Debates

I wrote a story the other day advising John McCain to pick Ron Paul as his VP, a genius idea that he has no chance of actually listening to. The main reason I thought of it was that Paul has so frequently humiliated McCain (and the GOP also-rans) during the debates. Why not use that weapon against his Democratic opponent?

Of course, this led me to an even greater stroke of genius, because it actually has a chance at success. I floated the idea on yesterday's Obama conference call. Here's the abridged exchange:

Tommy Christopher: Ron Paul performed very well in debates against John McCain on the economy, particularly in the Florida debate from January, where he asked McCain a question and Senator McCain's response was likened to that of Miss Teen South Carolina. Will you be reviewing those performances in anticipation of debates, and do you see any role for Ron Paul in Senator Obama's campaign, or administration?

Austan Goolsbee: If Ron Paul's supporters care about fiscal responsibility, when they read John McCain's tax plan their heads may explode.

They didn't really answer my question, and kind of bitched at me for not being laser-like in my narrow adherence to their topic (Obama's Economic Plan). God, I miss Howard Wolfson.

Ben Smith over at Politico dug it, but probably more for the entertainment value. It's never a good sign when people laugh while you're being serious. Ron Paul could be a big help to Barack Obama. Hell, he already has.

After last night's stinker of a speech, John McCain is realizing he's certainly not going to win the election on the strength of his rhetoric. He wants to engage his opponent one on one (though in these days of HD he could be risking a dangerous Kennedy/Nixon type contrast). Today McCain called for more debates or joint forums this fall.

McCain adviser Mark McKinnon floated the prospect last month of the two candidates campaigning in the same states together and holding joint forums without a moderator. Obama said at the time that he would be open to such a prospect.

That could be interesting. It's hard to imagine McCain having the upper hand in those kinds of settings. Both candidates seem equally suited for such engagement.

But then this morning McCain went even further, suggesting that he and Obama criss-cross the country together, stopping in the same states to spar, away from any "big media-run productions." He wants a town hall every week until the Democratic convention. AND McCain even suggested the two men travel on the same plane! It would be a good way to go green and cut down on expenses, he said. Can't wait to see what Obama says to that.

Right now there are only three sanctioned debates, the first coming September 26 in Mississippi.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has stepped up its push to have more debates. After the last debate, in Pennsylvania, where Obama was widely seen as a weak performer, Barack's campaign is refusing to continue the dialogue. Obama's campaign has already shut down a North Carolina debate with CBS. Clinton renews her challenge for a debate this coming week as well as after, signaling for two debates in Oregon.

Senator Obama, like many politicians before him, promised to bring us a "new kind of politics." Since that first gleaming promise, a number of missteps and mischaracterizations have left some of us wondering exactly what is new about the campaign's politics.

The Democratic debate this week has prompted a lot of frustration among supporters of the Senator's campaign, charging everything from irrelevance to downright partisan hackery. Senator Obama, in a controversial appearance in North Carolina on Thursday, called the debate the "roll-out of the Republican campaign against me in November."

His supporters, his campaign, and the Senator himself have had harsh words this week, suggesting that the debate was an unjust hit job. They felt these types of "gotcha" politics are nasty, negative, and not necessary.

It seems, however, that such criticism does not apply to campaign conference calls. ABC's Political Radar reports that the Obama camp went for the jugular this week on Hillary's Tuzla moment, holding a new kind of conference call during which they actually rolled out three Bosnian war veterans to discuss the ways in which Senator Clinton had dishonored them.

Politics ain't beanbag. That's the message Bill Clinton sent Barack Obama:

When I watched that debate last night, I got kinda tickled. After the [debate], her opponents, oh, the people working were saying, "Oh this is so negative, why are they doing this." Well they've been beatin' up on her for 15 months. I didn't hear her whining when he said she was untruthful in Iowa or called her the senator from Punjab.

And, you know, they said some pretty rough things about me, too. But you know, this is a contact sport. If you don't want to play, keep your uniform off.

Obama's supporters are bitter because the gloves finally came off in this week's presidential debate. While both Hillary Clinton and Obama were worked over by the moderators, Obama was badly bruised.

Moveon.org is circulating a petition to try to shut off scrutiny and criticism. It's ABC News today, but it could be a citizen journalist tomorrow.

