August 19, 2007 (LPAC)--The lack of statesman-caliber thinking among the current crop of Democratic Presidential candidates was painfully evident at today's debate in Iowa, with lots of hairsplitting and posturing, and precious few glimmers of reality. LPAC's analyst characterized the performance of the candidates as generally bad, and the performance of moderator George Stephanopoulos as outright disgusting. There were a couple of bright spots, however:

• Dennis Kuchinch stood in sharp contrast to the silly Fed-praising and calls for more liquidity to be pumped into the system coming from the rest of the pack, saying that the Fed was wrong, was "bailing out the creditors" and thereby continuing the problem and postponing the "day of reckoning." He called for the government to take back control of its money and the economy. "Unless we take this action, we're looking at a situation of the collapse of our economy." "These hedge funds will try to get a bailout while millions of Americans lose their homes," he said. "Save the American homeowners."
• Mike Gravel demanded that Congress pass a resolution prohibiting the Bush/Cheney administration from attacking Iran, saying the administration is looking for "an excuse to expand the war" and saying of Cheney, "he should be committed, with his recent statements," a position which drew substantial applause.

The rest of the debate ranged from weak to pathetic to outright dangerous.