Debates

Last night Clinton went on the attack saying she was always asked the first question in these debates. That was her lead in to her little SNL joke that got her hissed. During the post debate analysis, David Shuster went through the last 10 debates and it turns out Clinton was asked the first question in 6 of those debates.

It sounds more like she was making an excuse to get in her little punch at SNL last night. Following her Xerox remark last week you think she would have learned these comments don't work well for her. I guess her high dollar staff thinks differently.

A certain disconnect from the public, wow that really sounds like our current White House.

I just submitted the following to be asked at tomorrow night's Democratic debate:

We have an epidemic of school shootings plaguing our nation. Nine years ago, the Columbine shooting was all this nation could talk about. Now school shootings seem to have become such a common place that they are just a blurb on the crawl of the news networks.

The problems are not limited to school shootings either. We now hear more stories of police officers using excessive force against citizens. Here in Ohio a case is going on in Stark County where six police officers stripped a female prisoner naked and made her lay in her cell all night nude. Stories like this happen more often now and leave one with a sense that abu Gharib was not shut down, but rather moved closer to home.

There has been a deafening silence on the campaign trail about these issues. Society is what makes a nation and our society is facing peril if these kind of stories continue at the current rate. As President, how would you address the problems of increased school shootings, excessive police force and other like issues challenging our nation?

Let's hope they ask it.

The debate will be on Feb 26 in Ohio. She was going to boycott it, because of Shuster's statement, but now has decided to go forward with it.

It's on! Obama said he will debate Clinton here later this month.

There used to be a time in this country where people could easily ask candidates questions and didn't have to be screened before hand. The sad part is that has been within my lifetime, and I'm not even 40 yet!

But here we are in 2007 and these candidates, who all try to out tough-guy the other, aren't expected to be able to stand up to questions from regular Americans?

CNN expressed regret yesterday for allowing a Hillary Clinton adviser to ask a question at Wednesday's Republican presidential debate, even as controversy swirled about two other questioners who have declared their support for Democratic candidates.

Retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, who asked why gays should not be allowed to serve openly in the military, is a member of Clinton's steering committee on gay and lesbian issues, something her campaign disclosed in a news release in June.

"Had we known that, we probably wouldn't have used the question," said David Bohrman, CNN's Washington bureau chief, who produced the debate. He added that "you could spend hours Googling everybody. What we cared about was that he was real." CNN deleted Kerr's question from a rebroadcast of the debate.

Just like in 2004 when Bush would come here to campaign, people who wanted to attend had to show that they were Republicans. The candidates talk about a divided nation, and I agree it is, but they are the ones creating the division. They put party above country, and that leads us to becoming the new Soviet Union.

Of course the biggest noise on this isn't coming from the candidates, it's coming from the wingnut blogosphere, headed by Malkin herself. They are digging into every question asked on the CNN YouTube debate and trying to find out about their background. I wonder how long before Malkin starts stalking them? I mean she did it to a kid, why not adults?

So there you have it - we are becoming our own Soviet Union by the lead of some frightened Republicans. I bet if Reagan was alive he would become an Independent.

And her answer is

JOHN EDWARDS!!!

Edwards would be the best to take on any Republican. I would love to see him win the primary.

Will they air this question?

So it has started. Anderson Cooper starts off by announcing they have 2,000 more questions than the Democratic debate, and the crowd goes wild. Gee it only took 4 months extra for them to put out 2,000 extra videos.

UPDATE 8:15

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Rudy and Mitt going at each other about immigration. This is great! Each are accusing the other of hiring illegal immigrants.

And it gets better. After a 3 minute fight, Anderson Cooper tries to move on and Rudy won't let him. The crowd gave "America's Mayor" a big boo.

UPDATE 8:30

It's over. Cooper has zero control over these people and all they are doing is fighting with one another. The next 90 minutes will be a free for all.

UPDATE 8:40

Ron Paul = Hitler. So says John McCain.

UPDATE 8:45

What a bunch of fucking idiots! They are all talking about how they will cut taxes and spending. Funny when you got 3 current members of Congress and one current Senator saying this. So in other words - we screwed up at this level of government, so give us a promotion and see how we do. Hey - that does sound right. Failure = achievement to the GOP. Or should that be the Medal of Freedom?

No - not for President, but I am supporting him in this:

Talking Points Memo's Greg Sargent is reporting today that the Romney campaign has fired a broadside at Fox News, which issued a directive in the wake of John McCain's "Woodstock ad" forbidding the use of their footage for campaign advertisements.

