and people applaud.

Clinton is not only toast.  She is burned toast.

WELL, THAT’S ABOUT IT, FOLKS!

There were technically another 15 minutes of debate, but this blogsite had a meltdown and our faithful blogger (me) could no longer serve the blogreadership the way he would have wished.  Why does technology crash during historic moments?  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed struggling to write it.  In the 26 minutes that elapsed since the end of the debate, the MSNBC consensus was that Obama won and Clinton lost.  And I agree.  Expect the eventual nomination to follow the same trend.  Obama is now as unstoppable as an express train, as momentuous as a big bang, as volcanic as lava!

He’s the next president of the USA, that’s my prediction!  Good night.

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