Pajamas Media

The Envelope Please: Dems Debate in Hollywood

Despite the fact that politician-actors often tend to be Republicans (Ronald Reagan, Fred Thompson), Hollywood has long been considered to be Democrat Country. So it is fitting that the first mano-a-mano between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama took place in Hollywood's Kodak Theater Thursday night. PJM CEO - screenwriter Roger L. Simon followed the debate in his hometown.

February 1, 2008 - by Roger L Simon

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6:52PM -Wow.. this was exhausting. I don’t know if I would have watched this entire debate if I wasn’t live-blogging. (The game is very close and the Chinese food has just arrived from the little hole in the wall down the street from the Kodak.) Would Obama and Hillary run together? Beats me. But I wouldn’t be surprised. They want to win. Have a nice night.

6:45 PM - Hillary’s laugh on the issue of whether she could control her spouse was so staged and phony the directors in the audience must have groaned. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - no more dynasties, no more Divine Right of Kings in the US.

Meanwhile, the mandatory Industry question earlier - should the kids be seeing all this sex and violence - missed the important point. Why is Hollywood producing such depressing anti-American crap?

UPDATE: Check out the observations on tonight’s debate by TigerHawk.
And check out my pre-debate photos of Spiderman, et al in front of the Kodak, if you haven’t.

6:39 PM - The Democrats may be talking gibberish on foreign affairs… either the War on Terror is important or it’s not… either you want to win it or you don’t… but I did sneak a look at the Laker game during the break and… miracle of miracles… the Lakers are ahead. Without Bynum. One Laker fan not at the Kodak tonight - Andy Garcia.

6:28 PM - Obama is giving that BS line about Afghanistan failing because of Iraq. The Democrats didn’t care about Afghanistan in the first place. Let’s get real here. If it is McCain, he will have something to say to these people. I don’t Romney can carry this fight as well. But that’s me and I’m blogging here.

BTW, I suspect Hillary might, just might, be a hawkish president. As we know from the past, you never know what a person will be like when they get in office until they get there. What scares me with Obama is that at one of the most crucial moments in our history he is a mystery on foreign affairs. Some people will take him on faith. I wouldn’t.

6:25PM - Why is it that the media don’t ask the Democratic candidates some obvious questions on Iraq? Do they intend to leave US troops in Iraq to protect the US and Western interests from expansionist Iran? From Syria? What do they intend to do when most of the Middle East goes nuclear if we have vacated the area? Whatever they say now, they are going to be saying something different after they assume office. The level of prevarication on this matter by the Democratic candidates is extraordinary. They pander to their voters and they lie to themselves…. [But what do you really think?-ed. You just heard it.]

6:12 PM - Best question of the night - A 38-year old woman wants to know why she hasn’t been able to vote for someone who wasn’t a Bush or a Clinton her entire life. Hillary, of course, cannot answer that in any way that isn’t partisan, so she goes for the partisan. The fans love it, but the country may feel differently. I know I do. I’m sick of dynasties.

Meanwhile, bad news for Laker fans in the debate audience. Detroit 58 - LAL 50.

5:60 PM - I can’t believe they are asking the same questions we have heard so many times before… What qualifies you?… Are you qualified enough?… This is umpteenth rerun of the umpteenth rerun. I must say I admire both Clinton and Obama for staying awake. They must really want to be President… Good line by Obama on Romney on not getting great results for his business investment. I hate to admit it, but I’m in it for the good lines. Especially since there’s nothing new when it comes to poliicy.

Absent from this debate so far is foreign policy. I thought we were at war. I guess the Democrats don’t care about that.

UPDATE: The biggest lie of the night… Hilary saying “Neither of us would ever have dreamed we would be sitting here tonight.” Come again? Hillary Clinton has been thinking about running for President for her entire adult life.

5:50PM - Ah, the break. Or should I say half-time. It is so much like a Laker game. When you’re at Staples, people wander around at half-time to see the clebrities. I just spotted a good one. Stevie Wonder’s in the audience. But where’s Jack? When he’s not at a Laker game, you assume he’s on location filming. But then he usually slips out for a big game. Evidently, not for a debate.

5:45 PM - Obama seems vague on immigration. What I don’t like about Obama in general is his vagueness. He feels slippery on the driver’s license issue. He knows full well it’s absurd to give undocumented workers driver’s licenses because that makes them essentially documented in our society. That’s citizenship by driver’s license. So he dodges the question and says it will never come up if we solve the whole issue. Sometimes I think Obama will be a formidable candidate, sometimes I think he will implode. One thing is clear - no matter what you think of John McCain - he has done so much more, accomplished so much more than either of these people it’s not even funny

5:38PM - Obama has humor and Hillary doesn’t. That is a huge difference. He made a joke about the well-heeled crowd paying a bit more taxes and it humanized him. This is his strength. Still, this debate is breaking no new ground. There isn’t one new thing here we haven’t heard. I can’t imagine one vote changing so far. Enough of this. The Writers’ Strike better end soon. We need these people off the air.

