Salon: "The Godawful GOP Debate"

[Hissyspit]

http://www.salon.com/politics/roadies/2007/11/29/debate_follies/index.html

Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 00:32 EST
The godawful GOP debate

Rarely has a debate left me so troubled about the future of the nation. By now, I should have learned not to be shocked when Republicans like Mitt Romney, who spent the Vietnam War doing missionary work in France, pretend to believe that they have more expertise about waterboarding and other forms of torture than John McCain, who spent five and a half years being abused and sometimes tortured in a North Vietnamese prison. I should have also learned not to be dismayed that the standard Republican position on immigration (McCain and Mike Huckabee excepted) now seems to be Emma Lazarus in reverse: "Take my tired and poor, please. I never want to see those shiftless bums again."

No, what sent me into a free fall of depression was CNN's instinct for the fatuous in choosing the debate questions. It is a disgrace that in a two-hour debate (it felt longer) there was not a single question about the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the powder keg in Pakistan or Iran. The fault is not with the earnest YouTubers who sent in questions. The blame entirely rests with Anderson Cooper (a debate host who seemed incapable of asking a relevant follow-up question) and his CNN cohorts, who seemed more concerned with goosing the ratings than with grasping the world that the next president will inherit.

And, please God, no more debate questions about the Bible. Somewhere in the dim corridors of memory, I recall being taught (admittedly under the liberal Earl Warren Supreme Court) that there were no religious tests for holding public office in the United States. The theology was getting so thick onstage Wednesday night (with Huckabee, a Baptist minister, all but offering to give Scripture lessons to Rudy Giuliani) that I imagined that instead of commercial breaks, CNN might interrupt the debate for two minutes of public prayer.

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[David Zephyr]

1. My sentiments exactly.

What a mess we are in if anyone of these neanderthals wind up in the White House.

[BlueIris]

2. Proud to be the 5th rec. I broke my "No Salon" rule to read this,

and I am so glad I did.

[Kolesar]

9. Why "No Salon"?

Don't worry, there is no wrong answer :hi:

[BlueIris]

10. I've been more or less boycotting them ever since they refused to recognize '04 election fraud.

That good enough?

[Kolesar]

12. Ironically, their reporting on the Florida 2000 electoral fraud was very good.

I think it was by Jake Tapper and Greg Palast (?). Back then I didn't even know what terms like "caging" meant.

I can tell you what you have missed. Their quality of writing has gone downhill. Peter Daou left their Blog Report to join the Clinton campaign a while ago. Sydney Blumenthal went back to the Clintons last week.

Their sports columnist is a piss. Their climate change reporting does not teach me much. I really dig the women's column called "Broadsheet", which is funny because I am a man.

So, now they want me to renew in December. $35 for a year of reading Glenn Greenwald's long and overwrought writing that his fans used to read on his blog for free.

[begin_within]

3. Wasn't that debate really just for GOP voters? It wasn't intended to appeal to Democrats.

[KaryninMiami]

4. Yes but educationally it's important for Dems to watch these-

especially for those who are currently threatening not to vote if Hillary (or whomever) gets the nomination. Watching last night chilled me to the bone and reminded me clearly of what a nightmare it will be for us if any of them were to become our next President.

[Cha]

14. Oh I'll vote

for whomever Dem in the general..I just want our candidate to be the best one..not some media-manipulation like cnn was doing last night with those fucking 1984 questions.

[supernova]

5. Further evidence of GOP followers increasing isolationism

I didn't watch the debate (Hey, the Grinch was on! )

But it seems to me that plays to Religion, and who's illegal or not all speak to concerns about self and home, traditional themes for traditional conservatives. That there was nary word about the P/I issue or the Iraq Invasion is really because it isn't on the followers' radar.

They just don't care about the outside world. Which is good. That means we can go back to having a more sane foreign policy after the election because the GOPers, the footsoldiers and everyday working folks just won't care.

[spanone]

6. CNN - a media outlet- completely controls the debate by question selection

this in itself is frightening

[snappyturtle]

7. It was no debate. It was a free fall of some pretty scary philosphies.

The questions was the same old gods, guns and gays with some war/torture questions thrown in for good measure. The candidates spent most of their time berating each other and most of the questions were aimed at the big three: Romney, Guiliani and McCain. I wish every DEM who could have would have watched to solidify our efforts to get a DEM into the presidency. What light weights these candidates are.

[Supersedeas]

8. CNN didn't get the memo about the religious test

[Cha]

11. Walter Shapiro

is Good! It's obvious to thinking peeps that cnn is the fuck-up.

[leftofthedial]

13. anderson cooper is a lightweight

he should stick to covering OJ trials and frat parties

[Cha]

15. Maybe andy did

what his corporatemasters told him too and that would make him a mediawhore.

[applegrove]

16. I agree that the questions were mostly things that all the candidates had

stated positions on. Would have been nice to see a question on Pakistan or the like.