I just heard that the debate last night in Philadelphia between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was the most widely viewed of any in the campaign. How sad!
I tried to watch it, but by the time it rolled into its second hour, I was surfing for something else. The first debate in seven weeks, and just a few days before the Pennsylvania primary — and they were rehashing flag pins, sniper fire, shots of Crown Royal, and the “bitter” working class. Far from discussing issues of substance and firing up my interest again, they reminded me why I’ve almost stopped watching campaign news.
ABC squandered a wonderful opportunity to give us a meaningful discussion at an important time in the campaign. Looks like I’ll be catching my campaign highlights from Jon Stewart for a while longer.
(By the way, who at ABC decided that George Stephanopoulos, former senior political advisor and communications director for Bill Clinton, would be an appropriate moderator?)
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As you may have seen, I feel I have to turn against Obama. What first made me feel uneasy, his elegance, turned into evasiveness when he was asked some point blank questions. I have not seen the debate, but may yet be able get a transcript in the Herald Tribune. I feel sorry for him, for I think he tried too soon. If there were more time left, I would wait a little longer.
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I agree that he’s been somewhat less inspiring recently. He’s been reduced to merely mortal. 😉
You won’t learn much from the transcript of the Philadelphia debate, except how poorly ABC handled it. The candidates didn’t do particularly well either. Still, I can’t imagine I’d ever vote for Hillary. The longer the campaign has gone on, the more certain I’ve become that I don’t want Bill Clinton anywhere near the White House again. As I’ve written before, Hillary should have dumped him years ago. He’s been nothing but a liability for her campaign.
But the positions of the two candidates are very similar. Even if the debate has more substances, we won’t learn anything new; Hillary has always been more substantive than Obama anyway.
ABC actually gave Obama an opportunity to quell all the recent controversies, but his performance was terrible. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
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I agree there’s virtually no difference between them on the issues. That leaves personalities and general impressions. And I get very negative vibes from the Clintons. (BTW, Hillary was the first one to start whining, several months ago at the last debate.)
I got a lot better questions for’em
See
“Question the candidates: If you ran the debates”
at http://loomisnews.wordpress.com/