Liveblogging the AFL-CIO Democratic Presidential Forum

The AFL-CIO presidential forum has concluded, and my liveblog appears below the fold.  Pundits on MSNBC still do not appear to have picked the winner, but they are analyzing the lobbyist money debate, so Clinton lost on framing (if she was ever expected to win).

Look for more analysis here on Iowa Independent and on my other blog soon.7:30 For everyone, will it disturb you that the race to replace you will begin perhaps days into your first term as president?

Richardson: Yes, but Richardson would try to bring the country together.

Obama: It’s not going to be enough just to change political parties.  We have to make sure that we are mobilizing Americans across race, region, faith.  Obama’s campaign reminds people all the time that change doesn’t happen from the top down.

Biden: Reason it’s starting so early now is because of how angry we are.  Biden presidency wouldn’t make people so angry.

Clinton: I’ll be so busy that I won’t worry about it.  She’ll be working on issues that we have to accomplish together.

Dodd: All of us are troubled by how early it started.  It started early because of how frustrated people were.  If this were a parliamentary system, George Bush would be on the curb outside Downing Street.

Edwards: We need change in this country desperately.  Asked someone to come tonight who has not been able to talk for five decades because he can’t get the health care he needs.

Kucinich: I’m kind of the Seabiscuit of the campaign.  When Kucinich comes from behind to win, they’re going to say “No way am I gonna run against this guy!”

Then he talks about the agenda he wants to push through to “establish a workers’ White House.”

Lightning round with Keith:

What would your ideal VP be?

Richardson: VP would not be Dick Cheney.  Would be a member of executive branch.  Everyone on the stage would be an excellent VP.

Clinton, you have defended taking contributions from lobbyists.  Are they average Americans really?

Clinton: Favors “fundamental reform in Washington.”  Wants to end no-bid contracts, revolving door in government, get rid of contracting out of government jobs.

Clinton has fought for all of these issues against special interests for a long time.  Clinton’s record on standing up and fighting for people “really speaks for itself.”

Obama, you allow lobbyists bundle for you.  What gives?

Obama: I don’t have federally registered lobbyists bundling for me, and that’s important so that the people here know who we fight for.

The reason he is running for president is because of you, not just for folks who are writing big checks.

Edwards, you made a lot of money as a trial lawyer.  Now trial lawyers are giving you a lot of money.  What’s the difference between that and lobbyists?

Edwards: The difference is that lobbyists make a living lobbyists.  Lawyers can’t give money to a jury because it’s a bribe; lobbysts shouldn’t be able to give money to legislators.  [Interesting analogy]  We need the Democratic party to stand up for working men and women.

Biden, would you appoint a Republican to run either DHS or the pentagon?

Biden: I would consider that.  The fact is that the next president has to bring the country together.  We can’t do anything with a 51% solution; everything we have talked about requires a consensus.  And Biden has experience reaching across the aisle “to reasonable people” to unite us.

Dodd, there have been no terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11, so was creating the DHS a bad idea?

Dodd: We have to be able to organize, and DHS employees should unionize.  Dodd doesn’t think we’re safer here.  Just because we haven’t had an attack here, tell that to our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afganistan.

We have to have better first-responders, for instance, and that hasn’t been funded.  We’re not beter than we were before 9/11.

Kucinich, what have you and your Democratic colleagues achieved in the past session?

Kucinich: He’s here to lead congress, to lobby members of congress for ideas.  Dems haven’t kept their promise to get troops out of Iraq (or other stuff that Kucinich has been there on).  Democratic congress needs to act now.

Obama, would you honor Barry Bonds at the White House?

Obama: First of all, he’s still gotta hit one more.

Obama had the opportunity to meet Hank Aaron, who reminded him what sports should be.  Now, Barry Bonds has been a remarkable player, but we need to make sports something that kids can look up to.  We’ve got enough cynicism in Washington to have it in sports.

Clinton, what would you do for FEMA?

Clinton: can’t say my entire 10-point plan here, but there will be a system to make sure everyone reports to the president in a clear hierarchy.  We have to rebuild New Orleans, and it’s an American problem, not just a local problem.

Biden, would you pledge to stop no-bid contracts?

Biden: Yes.  [Trying the silence thing again.]

[This commercial break is more insurance and oil company commercials]

[ANd then there was a Tylenol commercial, completing the trifecta]

7:13 Union insulator who works to make buildings energy efficient: Unfortunately, businesses don’t invest in energy efficiency.  What policies would you implement to make businesses invest in energy efficient technologies?

