It was billed as a Constitutional Debate in Philly last night, and it was hosted by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC news. To me it was more like Ambush at the OK Corral with Mud Wrestling following shortly, and hosted by Abbott and Costello of the comedy hour. Since it was at the Constitutional Center, they decided to post Constitutional Amendments after each break which were many, but they never talked about them!! They might have as well have posted the Ten Commandments and highlighting IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness... because they weren't using that one either. I expected a Lightning Bolt to visit Hillary at anytime! Many bloggers thought the same: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041700013.html
I thought George Stephanopoulos was reading from talking points handed to him by either a Rag Magazine(The National Enquirer, Star, Globe, etc..) or Sean Hannity. The first 30 to 45 minutes were spent digging into the mud. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos asked Hillary one tough question during this time, and Barack got the rest. I was proud of Barack, he answered all the mud throwing questions, and ended it with saying, all these are distractions and this is to my point that many Americans are wanting something different from their leaders not the same old stuff that divides us. Hillary remained silent and smiled when Barack put her on the spot for dodging a plan to bail out Social Security question, AGAIN, yet she had no problem criticizing his plan. Barack punched back after HRC went on and on about Barack's associations and even associations of associations. I believe she politically added Farrakhan and Hamas to scare white voters. He finally put an end of HRC's rant of being on the same Education Fund Raising Board as William Ayers, former Weatherman Underground Group member by saying, it is quite different for me being on a fund raising board, and your husband pardoning 2 Weathermen(serving 98 year sentences) in January 2001. HRC declined to respond thanks to Charles Gibson offering her an option and a way out. Instead of a debate, we got an ambush by ABC and HRC. After HRC answered the Sniper Fire Ducking Incident politically correctly, Obama was asked to respond, he took the high road and excused Hillary's memory problem. This "'debate'" appeared scripted and only Obama never got a copy of the script. Despite all of this, Barack did well. The last part of this debacle was about issues. Obama looked like Commander-In-Chief giving his answer about ending the Iraq War. ABC did a terrible job of helping undecided voters to make a good decision in selecting a nominee. This 'debate' was undoubtedly slanted towards HRC. I think the clear winner is Obama, and Clinton the loser because you need to be for something and not against someone or something to be considered a legitimate leader. We voters are looking for someone who looks positively ahead. We already have had our negative years and are sick of it!! If PA voters can't distinguish between hog wash and real sincerity in moving them forward, then they are going to have to cling to their Religion and Guns a lot longer. Yes, We Can......
In a lighter moment, could you imagine HRC in a skin-tight wrestling suit! Even if you loved Hillary, you wouldn't like that!! Please excuse me, I think I threw up a little in my mouth!!!
I thought George Stephanopoulos was reading from talking points handed to him by either a Rag Magazine(The National Enquirer, Star, Globe, etc..) or Sean Hannity. The first 30 to 45 minutes were spent digging into the mud. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos asked Hillary one tough question during this time, and Barack got the rest. I was proud of Barack, he answered all the mud throwing questions, and ended it with saying, all these are distractions and this is to my point that many Americans are wanting something different from their leaders not the same old stuff that divides us. Hillary remained silent and smiled when Barack put her on the spot for dodging a plan to bail out Social Security question, AGAIN, yet she had no problem criticizing his plan. Barack punched back after HRC went on and on about Barack's associations and even associations of associations. I believe she politically added Farrakhan and Hamas to scare white voters. He finally put an end of HRC's rant of being on the same Education Fund Raising Board as William Ayers, former Weatherman Underground Group member by saying, it is quite different for me being on a fund raising board, and your husband pardoning 2 Weathermen(serving 98 year sentences) in January 2001. HRC declined to respond thanks to Charles Gibson offering her an option and a way out. Instead of a debate, we got an ambush by ABC and HRC. After HRC answered the Sniper Fire Ducking Incident politically correctly, Obama was asked to respond, he took the high road and excused Hillary's memory problem. This "'debate'" appeared scripted and only Obama never got a copy of the script. Despite all of this, Barack did well. The last part of this debacle was about issues. Obama looked like Commander-In-Chief giving his answer about ending the Iraq War. ABC did a terrible job of helping undecided voters to make a good decision in selecting a nominee. This 'debate' was undoubtedly slanted towards HRC. I think the clear winner is Obama, and Clinton the loser because you need to be for something and not against someone or something to be considered a legitimate leader. We voters are looking for someone who looks positively ahead. We already have had our negative years and are sick of it!! If PA voters can't distinguish between hog wash and real sincerity in moving them forward, then they are going to have to cling to their Religion and Guns a lot longer. Yes, We Can......
In a lighter moment, could you imagine HRC in a skin-tight wrestling suit! Even if you loved Hillary, you wouldn't like that!! Please excuse me, I think I threw up a little in my mouth!!!
1 comment:
The ABC 'debate' was unworthy of the name and the network. The people deserve better.
I too thought Obama's best retort was when he put an end to the Ayer's debate and I wish he would have used more factual responses like this.
Remarkably - and this is something I have not heard reported on - Obama went out of his way during the 'debate' to help Clinton recover her dignity after she admitting the 'embarrassing' Bosnia comments (but not the lying).
When he then was asked "Do you believe that Senator Clinton has been fully truthful about her past?" he did not offer a diplomatically tactical version of the truth himself (i.e. yes), but said - unnecessarily lumping both of them together in the same category - "...look, the fact of the matter is, is that both of us are working as hard as we can to make sure that we're delivering a message to the American people about what we would do as president. Sometimes that message is going to be imperfectly delivered ... I think Senator Clinton deserves the right to make some errors once in a while." and "I think what's important is to make sure that we don't get so obsessed with gaffes that we lose sight of the fact that this is a defining moment in our history." (See the transcript: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/DemocraticDebate/Story?id=4670271&page=2)
Considering Clinton's Bosnia comments were clearly not a 'misspeak' but a campaign strategy of lying, I don't see why Obama came to her defense, because it amounts to a defense of lying. His were truly 'gaffes'; hers were truly 'lies' - and pre-meditated lying is not an irrelevant detail in a presidential candidate. He should have, in my view, tactfully made this distinction.
Instead, Obama lost the political opportunity to make an important distinction between them - refusing to make a factually correct call on Clinton and uncomfortably prevaricating, in defense of her behaviour and his, as though they were the same thing.
Obama's larger point (that this is a too defining and important moment in American history to obsess on gaffes) is true, but the point did not have to be - and IMO should not have been - made here.
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