The media that organizes and runs debates is now doing lots of hand-wringing over Monday's seven way face-off at Hofstra University. The criticism is that it was a sideshow and that "the issues" were not discussed.
The event sponsored by NEWSDAY and cable news Channel 12 allowed the candidates who qualified to be on the ballot to get some exposure, instead of just limiting exposure to those who can afford to buy ads. If you don't like those candidates running, the MSM should advocate for even more restrictive ballot access laws.
I was there so I feel qualified to discuss the event. There was a ton of media, so they thought it important, and it was run by reputable news organizations at a college that hosted one of the 2008 Presidential Debates.
Whether you think the minor party candidates are worthy of your vote is your business.....If they qualify for the ballot, they deserve some kind of exposure for them and their issues. After all, election law says they are all in the hunt for 50,000 votes to get ballot status for their party.
As for one liners used to garner attention....We plead guilty as charged....
I disagree that candidates didn't answer questions. They did, but some of them didn't have the clarity or discipline to answer in the 90 second window meaning the moderator had to cut them off...After the major party candidates did that a few times, I wondered about their clarity of thought and manners.
The fact that Andrew Cuomo chose to rely on platitudes practiced time and time again over the summer is not the viewers problem....He didn't need to say anything, and he didn't. Today's Siena poll has him up by 34....I wouldn't say anything either.
Carl Paladino's erratic performance was telling in itself.
The focused and concise comments from my candidate, Ms Davis, were well done....Mr. Redlich's answers were good...The radical left wing rants from Mr. Barron and Mr. McMillen and Mr. Hawkins reminded me why New York is in the state it is. I learned a lot from the debate....
If the candidate all the media has endorsed wants to discuss these "issues" we hear about, my friend Liz would be glad to get off her sickbed this week to do that interview.....So far, Mr Cuomo hasn't and he won't do anymore "debates."
The sponsors of the debate at Hofstra provided a medium for candidates to get a message out. If the candidates didn't refine and focus their message well enough for the hand wringers in the MSM, I would suggest those folks reconsider their endorsements.
Watertown Daily Times What debate?
8 comments:
I am not just interested in their messages but the oponits critisms of each others messages. Seven is too many to do that with at one time and the guy from the black wizard of oz makes a mockery of the blessing we have...the freedom to govern ourselves.
I mostly agree. I loved the debate.
In fact, I was most disappointed in the major party candidates, who had also nothing to say, and sounded very similar when they did bother to say something substantive.
I have to disagree about the left wing rants though. Hawkins--my candidate, I admit--didn't devolve into mudslinging or ranting. He diagnosed the problems he saw and offered clear solutions.
Barron did rant a bit, but it's nice to see a left-winger who isn't afraid to really go after the democrat and hold him responsible.
And McMillian? I wouldn't even call him a left-winger. He certainly doesn't represent any real left-wing faction. As he said, he's a one issue candidate. He thinks the rent is, well, too damn high. That's it.
Redlich performed very well. He was probably the most likable candidate onstage.
Davis seemed to be reading all of her answers verbatim from her notes. She had some good one-liners, but her delivery was mandatory junior high drama production quality.
If we did what Hawkins says, New York wouldn't be in this mess. It's the cut everything, deregulate everything right wing rants and policies that created the current economic crisis.
Again, the deficits didn't create the mess, the Wall Street bankers did.
Bush's war deficits have served to make it difficult to do the necessary spending, and it will take far more than what Obama spent, to stimulate the economy.
You state slashers are going to cause a deepening recession. You deny history if you don't believe it.
Perhaps you guys should watch the reruns. Cuomo had plenty to say. One of the things he said was there was too much government and he would push for consolidation of municipality services. Places like Jefferson County with all its villages and small towns may be what he has in mind. I am not saying I disagree with Cuomo, I am just saying that some of you who like to brag they were there might have missed some points.
How can a guy like StatusCuomo, who has built his entire life on government spending and intrusion into our lives, talk about the fact that there is too much government? Sorry 1:27 but I think you're the one who missed this man's entire reason to exist. He is a carbon copy of Spitzer. He is an egotistical crook who wants nothing more than to see his own career grow. It will.
Interesting how Cuomo said he wants to send more hydropower downstate. They say a gaffe is when someone accidently tells the truth. I guess Cuomo had a gaffe.
The WDT is a cheerleader for the failed two party plutocracy we have in this country. Shame on them.
Hey 9:08 remember the failed Shoreham Nuc. plant NYS taxpayers bought it. Like father like son.
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