Right now, I'm leafing through the transcript and am surprised at how lame the questions and moderators Brian Williams and David Stanton were. The "debate" here was totally pathetic-I don't think eight candidates (two of whom are fringe) in ninety minutes is workable. When Williams had to start asking questions where the answer was a raised hand or a one-sentance answer, you had to realize there was no informational value whatsoever. Some entertainment value maybe, but I'm honestly glad I didn't waste my time watching this crap.
Here are some of what I consider to be the lamest questions tossed out to the candidates by Williams:
Brian Williams: Senator Clinton, your party's leader in the United States Senate, Harry Reid, recently said the war in Iraq is lost. A letter to today's USA Today calls his comments "treasonous" and says if General Patton were alive today, Patton would "wipe his boots" with Senator Reid. Do you agree with the position of your leader in the Senate?
Starting the debate with an egregiously leading question like this, Williams may as well have asked Biden if he still beats the shit out of his wife, and if not when he stopped. Yes, this was the first question, setting the tone for the next half hour.
Williams: Senator, thank you. Senator Edwards, you've spoken with great passion and energy and eloquence about the issue of poverty in the United States, your "two Americas" theme.
And yet I want to read you a quote from the political journalist Roger Simon: "Many people miss the point about the haircuts. The point is not the cost. John Edwards is a very rich man and could afford even a $4,000 haircut. But why did he pay for his haircuts out of campaign funds?" Senator?
Gotcha! What importance this has to the election is questionable, to be extremely charitable. No Democrat I know gives a shit about the Edwards Haircut Non-Scandal "Scandal" and even less about hack Roger Simon.
Williams follow-up is even stupider:
Williams: And, Senator, I have a follow-up for you. On modern day America, you've been of counsel to hedge funds. Do hedge funds make America any better in any way?
Edwards should have just answered the question "Yes, they create thousands of high paying jobs and hundreds of millions if not billions in tax revenue" and then allowed the audience to laugh at Williams for 30 seconds or so.
Finally, some local journalist named David Stanton asked candidates a series of questions prefaced by the disclaimer "he next question is a short-answer question; one sentence." So, what are some of these "short answer questions"?
"In comparison to countries like Japan, China and India, we have the least number of young people going for advanced degrees in science and engineering. How are you going to reverse this brain drain?"
And...
"Concerning the astronomical windfall of major oil companies again in the first quarter. Why is gas still on the rise?"
Then, Williams has the gall to complain "I'm telling you, it's tough up here. There's no such thing as one sentence with this crowd." Hey, maybe it's because you're asking ridiculous questions that can't be answered intelligently in five or six words.
Also, be sure to check out Matt Taibbi's take on the debate. As always, it is hilarious and insightful. Here's a small sample:
There must be something to it -- it must be beneficial to the American power apparatus somehow to demean the individuals who seek to occupy its highest offices. Maybe it's because while dignified human beings are unpredictable, an old turned-out whore can be counted on to do anything for forty bucks -- and these are the kinds of people we need in the White House. Who knows what it is. Whatever the reason, they're starting the seal show earlier and earlier each cycle. And this year, the first round of the freak parade took place in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where the Democratic party unveiled its '08 team of craven auto-flagellants.
Update: The transcript from the GOP debate in Simi Valley, CA is here. I'm going to force myself to read through as much of this as I can, although considering the moderators are Tweety Matthews and two hacks from politico.com, I'm going to guess the questions/moderation are even lamer than the DNC debate. And, it goes without saying, the responses are going to be even more shameless and detatched from reality. (Update: Looks like I guessed right)
For example, we got this from former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson on why he should be the next President of the United States:
Tommy Thompson, a former governor of Wisconsin, said he would allow an employer to fire an employee solely for being gay. To the question, “If a private employer finds homosexuality immoral, should he be allowed to fire a gay worker?” Mr. Thompson replied, “I think that is left up to the individual business.” And when asked if that meant yes, he replied, “Yes.”
And then of course, we get the classic non-apology apology, with candidate Thompson later informing CNN that “I made a mistake," and the should have asked for the question to be repeated. “I didn’t hear, I didn’t hear the question properly, and I apologize,” he said.
This isn't the first time Thompson has made utterly ridiculous comments in a public forum; for example, who can forget this exchange when he said that making a lot of money is "part of the Jewish tradition"?
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