Dodd: We all share the same goals.  Supports mile per gallon standard, energy efficiency seal.

Tax those who pollute to use money to invest in alternative technology of wind, solar, biofuel.  We need “an independent energy policy.”

[Internet question] What specific changes to No Child Left Behind should be made?

Clinton: First take 15 seconds to answer previous question.  Clinton has sponsored a bill about improving efficiency and creating jobs.

No Child Left Behind has been “a terrible imposition” on districts.  Department of Education didn’t enforce it, and it was an unfunded mandate.  We can’t look at children and see a walking test.

7:08 Nurse shortage — how do you fix it?

Biden: I know about the medical system, because I spent months in the hospital.

Improve funding, etc.

Also “walking the walk” — it’s not where you were two years ago.  It’s where you were for longer than that.  Biden has walked picket lines while he was in the Senate, where it would really cost him.

Universal health care

Kucinich: has already introduced a bill for single payer health care.  With Kucinich’s plan, health care is no loner an issue at the bargaining table.  Move it instead to the kitchen?

Edwards response to Biden: Every union president here knows exactly where Edwards has been.  Edwards has been on picket lines 200 times, including over the weekend.  Edwards stands for good things (…)

Disses scabs taking picketers’ jobs.

Even though Edwards is from a right to work state with a small labor contingent, he has still been on labor’s side.

7:01 Worker who had to retire because of a disability and lost his pension when his employer went bankrupt a few years later.  Now he can’t pay for his wife’s health care.  What wrong with health care and what will you do to fix the system?

Edwards: Questioner is exactly an example of what’s wrong with America.  Edwards has a very simple view: pensions and retirement of executives should be treated exactly the same way as every other worker in the company.

Also ought to have universal health care so that unions don’t have to bargain about health care costs.

Edwards wants to be the president who walks onto the White House lawn to tell the American people how important unions are.

Edwards has joined picketers 200 times.  It’s great to give a talk, “but WHO WAS WITH YOU IN CRUNCH TIME!”  “WHO WILL STAND WITH YOU WHEN IT REALLY MATTERS?”

[Internet] How can you guarantee that pensions are secure and workers don’t fall into poverty?

Clinton: Have to have defined-benefit pension plans and prevent companies going bankrupt to avoid pension obligations.

Also, Clinton and Dodd passed mine safety standards, but Bush won’t enforce them.

[From very new latino citizen] Will you create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants?

Obama: [union-member says he is supporting Obama?] Obama will make sure we have comprehensive immigration reform that secures borders, holds employers accountable, and path to citizenship that requires a fine and going to back of the line.

Also, Edwards is right that you ought to look to see where folks have been.  Obama has worked with union workers.  Everyone here knows the work Obama has done with IL labor.

6:54 Time for questions from AFL-CIO in the audience:

[From family member of man killed in Sago mine disaster] Bush administration has failed workers like my husband by rolling back health and safety laws in mines and all of America’s work places?

Biden: Knows what it’s like to lose a spouse.  Then goes back to Pakistan question.  Already a law to go in on actionable intelligence.  Time for THE FACTS!!!!

What would you do to restore the rights of workers to form a union?

Kucinich: Kucinich is a member of AFL-CIO local.  “The right to organize is a basic right in a democratic society.”  [Tries to rally crowd]

Serving in Iraq and came home to find that his Maytag job was gone to Mexico.  It was devastating.  What will you do to keep manufacturing jobs from leaving the country?

Richardson: I was just in “your town” — Newton, IA.  Richardson wants to stop exporting jobs.  Also, because the guy is a veteran, Richardson says he will improve veterans health care, including allowing veterans to get health care outside the VA system using a “hero card.”

[From the internet in Ohio] Why is the worker’s daughter forced to buy her own equipment while she serves in Iraq?

Dodd: Only candidate who served in the National Guard/Reserve.  Dodd has introduced efforts in the Senate four times to fund body armor and other equipment, and Republicans rebuked him four times.  Our soldiers deserve the best we have to offer.

[Break for pharmaceutical ads, etc.]

6:48 Clinton’s response: People running for President shouldn’t engage in hypotheticals.

Shouldn’t destabilize Pakistan’s regime.  We don’t want “Al Qaeda-like followers…You shouldn’t always say everything you think, because it can have consequences around the world.”

