My new favorite New York Times columnist Gail Collins has a refreshing and incisive take on last week's Democratic Debate. Referring to the early exchange on health care among Hill Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, Collins writes:
Having taken down Obama, Clinton eviscerated John Edwards by accusing him of "throwing mud," a tactic that works particularly well before a very noisy audience that is packed with your supporters. Everything else was more or less anticlimactic, and you could draw three possible conclusions from the entire evening:
A) Hillary proved that she is the one with the strongest positions and the best answers.
B) All Hillary proved was that she's best at changing the subject and stacking the audience with her supporters. Barack/John/JoeChrisBillDennis had the best answers.
C) All these people believe pretty much the same thing, and when it's time to take on the Republicans, I would prefer the candidate who knows how to change the subject and stack the deck.
