Letters to the Editor
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George & Charlie - dumb & dumber
Who the hell wouldn't be frustrated with those questions? It was so exasperating!! I think Barack did well biting his tongue when he may have really wanted to say "Seriously? Another tabloid question? Is that really what you want to ask me?" Talk about restraint! I would've been rolling my eyes. I wanted to hear about what's going to happen with gas prices, those in the White House that signed off on torture, Sean Penn's Columbia trade deal, etc... I was embarrassed by those questions thinking other countries were watching thinking those frivolous issues are what we care about. I HOPE that was the last debate if that is all the American people get.
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He stumbled so badly
that he held a campaign rally in Philadelphia that brought 35,000 PA folk to listen to his speech. That is how bad he stumbled.
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Will
Will Obama's stumble hurt him?
Will Joan Walsh stop beating her wife?
Examples of equally valid journalism.
(did we mention that Obama had an audience of 35000 tinight?)
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"Most people"?
That's rich. You, David Brooks, and Hillaryis44.com.
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Will Clinton's debate stumble hurt her?
I'm not even going to attempt to address Joan's anti-Obama slant anymore. I think all the over-the-top harping by the pro-Obama crowd has just hardened her position.
But what I will comment on is Clinton's Bosnia "stumble" (to borrow Joan's phrase). To me, it sounded like she was saying words to the effect of "Yeah, I knew I was lying. I'm embarrassed I got caught."
I'm not the only one:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/04/clinton_admits_lying_about_bos.html
To me, this was a lot more damning than Obama showing mild irritation after 50+ minutes of inane questions that had virtually nothing to do with anything. That INCLUDES the Bosnia question and the "trustworthy" question posed to Clinton.
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One more point
Stumbling isn't the same as imploding. Just because Obama didn't self-destruct doesn't mean he didn't stumble. He has a lot of momentum in the primaries right now, and that means the occasional stumble won't hurt so much.
When he starts campaigning against McCain, he's going to need to rebuild that momentum. If he keeps getting tripped up by these questions, he's going to have a hell of a time doing it. He needs to quash this sort of idiocy decisively so that it doesn't hamstring him in every debate.
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Like most people???
Most people, like most people??? who are these people? not the ones i've spoken to, read about, encountered online, overheard the past two days...certainly not...must be Joan's coterie of HRC supporters, HRC the royal stumbler!
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Joan
Do you recall, perchance, what happened to Howard Dean in 2004?
You might recall. After he placed third in the Iowa caucuses, he screamed at a rally before his supporters.
He was unhinged, like a crazy person!
And thank God the media were not asleep at the switch!
They not only alerted the rest of us who weren't able to be present in the room that this candidate for the presidency of the United States of America screamed like a crazy person, they played it over and over and over again, just to assure there wouldn't be a citizen left standing to whom Howard Dean was not exposed for the stark raving lunatic he was!
And that's why I love the media. They can always be counted on to do the right thing by their audience, providing a vital role in this Great Democracy of Ours.
Man, he must have been pretty irritated too, as well as all his supporters who dared protest that the fix was in!
What whiners, right Joan?
I mean, Christ, someone should have told all those baby whiners that that sort of thing just goes with the territory, right?
It does just "go with the territory," right, Joan?
You and I who are People of the World know that!
What naive little babies to start whining about the Injustice of it All!
They should just shut up and Play the Fucking Game, right Joan?
Saddle Up, just like Bill Clinton says!
Man, imagine if these babies ever got power!
Can you imagine it?
I know, it makes me shudder too!
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Obama wasn't peevish
I'm really tired of the MSM talking about how Obama looked irritated or "peevish" as Ms Walsh says. I watched the entire so-called debate and what I saw was a polite, patient man trying to get the debate onto something that voters wanted, i.e. a discussion of the issues. He responded to the questions for the most part, but as you know, Ms walsh, and I know, he has answered them ad nauseum. I assume he will be ready and willing to answer them again at rallys and in future debates with McCain, but he was really trying to get the debate on to another level. I (and apparently a majority of people who are non- pundits ) appreciated that. I did not see a peevish man or an irritated one, but merely one who was somewhat bewildered that a major news company like ABC would put on such a stupid hour and a half. As for complaints that he didn't hit Hillary hard enough, please remember that he is a polite man and didn't want to attack his fellow FEMALE opponent too hard. He hit back a little, but I think he was very gentle. Two things about that. First, he really doesn't want to engage in this kind of knife throwing, especially against another Democrat (that Hillary doesn't mind doing that is her problem, as her dclining positive numbers show). Second, just think for a moment what the pundits (you included) would have said if he really had hit Hillary back with the kind of sleaze she was throwing at him. I think you can guess what a furor THAT would have caused. So Obama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. I think he chose the right choice both morally and politically. I think that maybe be borne out too by the fact that I just read in Salon that 35,000 people came out to hear Obama in Pennsylvania - the largest turnout of his whole campaign.
I would appreciate it if you as the editor of Salon would temper your remarks with a little clear sightedness instead of the heavy handed style of "gotcha" punditry.