Dodd’s second response: Dodd admitted that he made a mistake; Obama should admit that the suggestion was a mistake.  It’s dangerous.

Obama: Did not say that we would immediately go in unilaterally, but that we should work with Pakistan President and that aid should be contingent upon it.  We’re debating important foreign policy issue; the people have a right to know; it isn’t just Washington insiders who should be participating in this debate.

6:44 Clinton on May 24 vote:

Thought long and hard about undermining fighting men and women before voting no.

For Dodd: Obama has been “confusing and confused” on foreign policy.  What has been confusing?

Dodd: Words mean things, and Dodd knows because of his experience.  If we lose Prez of Pakistan, we could get someone a lot worse.  Candidates shouldn’t suggest that we might unilaterally invade a country that we are trying to get to cooperate with us.  We should be careful with the language we use.

Obama’s response: “I find it amusing that” former supporters of the Iraq war are now criticizing him.  Big applause.  And Dodd didn’t read Obama’s speech.

6:37 Commercial break (corporate influence?)

Now for Richardson: What happens if Al Qaeda actually takes over Iraq when we leave?

Richardson: secure weapons and nuclear material

Obama: If we had followed Obama’s judgment to begin with, we would’ve never been in Iraq.  Introduced legislation in January to begin a phased redeployment so that we curb anti-American sentiment.  We can still have troops in the region, just no long-term bases.

Biden: It matters how we get out of Iraq.  Detailed political plan: separate parties; regions; limited central gov’t.

Clinton: “I have a three-point plan to get out of Iraq” (hand break for me; look it up)

Dodd: A lot of young women are in the military overseas.  THey haven’t failed; policy has.

Dodd has led to redeploy immediately.  Then we need robust diplomacy.

Edwards: I would bring 40,000 troops out immediately and then work with political leadership.  Then serious, intense diplomacy with countries in the region.  And then we have to prepare to control a civil war if it starts to spill outside borders of Iraq, and also the worst possible thing — genocide.

Kucinich: We need to get out of Iraq now, “and I have a plan to do just that.”

Congress can cut off funding.  Kucinich is the only one on the stage who voted against the war and also against funding for the war.

For Obama: Why did it take so long for Obama to decide how he was going to vote on the war supplemental?

Obama: Important decision.  Obama’s hope was that they would start seeing some progress from Republicans that they would support redeployment.  The only way to get the President back to the table was to vote no.

6:27 Poll: China: ally or adversary?

Richardson: China is a trade competitor.  We have to put pressure on countries for human rights (including Darfur), but we have to have a trade relationship.

Obama: Competitor, but doesn’t have to be an enemy as long as we have a negotiator in the room who is working on the right people’s behalf.  Also can’t have a tough negotiation when we are borrowing money from them.

Biden: Neither, but “they hold a mortgage on our house.”  Must reduce deficit.

Clinton: Amen to Joe Biden.  Clinton years produced a surplus; Bush years producing deficit.  We have to cut the debt to undermine the Chinese power over us.  We also need better regulations on importation.

Dodd: Agrees with what’s being said.  Chinese currency policy is bad, too.

Relationship is getting close to adversary, and we shouldn’t fool ourselves.  While they’re competitors today, it could get worse.  And we need to be able to sell stuff there if they are going to sell stuff here.

Edwards: Competitor.

No one has mentioned human rights abuses.  Also “trade safety issue.”  Toy recalls bad.  We need “real Country Of Origin Labeling.”

Kucinich: Most people on the stage voted to give China “most favored nation” status.  Kucinich didn’t.

6:18 For Clinton: What would you change about NAFTA?

Clinton: I have wanted to change it for several years.  Did a study on farmers who couldn’t export to Canada, despite NAFTA.

Clinton believes in “smart trade” — “pro-american trade.”

Also important we enforce trade agreements.  Calls for “trade prosecutor.”  Bush administration bad.  Voted against CAFTA and fast-track.

Maximize globalization; minimize effect on workers.  We also have to create new jobs, which is why we have to work on renewable energy, which will create jobs in America.

Poll: Would you scrap NAFTA?

Richardson: we shouldn’t have another labor agreement unless it enforces standards.  We should say that we will agree to all international labor standards in any trade agreements.

Off-topic: get rid of union-busting attorneys at OSHA.

Obama: Would immediately call Presidents of Mexico and Canada to improve NAFTA, because things can be worked in immediately.  Ordinary working people, AFL-CIO have not been involved in trade agreements.  Same winners and same losers in every agreement.

