Richard,
You're correct. I did not, which is why I've chosen not to listen to any of
the debates. But I tuned into Democracy Now, thinking that I'd listen to
their news headlines, highlights of the debate, and I thought, additional
news coverage.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Driscoll
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2016 9:54 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: You Call That a Debate?
Miriam:
Surely a person of your stature and intelligence did not expect the 'latest
debate' to produce anything of value to the observer.
Richjard
On 10/6/2016 7:48 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
I chose to ignore the debate but, unfortunately, heard the highlightstheir debate.
on Democracy Now yesterday, I thought it was disgusting. It was a show
that contributed nothing to anyone's understanding of the real issues
in this election.
Miriam
Truthdig
You Call That a Debate?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/you_call_that_a_debate_20161005/
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to MoreShare to Email
Posted on Oct 5, 2016
By Michael Winship / Moyers &
Company(http://billmoyers.com/story/you-call-that-a-vice-president-deb
ate/)
Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence, left, and
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine shake hands after
(Joe Raedle /guy's new slippers.
AP(http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Campaign-2016-VP-Debate/f546
34196e
834c2bb5c5e9911f604de3/9/0) )
Well, that was depressing.
Not because Vice Presidential Candidate X beat Vice Presidential
Candidate Y in Tuesday night's debate. Or vice versa.
READ:Tim Kaine Puts Mike Pence on the Defensive as Candidates Take on
Issues, Each
Other(http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/the_vice_presidentia
l_deba
te_in_which_two_candidates_try_to_stand_20161004)
No, it was dispiriting because it so vividly displayed the problem
with our current system of debates. This is no way to run a democracy.
If last week's Donald Trump free-for-all, freefall debate performance
was one extreme - out of control and fact-resistant - this week's vice
presidential event showed another, a demonstration of the perils of
being overcoached and overprepared with stock, canned answers repeated
ad nauseum and infinitum.
So there was Republican Mike Pence stolidly behaving like a real-life
version of Sam the Eagle from the
Muppets(http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sam_the_Eagle) , shaking his head
and bemoaning the fate of an America ruled by Hillary Clinton, and Tim
Kaine as the overeager puppy eager to make his presence known,
apparently told that the way to dispel the image some may have of him
as too soft and nice is to keep interrupting; in effect, chewing the other
the Federalist Papers.
Kaine may have started it, but in truth, the interruptions by each of
the two were, as Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC, "maddening to the point
of incomprehensibility." The hectoring crosstalk did diminish some as
the night wore on but it wasn't conducive to any real dialogue or
thoughtful discussion of the issues (the exchange on abortion at the
end actually came somewhat close, thanks to Kaine).
READ:Hillary Clinton Lets Donald Trump Be Trump in First Presidential
Debate(http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/live_blog_the_first_2016_p
reside
ntial_debate_20160926)
And once again there was no talk of climate change or income
inequality or education or infrastructure or healthcare, to name but a
few of the topics that desperately need to be addressed. Instead, we
got Pence running contrary to his running mate's embrace of Vladimir
Putin, calling the Russian leader "small and bullying" and Kaine
repeatedly going after Pence for Donald Trump's refusal to release his
tax returns. No one would mistake Monday's slapfest as a celebration of
perhaps it will affect the undecideds on the fence.
If, as many have suggested, the Clinton-Kaine campaign's strategy was
to put Pence on the defensive, denying that Trump has said a basket of
deplorable things we all know he has said, then the evening may
ultimately belong to them. We won't know for sure until we see the
impact, if any, of the fact checking that will appear over the next
few days as Pence's denials are thrown up against the videotape of
Trump declaring exactly what Pence claimed he didn't. Those facts
certainly won't change the magical thinking of the Trump-Pence base;
Warren'
Rating by onstage performance and the response of the pundit class,
Pence's icy calm may have won out over Kaine's hyper champing at the
bit, and the Republican governor certainly has deftly positioned
himself for 2020. But as Mark Twain said of Richard Wagner's operas,
Kaine's attacks may have been better than they sound.
We'll see. What's for sure is that the clear losers were any Americans
who hoped to hear something, anything, of real substance. Days to go:
33, and the republic is still adrift, with no sign of the lifeboats.
Michael Winship is the Emmy Award-winning senior writer of Moyers &
Company and BillMoyers.com, and a former senior writing fellow at the
policy and advocacy group Demos. Follow him on Twitter at
@MichaelWinship(https://twitter.com/MichaelWinship?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoo
gle%7C
twcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) .
Samantha Bee on Tim Kaine: Remind Me, Why Is Senator 'Not Elizabeth
on the Ticket? (Video)
Thinking Dangerously in the Age of Normalized Ignorance
U.S. Labor Department Says States Are Failing Injured Workers
The Climate Is Changing Too Quickly for Crops to Survive
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
C 2016 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
Signup for Truthdig's newsletter