5:30 PM - Bombing in Tinseltown. When you come to Hollywood to debate, you should at least have some style. Neither of the poeple do tonight. They should really not be debating in the Kodak. It makes them look bad. Where’s Letterman or Leno? You keep waiting for the concert to start, but what you get is CSPAN comes to Lalaland… and not even a good episode of CSPAN.

5:25 PM - John Edwards, John Edwards, John Edwards… These candidates seem like (boring) authors on a book tour who are trying to mention the key word that sells their book… in this case John Edwards. This is boring beyond words at this point. The cameras should be showing the freaks on Hollywood Blvd., far more interesting.

I just saw an agent I know in the audience… David Schiff… yes, this is Hollywood. The agents get the best seats!

5:20 PM - Now we are in wonkery competition, interpspersed with ritual bows to John Edwards to try to get those few voters who might really have been wedded to John. But mostly we have heard all this stuff many times before (17 debates!). What is the point of so many debates? It’s nuts. To give exposure to as many reporters as possible? Turn Wolf Blitzer into a household name? If I hear anymore about their health care plans, I am going to need a paid government stress vacation in Oahu. I’ll vote for the person that puts that on their plan.

5:14 PM: The first thing you’re thinking as they come out is that that these two people could end up running together, not good news for the Republicans. The audience is very LA. It reminds me of Staples Center but without Kobe and Phil Jackson, at least not yet. You see faces like Rob Reiner and our Mayor Villaraigosa, Clintonesque himself when it comes to fidelity.

Obama begins smoothly and not specifically, as is his wont. Fairly cliched. Attacks the “special interests” who have been attacked so many times now (whoever they are) you’d think they’d never made it out of the Paleolithic Age. Clinton is also bland, but less charming. Is that just my reaction? No. TI think that’s the reaction of the world.

Hillary sees the differences between them as two - universal health care and a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures. When you hear this, you hope their primary campaign ends as quickly as possible. It is SO dull. Hillary says she is not “more of the same,” but she is. She is very much “more of the same.” If gender is the only difference, zzzz…..

4:50 PM - It’s a street party on Hollywood Boulevard as everyone waits for the event to start. Obama supporters vastly dwarf Clinton supporters in the streets - but this is Hollywood, a charisma town and a youth town and Obama bests Clinton on both fronts. In fact, the street party aspect is far beyond anything I’ve seen recently hereabouts from the ubiquitous Gay Pride parades to the Academy Awards themselves, relatively stodgy in recent years (no streakers, not even much liberal baloney).

For those of you who have never visited the Kodak Theater, it’s not very elegant, more of a post-modern mish-mash, as is the Hollywood & Highland mall where it is housed. Downtown Hollywood is itself is on something of an economic/real estate rise, but it’s still very tacky, one of the t-shirt capitals of the world.

Roger L. Simon is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, novelist and blogger, and the CEO of Pajamas Media.

16 Comments

syn:

What could be more beautiful than a gathering of botoxed billionaires and Hollywood bottomfeeders pleasuring themselves on the idea of taxing ordinary Americans too death to pay for free health care for the world.

My, my, my. What a glorious display of artistic depth shown in Tinsel Town tonight.

Jan 31, 2008 - 5:59 pm kpeyser:

As the TV camera pans the audience at the event the only Hollywood celeb missing seems to be Britney Spears!!

Same old lefty liberals, Diane Keaton (the usual weird outfit and wacked hat), Rob Reiner, Stevie Wonder, Jason Alexander and lots of celebs who look like they are ready to check into rehab. or order Sushi for a quick nosh. Very boring debate only softball questions!

Jan 31, 2008 - 6:27 pm David Thomson:

I am not able to watch the debate. Have either of these two Democratic Party presidential candidates spent even two seconds on the issue of Islamic nihilism? At this moment, I am getting the distinct impression that the subject has been ignored.

Jan 31, 2008 - 6:34 pm syn:

You want a fighter Roger?

Think about this. Romney is the only candidate running who calls the enemy by its name: Islamic Jihadist.

In the real world ursurping the PC crowd is called having brass ball, terrorist is for wussies.

Jan 31, 2008 - 7:05 pm kpeyser:

They really, really like each other.

NOT! Big Bubba and the Hillary rock crushers will promptly go after Obama with picks, meanness and wagging fingers.

Jan 31, 2008 - 7:06 pm Mike:

A candidate for President of the United States just proclaimed that she doesn’t support drivers licenses for illegal aliens because it provides a method for their detection by the authorities.

Amazing.