Obama and his supporters should quit moaning and groaning over some tough questions. If they can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

ABC has been the subject of much criticism due to the tone of Wednesday night's debate, particularly for the grilling given to Barack Obama at the spatula of former Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos. New revelations, broken by TPM, show that ABC's conduct may have sunk to a level unprecedented in mainstream journalism:

Well, it turns out TPM Reader JL did give it some thought. And he came up with something very interesting (see JL's post at the DrexelDems blog). He did a little googling and found out Nash is pretty popular with the traveling press now in Pennsylvania. It turns out McCabe was featured in an April 4th story in the Times which begins like this ...

Ask whom she might vote for in the coming presidential primary election and Nash McCabe, 52, seems almost relieved to be able to unpack the dossier she has been collecting in her head.

It is not about whom she likes, but more a bill of particulars about why she cannot vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

McCabe goes on to discuss her concerns about Senator Obama's pin-wearing habits.

The article goes on to say that ABC News specifically tracked her down for the debate, according to McClatchy, although ABC failed to disclose this, or anything else about Ms. Nash, during the debate. As far as the audience knew, she was just a random voter.

If this is not a crime, it certainly is a travesty. How far does this scandal go?

Update: See end of story for updates from ABC News, the Obama Campaign, and the Clinton campaign as they occur.

As the dust settles on Wednesday's live ABC debate between Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and moderated by Charlie Gibson and Debbie Gibson, the bad reviews are coming fast. However, as sincere (and correct) as they may be, they are missing the point: This is the 2008 LOLection®, people. Brace yourselves for some serious unrelenting silliness.

For those who need a little more explanation, here is a brief, multiple-choice question to illustrate the point:

Q: Which question would you most like to ask the next President of the United States?

A. Is it possible to pay off the national debt without raising capital gains taxes?

B. Would you delay a troop-pullout in Iraq based on a general's advice?

C. What is up with the pregnant transvestite that was on Oprah?

If you answered "C," you are most likely going to decide the next president of the United States. Which is totally cool.

For those who still don't understand, or who didn't even read this post and went right to the video, here you go:



B. Brandon Barker is the author of the novel Operation EMU.

Frank Luntz's focus group (tip to redstate) has some bad news for Democrats. There were a lot of hands going up when Luntz asked this group of Dems if they would consider voting for McCain:

The reviews are in: last night's Democratic debate was the worst ever. With debate moderators stuck on stupid and bitter mudslinging, one media critic, Marty Kaplan, wants the League of Women Voters to step in:

Would someone please get the networks out of the presidential debate business?

The networks and the national press love their gotchas, their -gates, their "controversies," their heat. They, alas, are not the grownups in the political process. The grownups are the voters, who -- lamely, in the mind of the political class -- are troubled by the war, the economy and boring stuff like that. Stuff that networks think make for lousy television.

I don't blame news producers for doing what they think their job is, which is scoring brag-worthy Nielsens. I don't blame political talking heads for being infatuated with the narratives that they themselves create and market. Blaming them would be like blaming babies for banging their spoons on their highchairs, or addicts for wanting their fix.

I'm a longtime Leaguer. The League withdrew from the presidential debate business in 1988 because "the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter."

Twenty years later, the media are perpetrating a fraud on American voters who want information about Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's proposed solutions to get the country back on track.

It took me a bit to realize that what I saw tonight was the total meltdown of media moderation of a debate.

For 51 minutes tonight we heard nothing of substance. I know some readers will disagree here - some were very happy Williams Ayers was brought up and to hear about Reverend Wright just one more time. And somehow wearing a lapel pin or not wearing one is worthy of political discourse for this country in trying times. You know, you and we can go back and forth on these issues daily here and on other blogs and media. This debate was watched by millions - not just in this country, but around the world.

The only person who won tonight was Sean Hannity. This may make some happy, but for most of us it's a disaster. This has nothing to do with who I support for President. I sorely miss the League of Women Voters.

A quick quote from TPM Josh Marshall says all that needs to be said:

Looking around other sites, I guess I'm not the only one that thought this debate was unmitigated travesty.

I'll have more later today. But on a lighter note, on my way out of the spin room tonight I saw a small group on the corner holding Ron Paul signs. I went over and had a brief chat with this really nice group of kids. I asked them if they were the future of the Republican Party and the gave me an emphatic "YES". They expect to one day replace the neo-cons and paleo-cons that they feel are choking the life out of the party and erase the false choices of the two-party system. They raised my spirits and I'm glad I met them.