The West Wing live debate

I had a dilemma last night, either tune into my favorite political show or watch the Eagles lose again. Of course I couldn't resist the West Wing debate. It started off with both candidates agreeing to throw out the rules and have a real exchange of ideas. Congressman Santos and Senator Vinick covered the positions of the Democratic and Republican parties right out of today's papers. By the end, it was clear that Santos had won. Some highlights from MSNBC:

The first question went to Vinick:

"What would you do to seal the Mexican border (to illegal immigration)?"

"Enforcement first, that's my policy," said the California senator. "I would double the border patrol."

"I don't know how you're going to find room in the budget to double the border patrol with the tax cut you're proposing," fired back Santos, a Texas congressman.

A bit later, Santos promised a million jobs would be created in his first term.

"How many jobs will you create?" Sawyer asked Vinick.

"None," he replied. "Entrepreneurs create jobs. Business creates jobs. The president's job is to get out of the way."

And, inevitably, the term "liberal" was debated, as well.

'Republicans have tried to turn 'liberal' into a bad word," said Santos. "Well, liberals ended slavery in this country."

"A Republican president ended slavery," Vinick retorted.

"Yes, a LIBERAL Republican, Senator. What happened to them?"

If only the real debates were this good.

Note: I found a really good roundup of coverage at the West Wing News Blog.