Must have a President in the WHite HOuse not subject to “the whims of corporate lobbyists.”  “Are we going to make certain that YOU have a voice in Washington?”

Biden: “I hope that red light’s going to malfunction for me, too.”

President should create jobs, not export jobs.  We should take the Presidents of Canada and Mexico “to the mat.”  “I would lead…I would change it.”

Dodd: [mumble] I agree [mumble] change it.

We need to stop outsorcing.  Dodd has introduced legislation to ban outsourcing.  Over 27 years, Dodd has stood with labor on every single major issue.

Edwards: NAFTA is a perfect example of the problem.  We need to get rid of insiders and corporate lobbyists.

“You will never see a picture of me on the cover of Fortune Magazine…”

Kucinich: Direct question deserves direct answer.  “In my first week in office, I will notify Mexico and Canada that the United States is withdrawing from NAFTA.”  Also withdraw from WTO.  WOrkers’ rights, human rights, environmental standards.

Clinton’s reply to Edwards: “I’m just taking it all in.”  Other campaigns “have been using my name a lot.”  But I’m here to change America, and we shouldn’t fight other Democrats, we should unite against Republicans.  “I have stood against the right-wing machine.”

Question for Obama: How do you encourage a working family to buy American, if buying American costs more?

“People don’t want a cheaper t-shirt if they’re losing a job in the process.”  This raises a larger point, which is, “globalization is here.”  We should trade.  The question is, “on whose behalf is the president negotiating?”

6:16 For Richardson: privatize toll roads?

Richardson: No.

Also, thanks for all the money and manpower, unions.  And I want more of your money.

Richardson would also eliminate corporate welfare.  We have to invest in power grid, bridges, highways — which he did as Gov. of NM.  And commuter rail, because “we have to start thinking about new infrastructure.”

6:14 For Kucinich: on infrastructure

Kucinich: Joke about buying sports teams.

He has introduced a bill to improve infrastructure, and it would also create jobs.  The time to talk about infrastructure — after all the disasters — is a little late.  But we need an infrastructure to create a basis for jobs.

Take a new direction of trade, too: get out of NAFTA and the WTO, “and have trade that’s based on workers’ rights.  I’m here as the workers’ candidate”

Follow up about Soldier Field to Obama: supported construction at Soldier Field because it created good union jobs and growth in Chicago.

6:12 For Edwards: How would you convince AMericans that inconvenience of repairs are worth improving our infrastructure?

Edwards: Thanks to organized labor.  I’m proud to have been with you for a long time.

Given what’s happened in Minneapolis and also in Utah, people want better infrastructure.  THe question is, “Who’s going to bring about the change?… We don’t want to change one group of insiders for another group of insiders.”

“WE” need to begin to make a change.  Cites YearlyKos debate on Saturday: will candidates say no to “Washington insider lobbyist money.”  The system is “rigged.”  It’s “not working” for working people.  He calls for candidates “to say no forever” to lobbyist money.

6:10 For Biden: Did the legislature (i.e., YOU), drop the ball on infrastructure?

Biden: I didn’t drop the ball.  We have all the reports we need, and we should stop just getting reports.  More people tomorrow morning will be in Hillary’s city (NYC), sitting in aluminum tubes (tunnels) that aren’t safe enough.  “WHen it comes to determining whether or not this administration has been responsible, I can hardly wait to debate Rudy Giuliani on whether we’re safer or not!”  Cites 9/11 commission.  Republicans have been irresponsible about infrastructure and safety.

6:08 For Obama: Are we safer now?

Obama: Go Bears! and “No.”  We aren’t.  We took our eye off the ball.

Leave Iraq and go to Afghanistan; go after the people who attacked us.

–
Olbermann is the funniest moderator so far.  Apparently it’s hot there.

First question is a hard one to answer: What won’t you spend money on?

Chris Dodd says we should cut defense spending but ought to invest in infrastructure — not just bridges, but water, too.

And he has actually introduced legislation to do it.

Next question for Clinton: Are we actually doing anything to respond better to disasters?

Clinton: Hearts go out to mining community in Utah.

The Bill that Clinton has introduced will put people to work, and it is also part of homeland security to have a better infrastructure.  And it’s not just physical infrastructure; it’s also national broadband (that police and firefighters can use…).  Infrastructure will be at the top of Clinton’s priorities if not elected.