I usually watch debates so you don’t have to

January 7, 2008

Well, my streak was finally broken last night. I’ve watched every nationally televised debate for the presidential candidates in both parties dating back to early last year, and the next morning, I report back. But last night, I skipped it. I’d had my four-hour fill on Saturday night, and I just couldn’t bring myself to give Fox News two more hours on Sunday night. A political junkie has his limits.

That said, I’ve read quite a bit about it this morning, and there seems to be a broadly held consensus about what transpired. Mitt Romney, who’d been pushed around and beaten in every direction in the ABC debate on Saturday, went on the offensive and scored some points at the FNC debate on Sunday.

After being pummeled by his opponents in a debate on Saturday night, Mr. Romney came out swinging Sunday night during the opening minutes of a Republican presidential forum that was broadcast on Fox News.

Right away he took aim at his main rival in New Hampshire, Senator John McCain of Arizona.

“Senator McCain was one of two Republicans who voted against the Bush tax cuts,” he said at the outset. Then, with a pivot, he took the fight to Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas. “Net-net did you raise taxes in your state by half a billion dollars?” he pressed him. He even damned Fred D. Thompson’s Social Security proposal with the faintest of praise, warning that it was not politically viable.

Mr. Huckabee did not deny raising taxes, but offered that he had had a “court order that said that we had to improve education,” adding, “Education is a good thing.”

Josh Marshall seems to think Romney helped his effort last night; the Fox News focus group was impressed with Romney’s performance, and on the right, The Corner seemed duly impressed for the former Massachusetts governor, as well.

It’s probably also worth taking a moment to highlight the errors of fact and judgment that tend to dominate any Republican debate.

McCain, for example, said that “in 24 years as a member of Congress, I’ve never asked for or received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state.” That’s completely false.

Giuliani blamed the Clinton administration for cuts in military funding that mostly occurred under the Bush administration.

These guys made all kinds of claims about Americans lacking health insurance, all of which were false.

Huckabee argued that conditions for detainees at Guantanamo are “too darn good,” and “amazingly hospitable.” This is, of course, ridiculous.

Giuliani, still suffering from 9/11 Tourette’s, argued, “I am the only one here who has had to face an Islamic terrorist attack. I was right at the center of it.” Got that? Giuliani claims experience because he was the mayor of a city attacked by terrorists. That doesn’t make any sense.

I should also note that Fox News was the sole sponsor of last night’s debate, after the New Hampshire Republican Party withdrew its support. Apparently, the state GOP argued that Ron Paul had earned the right to participate, the Republican news network refused and couldn’t explain why, so the party dropped its sponsorship.

So, did any of you watch it? What’d I miss?

Facts are inconvenient in politics, and the American public has too short an attention span to care. Most of the media are too lazy to investigate untrue assertions since that would be substantive, and the only important coverage is about cleavage and coiffures. American politics is a sports event, entertainment to distract the masses from realizing they no longer live in a democratic republic – assuming the masses ever knew what that was to begin with.

Sorry to be so cynical this early in the day.

  • I didn’t watch, but I love Huckabee’s quote “Education is a good thing.” First, because it’s an ironic comment (purely unintentional, of course) on so many of his own recent expressions of ignorance, and second because it reminds me of the inscription on the statue of the college founder in ‘Animal House’: KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD.

  • I disagree that the public isn’t interested, but the reporting is so boring that interest wanes quickly. I question whether the lack of interest is really on the part of the reporters, who make the presidential race into a horse race, and forget that maybe they have a job to do, besides breathless reporting on who is ahead. Months of that kind of reporting numbs the brain, and makes one quickly forget what happened. After all, once a horse race is over, you forget it, right?

  • If “the gentleman from Arkansas”* wishes to ply the mantra “Strength Through Knowledge,” then it’s probably safe to say that he’s just shot himself in the foot, stabbed himself in the back, leaped from a tall building with a short rope wrapped around his neck, and otherwise nuked his chances with the GOPer-manic hyper-hyenas into something that makes a protolithic cave-dwelling look like like a Windows Vista platform.

    *prepares do dodge an incoming fusillade of keyboards, styrofoam mugs filled with tepid coffee, and debris from the shredded wreckage of HMS Hillary….

  • I skipped this debate. It was Republicans, which always elevates my blood pressure. It was on Fox Propaganda, which always elevates my blood pressure. And there was no Ron Paul for any contrasting point of view. Why watch five guys without any real disagreement among themselves bicker about who most resembles a Neanderthal?

    The Republican candidates, especially Romney, have decided that the “lesson of Iowa” is that America wants “change.” So would someone please explain to me why slavish adherence to Bush Administration policy (without ever mentioning the name of George W. Bush) constitutes the promise of change?

  • Americans form up into tribes, and once a tribe has an alpha male selected, it just will tune out anything about his foibles. Thus, it is pointless, for example, to talk to Huckabee people about wedding gift registries at Target and so forth. They just tune it out, as irrelevant background noise.

  • As for HMS Hillary, I see Obama in a position similar to Goldwater in 1964 – the alpha male of a movement happily coming in to give us old fogies a kick in the butt. Meet the “Facebook Democrats.” Don’t point out to them how content free his rhetoric is, they will just tune you out.