Yes candidates should be allowed to use debate footage, as well as any citizen of this country. When deciding who will next lead out country, we should have access to all information.

One of the problems right now is that all the debates have been on cable, with the exception of one Democratic debate on PBS. Don't the citizens of this country without cable deserve access to these debates?

What we need is actual laws imposed, which should be part of a larger campaign reform action. In this section the debates should be aired on publicly accessible television and radio so all Americans have the chance to listen. There must not be any special rules for cable either. FOX News is trying to hijack our democracy like terrorists hijacked Afghanistan. It is time to put an end to that.

Of  course I am sitting here thinking about all the grief the Democrats got for skipping the FOX debate. Gee - I guess the Republicans are feeling pretty foolish now - aren't they?

Well the GOP had their debate last night and this is what it looked like:

Romney, Thompson, McCain and Giuliani all choose to do fundraisers instead of answer questions in front of black voters. Not really shocking - we already know they are the party of "white Christians", they just decided to reaffirm this.

There was a lot of discussion about the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate on the talk shows yesterday, but there was no mention of the stalled Republican debate? Why don't the Sunday talking heads want people to know the Republicans are to chicken to take questions from the people? They sure talked it up when the Democrats refused to debate on Fox, the media arm of the Bush administration, but I guess it is ok that the Republicans won't take question from the very people they want to serve.

I ask again - if people like Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney can't face the American people then how can they face the terrorists? These are cowards through and through.

That is the tone being set by Republican presidential candidates:

Four days after the Democrat's 'landmark' YouTube debate in South Carolina, only Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) have agreed to participate in CNN's next web-oriented debate.

"Aside from those two candidates, we haven't heard from anyone else," Sam Feist of CNN told the Washington Post.

[SNIP]

"Sources familiar with the Guiliani campaign said he's unlikely to participate," the Post's blogger added. "Kevin Madden, Romney's spokesman, said the former Massachusetts governor has seven debate invitations covering a span of 11 days in September."

Since this is a time when they can answer questions from voters, I guess they are also saying "screw the people". So if these Republicans don't have what it takes to face YouTube, or the people of this country, then how can they have what it takes to face the terrorists?

Huckabee was just praising Reagan for the "defeat of the Soviet Union" and then immediately talked about how we must defeat the Taliban. Interesting point. True when Reagan was "defeating the Soviet Union", he was using the Taliban to help. These people really need some lessons in history.

UPDATE:

Aravosis gives Huckabee a little lesson on Reagan - in particular his birthday.

UPDATE 2:

Shut it McCain! This guy is trying everything he has to keep the mic. I wonder if anyone is doing a time share chart like the Dodd campaign did. If you know of one, let me know. Here we go (thanks to the Dodd campaign):

UPDATE 3:

There is a terrible buzzing that is cutting out the microphones. Wolf has announced it is caused by lightning. God has spoken to Pat Robertson and told him that "Republicans are not meant to debate". </snark>

UPDATE 4:

Climate change time. Rudy just said he believes what the scientists are saying that it is man made. DAMN THAT LIBERAL!!!!

Romney - let's drill in Anwar!

McCain - wants more nuclear power and invest in alternative fuels. Nothing about drilling.

UPDATE 5:

They want to pardon Scooter! One of the arguments was that "Clinton only lost his law liscense". Yeah - what about that whole impeachment thing? Brownback was still using the old GOP lie that Plame was not covert. HEY MORON - that has been proved false time and time again!

UPDATE 6:

Health Care - Rudy said all the Democrats proposed was socialized medicine and that it would destroy medicine in America. Yeah - god forbid we have health care like Canada and the UK. Look how diseased they are!

UPDATE 7:

Forgot about this one earlier. The question was asked about what to do with Bush. Thompson had the great answer - "I wouldn't send him to the United Nations".

Not exactly in "tornado alley". As matter of fact the last tornado in New Hampshire was an F1 in 1995.

So why this talk of weather (besides the fact I am a weather junky)? Well as soon as I heard about this, my mind went to work. I wonder if this did turn into a tornado (hopefully not) what Pat Robertson would say about it, especially with all the Republican candidates there for the debate. Just one of those mid-day thoughts that make you go hmmmmmm.

This is the question that must be asked tomorrow night during the Republican debates. Wolf and all his buddies at CNN said it is an important question regarding what a former President should be involved in.

So will Wolf ask the Republicans this tomorrow night, or was he being a partisan hack and hoping to get some attacks in against Bill? Between now and tomorrow night, we need to make sure CNN hears that we want this question asked. You can leave feedback at their site, or via phone at 404-827-1500.