I caught the debates in replay early this morning, and it was pretty much what I expected. Edwards was the really annoying bratty teenager and Cheney was his tired but patient old man. I was more curious about reactions. My favorite was Brad DeLong. Hispredictablysillyrants were less interesting than the dog that did not bark. Says Edwards during the debate:
The administration says over and over that the outsourcing of millions of American jobs is good. We’re against it. We want to get rid of tax cuts for companies sending jobs overseas.
And then later in his closing says:
Thats why we have a plan to create jobs, getting rid of tax cuts for companies outsourcing your jobs, give tax cuts to companies thatll keep jobs here in America.
Twice Edwards makes a point of attacking free international trade. All that was missing was Ross Perot's great sucking sound. Not a word from DeLong, who at least used to be a serious free trade advocate.
Part of the case for Bush and Cheney is they send the left insane. DeLong is willing to give up free trade for Spitball and the Ambulance Chaser.
Meanwhile, Harry Brighouse at Crooked Timber is hawking a new outfit for what he calls "the thoughtful ex-Blairite left". It has a conference coming up with 27 speakers. Brighouse mentions five of them. On his short list is Michael Meacher, the raving loony conspiracy theorist who thinks George Bush knew all about the September 11 attacks beforehand, but let them go ahead so he could attack Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently, Meacher is part of the "thoughtful" left. I am fascinated by what the thoughtless left would be.
Maybe Bush and Cheney really did drive the left insane.
