Two Cents

On the whole debate kerfuffle, if you're not sick of it all yet.
For me the whole thing boils down to not whose ox is getting gored, but what the elemental purpose of these exercises is.

The purpose of these debates is for the candidates to identify themselves to the public. Not just to showcase their bullshit parrying skills, but also to articulate their platforms and plans.

The purpose of these debates is to assist VOTERS- partisans and leaners- in accurately choosing a favorite to represent themselves in the general election.

The Democrat candidates and voters are being afforded the full substantive benefit of this process.

The Republican candidates and voters are being denied the benefits of the debate process.

Utterly denied. How can a candidate distinguish himself among his competitors when outside people are deliberately subverting the debate process until it is a sideshow conveying nothing but irrelevant information?

He can't. FY, NQ.
Thanks to Sharkman for the new battle cry.

UPDATE: Found this little nugget from fulldroolcup among the scorching comments in Gabe's last post on the subject.

Here is exactly what Bohrman said on topic in the story, just a few days ago:
"This debate is to let Republican voters pick from among their eight candidates,"said David Bohrman, Washington bureau chief and senior vice president for CNN. [emphasis fulldroolcup's]"We are trying to focus mostly on questions where there are differences among these candidates."
Bohrman also told "The Caucus (ht: ProteinWisdom)," the blogger for the New York Times that they would weed out any "gotcha" questions."

(As an aside, the correct answer to the Confederate Flag question is "Sir, I am not running for Governor of Georgia. Fly the flag, don't fly the flag, honestly, most Americans see this as a regional controversy best left to individuals and States. Fuck You, Next Question.")

posted by Laura. at 01:03 PM

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