Hey, I bought it!
After more than three decades of often mind-numbing verbal tussles masquerading as political debates, we got a plunge into the unknown with the CNN/YouTube presidential debate...the citizen video delivery of the 40 or so questions was refreshing and covered a wide range of emotions RARELY, if ever shown by droid typical journalism questioners (in all fairness, the idiotic form of traditional phony debates demands droidness of all participants) and were often lively, funny, creative and sobering....
Alas, what hasn't changed overall was the responses of the candidates which seemed no more or less programmed than normal -- even with the range of questions...you could have transplanted most of the stock answers to the questions from earlier debates among the aspiring gang of eight...
That said, this was far less grueling and entertaining than the typical debate and was revealing because some of the questions demanded some interesting public soul searching...was Obama black enough? Clinton female enough? When will John Edwards catch up to his wife Elizabeth's support of gay marriage? Would you serve as President for the minimum wage, Chris Dodd or Joe Biden?
The issues were covered (except immigration) and even taxes, social security and voting was made fresh…
A few other notes:
Why is Bill Richardson harping on "no residual" troops left in Iraq? It sounds so odd, like the remains of a bad meal.
Kudos to John Edwards for creating a YouTube campaign video that both poked fun at himself (you know: those pricey haircuts) and then juxtaposed it with serious scenes of policy disaster (you know: Bush of Iraq) and asked "What really matters? You Choose." Talk about a broadside of the Beltway media junta and a well-served one at that for those nattering nabobs of irrelevance. Nice choice for that late 1960s anthem “Hair.”
Kudos to Hillary Clinton for the line: "Sometimes the best man for a job is a woman" after a low-budget but effective sign turning exhibition chronicling the tragic follies of the Bush era.
Kudos to Joe Biden for wondering about the, ah, stability of one seemingly un-ironic gun lover (literally) concerned about losing his intimate partner. Biden’s quip was spontaneous and funny -- and will likely get the second amendment purists up in arms.
More later...
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