Wednesday, December 12, 2007

HORSERACE

Iowa PBS and the Des Moines Register: Making CNN Look Good

Saying I hated this debate is like saying George Soros can spare some change.

The retired brigadier general who was on Hillary’s gay and lesbian steering committee was bad. This one was… egregious.

Appalling. Extraordinarily frustrating. Alternately an uncontrolled circus and a banal snore-fest. Some of the questions were extraordinarily stupid – “is it more important to have a nominee that is socially conservative or fiscally conservative? What New Year’s resolution would you recommend for one of your rivals?” And what was with the video snippets of each candidate? What, each guy is going to get too much time with nine guys on stage?

This was a disastrous format, with insane time limits on candidates, all mismanaged by a brusque, snippy moderator who seemed to think Iowans did not want the candidates to finish their sentences. She seemed to want to ignore Alan Keyes, and when he was skipped over, he piped up and complained, and she allowed him to go on at length after that. It would have been better to not invite him.

Because the Des Moines Register included Keyes, and is not including Kucinich (on a technicality) nor Gravel on the Democratic side, I have to conclude that this was a bad faith effort to make the Republican candidates look bad.

Winner: Thompson. Don’t know if it will be enough, but he ought to get at least a little bump out of this. The moment he basically told the moderator where she could stick her “show of hands” question – well, I was inspired.

Helped himself: Romney. I concur with the generally positive assessments in the Corner. The issues – education, the budget – played to his strengths. I’m stunned – unless I missed it, no mention of the National Review endorsement. Well, if he’s not going to help advertise the magazine, then the editors ought to rescind it. (I’m kidding.)

Treaded Water, No Gain, No Loss: Huckabee. The time  limits got in the way of his usual rhetorical smoothness, and I'm about one pun away from .* But he's a good debater, and rarely if ever turns in a bad performance. But maybe I kept waiting for him to point to Romney and shout, "Hey, look, it's one of those MORMONS!"

Kinda Got Lost Up There: Giuliani, as well as McCain: McCain didn’t look tired of the campaign, but he seemed tired of this style of debate early. He did seem above the fray, as I predicted, but because the debate organizers decided no questions on Iraq (what the hell?!?) he rarely got to shine on his signature issue.

And just because the media isn't as interested in hearing about Iraq now that the casualties are down, doesn't mean the issue doesn't matter. Thompson got one question on the NIE, why not everybody?

Giuliani, again, is a guy who needs more than thirty seconds to get rolling.

Really Got Lost Up There: Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo.

Achieved the Impossible and Made Me Hate Him: Alan Keyes.

* I'm apparently one more Huckabee pun away from being incapable of finishing my sentences.

12/12 03:31 PMShare