  • After all the debate observations you’ve brought us this season, you certainly deserve at one night’s respite. Especially as it was only the Republicans you ignored. To quote a great line from e e cummings’ I Sing of Olaf, “there is some s. I will not eat”

  • I’ve heard too much bs in my life to waste time listening to what this bunch has to offer. On Saturday night, I watched a two hour show about the Ku Klux Klan on the History Channel. About halfway through, I decided the only differences between the Klan and the GOP are the Klan is a little more honest, and dosen’t have near the money. Other then that, they are both the same.

    Afterwards, the History Channel ran the original “Dirty Harry” movie. Anyone that is still wondering where Bush got his stinking thinking from, should watch that movie. Dirty Harry is W’s role model.

  • I’m having a little trouble getting a sense of what’s going on on the Republican side now (probably because I’m a little more averse to paying attention to them than you are, CB– I read about your ultimate failure to watch all of their crud with some amusement), but if I had to give an opinion, I think (because they can do it without causing themselves any unhealthy rubbernecking or second-guessing at this stage in the game) they are shoring up (via the media) some of the peripheral candidates just for the appearance of their party and their candidates in general, but that McCain might have (again) become the guy who was gotten the (for-now) nod from them, and that he’s (being led to) taking the indirect approach toward the top (that is, he’s not being flogged/promoted too out-in-the-open, too heavily). If he proves he can still muster some support with a little bit better treatment from the media, maybe he’s in. If not, they still have other guys who have been polling well.

  • I’ll bet that Fox News stacked the focus group. As the voice of the Republican establishment, they probably have probably dropped Rudy for Willard and are pushing him now.

  • Romney really kicked some butt in that debate. Even democrats that haven’t been completely, ignorantly brainwashed by the wacked-out liberal (socialist loving) media – may have seen Governor Romney for the class act leader that he is.

    Seriously people – Out of all the people running for President, on both sides, who would you pick to start a company for you? To rescue a failing company for you? To fix a broken system? If you don’t know what Mitt Romney has done in all those areas, if you don’t know that whatever he touches turns to gold, if you don’t know that he is by far, far, far, the best candidate running in this race – the man who will Defend our Borders, the man who will cut spending, the man who will do more with what Washington has, the man who will balance the books (like he already has done in MA and in all the businesses he’s run – HE’S ALREADY DONE IT- & WILL DO IT AGAIN), If you don’t know how accomplished & how amazing this experienced executive leader is, then you should consider the words of us people who have studied him, critically. We have complete confidence in him.

    He HAS ALREADY accomplished things that the other candidates only “talk” about trying to accomplish. He’s not running on HOPE! He’s running on ACTUAL REAL EXPERIENCE, He’s done it. I want to see him apply his successful leadership and decision making skills to the whole US. Who wants to turn away from the success of Mitt? and if you do, you’re missing the boat. Who wouldn’t love to be able to turn back the clock and invest in Google when they were beginning? Well, now is the chance to invest in a winner – Mitt Romney. Don’t miss your chance. Be counted as being an early part of a successful man’s campaign.

  • Dear Millions,
    Mitt Romney gives me the creeps. And he seems to have convictions that change in the wind.

    ‘K?

  • Thanks, “Millions of People” for reminding us that in a population of 300 million, there are at least 30 million morons, and you are one of them.

  • Tom Cleaver said: “Thanks, “Millions of People” for reminding us that in a population of 300 million, there are at least 30 million morons, and you are one of them.”

    And this ad hominum attack is effective just how?

    Perhaps you could say something like: “Romney may be the most effective leader to implement these policies, until, of course he decides to flip-flop and implement other ones.”

    And of course the fact that his proposed policies are the wrong ones for America (Doubling Gitmo?)

    There is no point in electing a competent President if he’s leading us on the road to Hell. He’s just going to get us there sooner.

  • Lance:

    ad hominem attack, factual attack – do you really think anything got through that granite skull??? Never try to confuse a Republican with facts – before or after they make up their “mind.”

  • Tom, the point isn’t to be effective in convincing Millions, it’s to be effective convincing fence sitters.

    When your sole argument seems to be calling your opponent stupid, your rhetorical quiver seems quite empty.

    Besides, it’s so easy to skewer Mitt, why waste time with his sycophants?

  • Dang shame the DNC doesn’t take a page from the NH GOP and drop sponsorship of debates where Kucinich and Gravel are eliminated by corporate media who find their strong progressive stands on issues inconvenient to the people that buy commercial air time.

    Horse@7
    You say Obama is light on content? You aren’t paying attention, then.
    The only one stronger on content than Obama is Edwards and my only problem with him is that I’m unsure whether he believes a single word he’s saying. He was doing the DLC-moderate thing in 2004 and I’ve no idea if this transition is real or a tool of pure expedience.
    Hil, until she was getting her head handed to her, was the very definition of vague. Then when she presented positions, they were extremely close to the positions she held in 1994 when the GOP pounded her health plan so bloodily that we’re only now reconsidering it 13 years later.

  • For “millions”:

    Mitt “Groucho” Romney said:

    “These are my heartfelt convictions. And if you don’t like them, I have others.”

  • william at 18

    I won’t restate a case many others have made much more eloquently than I have time for.

    But surf around to sites like TalkLeft, WashingtonMonthly, CorrenteWire, NoQuarter, WhiskyFire you can find plenty of takedowns of Obama and his Fan Base.

    On the other hand, I can’t see his supporters citing much in the way of substance beyond “Hope” and “Change.” Even all the GOP stiffs whoop for “Change.” So what? Where is the beef?

    • Comments are closed.