That’s the only substantive conclusion I can draw from the New Hampshire debate last night. His complete vacuousness in the face of Brit Hume’s recitation of his Times of London piece celebrating the Iraq war was stunning. And his inability to distance himself from the vile Michael Moore’s comments was, to my mind, definitive of his attempt to be all things to all people. His slow drift down in the polls might now accelerate. At least I hope so. Lieberman was by far the best performer, perhaps because he has so little to lose at this point. He was funny, self-deprecating, human and, when it mattered, sincere and passionate. (And Lieberman, of course, was the only one in any way persuasive on the Iraq war.) Kerry was Kerry – dull, almost as pompous as Peter Jennings (but not quite), and uninspiring. I don’t share the Republican conventional wisdom that he can be Dukakised. But I cannot get too enthusiastic. John Edwards was the only candidate who seemed able to engage the viewers, and you can see how he won over jurors in his time. He still strikes me as not quite ready – but I want him to be. He had no clue about the Defense of Marriage Act, which is not the end of the world, but not a good sign. (Both he and Kerry made the states’ rights argument very effectively against a constitutional amendment, however.) Kucinich just gets better and better: I have a serious hathos issue with the guy. He mesmerizes me – in a disturbing kind of way. Almost everything he says is nuts, but I can’t help kind of liking him. Dean has enough money to survive – maybe longer than many of us now expect. But he’s surely not going to win and cannot be a veep. It looks like Kerry will win both Iowa and New Hampshire, which will make him extremely hard to beat. We’ll see. A Kerry-Edwards ticket still seems like a good bet to me.
FORGIVING PETER JENNINGS: Yes, of course, he’s beyond self-important. Some of his questions seemed longer than many of the answers. (Brit Hume, of course, was great.) But I have to say Jennings’ question to Al Sharpton about whom he’d appoint to the Federal Reserve was inspired. Sharpton flailed in ways you rarely see a politician flail. It was a remarkable, rhetorical stiletto wound. And oh so gentle.
The Dish 