Quick takes on tonight's debate

Al Sharpton: As always, very entertaining to watch. But also demonstrates that he can be a real gentleman and a strong voice when it came to dealing with the LaRouchie hecklers. He also demonstrated why he is in this race when he said he was their to remind the Democratic party not to take the black vote for granted. Best line of the night: When he called Dick Gephardt standing next to Bush in the Rose Garden to announce he would support the Iraq authorization a "miserable failure" of leadership on his part.

Bob Graham: Mostly a snooze, except for the one time when he directly answered the question about whether he thought Bush intentionally mislead the American people about Iraq. He said "Yes". That's gutsy and its the first time I can remember a major politician calling Bush out like that.

Carol Moseley-Braun: Gracious and gentle. Not really presidential material, but a thoughtful voice that deserves to be heard.

Dennis Kucinich: Toned down his fire a little from last time but still a good advocate for a lot of important issues. His is a voice that must not be silenced even if he is to idealistic to be in charge.

Dick Gephardt: Seemed to follow the maxim that if it worked last time (calling Bush a "miserable failure") than do it even more this time. Unfortunately, this time it just came off as a lot of ranting. I applauded that line the first time he used it but its a sound-bite that has a half-life of about 15 seconds. Hurt bad by Sharpton's use of the line to criticize Gephardt's support of the Iraq authorization.

Howard Dean: Best debate performance yet. Calm, cool and collected (i.e., "Presidential") but with a little more of the fire than in the last debate. He also seemed a lot more comfortable and didn't stumble over his lines as much. He was the only one to really stay within the time limits of the debate (he got dinged only once) and I think that says a lot about his ability to say what needs to be said without belaboring the point (a failure Gore suffered from). He dealt with the confrontation with Lieberman wonderfully, refusing to bow before Joe's withering criticism of his stance on Israel and Palestine while turning the attack back on Joe for "demagoging" the issue (which is precisely what Lieberman was doing). He also dealt with the question of Vermont being a low minority enclave wonderfully with his quip about ratios of minorities not being and indication of support for minority issues. If it were then "Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King". It was obviously a well rehearsed line but Dean delivered it well and precisely at the right moment.

Joe Lieberman: Worst debate performance yet. The guy was despicable in his attempts to paint Dean as anti-Israel. Joe knows that that is not Dean's position but he went with it anyway in order to gain points with a narrow constituency. Bah! Also tried to hard to sound like a black preacher at times which was an obvious attempt to pander to the audience. He just doesn't have the voice for it.

John Edwards: Another great guy who just seems to be going no where with his campaign. Since he isn't running again for Senator I wonder if he would be interested in being Attorney General?

John Kerry: Was he there? I hate to be so hard on Kerry but he really is becoming a non-entity in this race. It's a shame because he is a great guy who would make a wonderful President. He just isn't a very good campaigner and 2000 proves that the Democrats need a good campaigner if they are going to bring down Bush.

Final Assessment: I won't say who was the winner (Mr. Subliminal: Dean) or the loser (Lieberman) but I will say that Dean will benefit the most from this debate. For the first time I think he has really found his debate legs and proved that he has what it takes to go the distance (Clinton). For that we can probably thank Lieberman (Bush). Dean needs to hone his skills at fending off attacks since he is likely to get a lot of them before next November (Rove). Thanks for that Joe!

Al Sharpton represented his constituency well and I fully expect to see him on the podium in Boston next year (as a speaker, not as the nominee). Edwards, Graham, Braun, Kucinich and Kerry also acquitted themselves well but didn't really help themselves. Gephardt came off as too much of an attack dog this time.

To close, here are the words to Howard Dean's favorite song, "Jaspora" by Wycleff Jean, translated from the Creole by Marie Scala Louis, Andrew Madhere & Shamaha Richemond

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This is what the world was waiting for
Wyclef who came from the Fugees
Jeremie, Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Flatbush...

Jaspora doesn't respect Jaspora (repeat 4 x)

Ever since I was little, I left Haiti
There's some that went to Brooklyn there's some that went to Miami
Why do Jamaicans always say they are Jamaicans,
But Haitians are afraid to say they are Haitians?
Why? Are you scared to say your name is Samuel?
Why? Are you scared to say you're with Israel?
Why? Every night you are sleeping with Jezebel!
You're scared to say Haitian girls are beautiful!
Beautiful girls are beautiful...


I respect your name just like I respect the angel Gabriel
Here, Diaspora men want to take you to hotels,
Start talking English, turning to playboy channel
They do not respect Israel.


Diaspora do not respect Diaspora
If you are a Diaspora I am going to give you to sharks
Diaspora do not respect Diaspora
If you are a Diaspora tonight we're going to disarm you

Diaspora ha ha o, put your hands up!
I am going to take them and throw them in prison
I will make them know who is Toussaint
I will make them know who is Dessalines
After, we will let them go and send them back to Brooklyn
So he could go to his mother who is cooking in the kitchen
His mom looked at him and said "Man, you've changed"
She said I changed because I am Haitian
They taught me a lesson, they put me in prison.


I see Diaspora women and Diaspora men
There are people who are not going to make it because they will sleep with the fishes
They lost their knowledge just like a priest without religion

Diaspora do not respect Diaspora
If you are a Diaspora I am going to give you to sharks
Diaspora do not respect Diaspora
If you are a Diaspora tonight were going to disarm you

Port-au-Prince do not respect Diaspora again
Men Flatbush do not respect Diaspora
Men Canada do not respect Diaspora
Men Miami do not respect Diaspora


Pa Kayos do not respect diaspora
Papa Djoume do not respect Diaspora
Refugees do not respect Diaspora
Men Florida do not respect Diaspora
Wrong things done are going to finish worse
If you disrespect native-born
Done wrong things are going to finish worse
Disrespect Haitians you will get hit...

Jaspora has to respect Jaspora
Jaspora has to respect Jaspora