Letters to the Editor
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Survey Says. . .
Is the lead photo supposed to look like Barack Obama is guest-hosting Democrat Week on Family Feud?
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HIllary is Impressive
I thought Hillary Clinton was impeccable. She expresses her thoughts in complete, precise paragraphs wrapped in complete sentences. Among her best moments was when she gently swatted all the other candidates healthcare plans by noting she had tried all variations before. A very elegant and subtle been there done that, before moving to tick off what she would do this time round with the benefit of experience. Another best moment was when she coolly and intently said she would attack anyone who attacked the United States swiftly, once she had the evidence. It was delivered in a way that left no one in doubt that she meant it and made her fellow debaters looking waffly. All told, the Democrats have much to be proud of with the candidates they are fielding. They are bright, earnest, solution-oriented. The Republican field are like characters out of central casting auditioning for "Ideology," the sequel to George W. Bush, in what looks like yet another disaster movie set to open in Fall 08.
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Gravel
To me, Gravel was one of the only true-blue Americans up on the stage. I had not heard of him, but I was surprised that he targeted Obama for his loose threat of nukes to Iran. But Gravel is too real of a person for American Politics. He was willing to point out US hypocrisy, in the form of the nuclear proliferation that has been actively going on. He's of the old school, where honor and integrity were part of being American, not part of the personality you're trying to sell. I mean, wow...an American Presidential Candidate speaking honestly about the realities of American behavior on the world stage? Somebody negotiate my drug prices, because I must be going certifiably loony. I'll tell you, since I'm awfully fond of REAL Americans...not the painted-talking head American that I can't scratch off my retinas because that's all I ever see on TV.....I'll take Gravel a little more seriously. And frankly, SALON.com's tendency to portray itself as a liberal blog needs to stop, considering duplicitous garbage like this article seem to be more common these days.
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Why did they do this?
Why would they kick off the DNC roadshow 19 months before the election. Do they really believe that have that much more money to burn than the Republicans. Seems like a dumb strategy to start so early when they could watch the Republicans kill and eat one another for free.
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Sound bite debate and MSM spin machine
I can watch the same program and come away with remarkably different views from the MSM and even fellow Salon letter writers. Whether Mr. Shapiro represents the MSM is another question. A few of my observations:
I was struck by the rather pointed questions asked by Brian Williams. On whole, they were exceptionally good and designed to be revealing of the candidate’s character and positions.
The MSM’s leading candidates were less than impressive. In the beginning they appeared nervous and were caught seemingly off guard by the line of questioning. In particular, Obama and Edwards did not project a commanding presence or intelligent articulation of their thoughts even though all they had to do is come up with a few memorable sound bites.
It seemed (as I did not put a stop watch to it) that the three MSM front runners got more questions and therefore more time to express their views. Given that this is the first debate and largely a format favoring sound bites, at the very least, each person who is running for the party nomination should have been given the same opportunity to express their views. Gravel and Kucinich had many valid and important points that go counter to the MSM and apparently the other Democratic candidates.
My overriding argument is that the MSM plays an enormous role in shaping the final field of candidates. A format like the one we witnessed last night is an ideal platform for candidates to rattle off sound bites that the MSM can subsequently editorialize to their liking. Overall, I cannot see how it helped viewers and voters form a meaningful opinion of a candidate.
I would rather have a live debate centered on one specific issue. One and the same question is asked of the candidates. They have 10 minutes to respond and the moderator is empowered to keep the candidates on topic. It is frustrating when politicians are permitted to offer an answer to a question that has little or nothing to do with the question. This format would hopefully offer a clearer understanding of the candidate’s position on an issue and how their thought processes work.
A suggestion that might curtail spin and posturing - Salon can ask each candidate to respond in writing to a series of questions. Same question to each candidate and limit the response to so many words. The questions would be contributed by readers, compiled and narrowed to a handful via online voting. Candidates may respond or not but speaking for myself, if a candidate chose not to respond then I would not consider them a viable candidate. The American people deserve and should demand candidates to provide in writing (for the record) specific substantive positions on critical matters of national interest.
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Kudos to Gravel
for bringing some energy into this debate. Also, for being perhaps the first Democrat to question the reality of the Global War on Terror. As time goes on, we're all going to realize how badly we've been had by this Bushco fantasy. I hope Gravel gets some credit for daring to speak the truth.
There's an article in The Guardian this morning citing Clinton as "the clear winner." I don't really agree, but I do think it's obvious who the "clear losers" were: the weird and wacky roster of current Republican candidates. It will be fun watching how our subservient Media bend into pretzels trying to take THEM seriously.
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The subtitle to this article
I know this may seem overly picky, but it is rapidly becoming a giant pet peeve of mine. There is simply no excuse for referring to the male candidates by their last names and the female candidate by her first name. Salon, I expect better from you. Please make sure this does not happen again.