Jan 31, 2008 - 7:46 pm MarkJ:

Let’s say Hillary wins the nomination. Obama would be nuts to take the VP slot. With Bubba back in the White House as a de facto Co-President, all that Obama could look forward to for the next four years would be surfing for “real cool” websites on his office PC, catching up on his crossword puzzles, and periodically checking in with the White House receptionist to let her know he was still alive.

Better yet, given that Hillary roundly hates “Prince Precious,” I suspect she’d only let him come to the White House for Sunday teas “if, and only if, he shuts up, remembers his place, and, for God’s sake, doesn’t make eye contact with the white women.”

Furthermore, Obama would be insane to link up with Hillary–in a political sense, of course–since if her term is a disaster (I’ve got a sawbuck that says it would be), his presidential aspirations would be instant toast.

Nope, I suspect there will be no Hillary/Obama ticket come this summer. It’s certainly conceivable, but why would Hillary pick somebody who a) will constantly outshine her and b) might even stab her in the back with a primary challenge four years down the road?

Sooooo….does anybody think Obama would be stupid enough to loyally take it up the wazoo for Hillary in a dead-end job for eight, much less, four years? Make haste with your “Final Jeapordy” answers, please.

Jan 31, 2008 - 8:15 pm MM:

I find it particularly interesting that so many Obama supporters and/or former/current Hillary supporters have been so incredibly critical of the comments made not by her, but by Bill Clinton re: Jesse Jackson and yet there has been no backlash for Obama’s use (to announce his victory right before his speech re: Iowa’s primary victory) of Jay-Z’s song ‘99Problems,’ which says repeatedly “I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one.” It seems that race has been made an issue, sure, but Obama has repeatedly made gender an issue without reprimand. The social issues here are asymmetrical and yet his sexism and misogyny goes without notice. Why has Obama not been asked to apologize for using a song that refers to women as bitches? Even if this song was not a reference to Clinton, which it obviously was, on some level the media and the public are suggesting that songs that use the term ‘bitch’ are acceptable and morally sound.

Jan 31, 2008 - 9:18 pm kpeyser:

A HRC VP will have less to do because of Bubba’s presence than a potted palm or a rubber door stopper! No way anyone wants that job.

Feb 1, 2008 - 12:13 am Les Blatt:

Roger, in your 6:12 entry you have a great typo: “I’m sick of dynasites.” Yes, I know it should have been “dynasties” - but “dynasites” is a marvelous neologism to describe members of these never-ending political families and their supporters. Keep it!

[Thanks for alerting. Fixed! — Ed.]

Feb 1, 2008 - 1:16 am garytheyoung:

Me before the debate: I salute John McCain for his service. I’m in awe of John McCain for persevering through five plus years in hell. I honor John McCain for refusing privilege and a way out of that hell. I do not want John McCain to be president.

Me a half hour into the debate: Where do I go to sign up for John McCain.

Feb 1, 2008 - 1:36 am Al Fin:

Obama is riding a wave of audacious hope. Right now, he can walk on water–as far as the media, most blacks, and the glitterati are concerned.

Remember David Dinkins and the New York mayorial race? Dinkins brought the exact same audacious hope and “magical negro” sense (not my phrase) to the political scene. Dinkins was coronated mayor of New York in a triumphalist fashion.

After making a thorough shambles of New York City, Dinkins left by the back door. Enter Rudy Giuliani–the true “saviour of NYC”, and the rest is history.

Is it necessary for the entire USA, and the free world, to go through the same degradation by Obama, as NYC was put through by Dinkins?

Feb 1, 2008 - 3:00 am Broadsword:

“Why is it that the media don’t ask the Democratic candidates some obvious questions on Iraq? ” Before the classical music began, I sometimes waded through the last few minutes of The Diane Rheem show on NPR. She and a guest were discussing the humor in the film, Life is Beautiful, about which Diane Rheem said, with horror, “But I don’t want to feel that way about the holocaust!” Not ‘think’, but “feel”. In the same way, the obvious questions are not asked because they all, unquestioners and unquestioned alike already have the right answers. They know how they “feel”. What’s left to know, or ask?

Feb 1, 2008 - 5:02 am say what?:

“Obama is riding a wave of audacious hope. Right now, he can walk on water–as far as the media, most blacks, and the glitterati are concerned.”

I’m sorry, Al Fin, you are in touch with most blacks and know this to be true? That’s like saying all older white people are for McCain and most women will be voting for Hillary. That’s a very broad and ignorant statement and assumes that blacks are only voting for the color of someone’s skin as opposed to figuring out if they’re the best candidate based on merit.

Feb 1, 2008 - 9:18 am Noga:

I watching the presidential elections from the outside. I had a slightly different take on the debate:

http://contentious-centrist.blogspot.com/2008/02/debates-othello-and-desdemona-watched.html

Feb 1, 2008 - 9:29 am Al Fin:

You may want to learn how to use the internet, friend. You’d be amazed at what you could learn!