It was awful, just absolutely disgusting. ABC News has managed to host the worst of the Democratic debates (and mind you there were 21 of them in contention). Almost 1 year after the first Democratic debate in South Carolina–a period long enough to designate this presidential season as a reality TV show–we have managed to move away from talking about serious issues and into the hands of a relentless media cycle.

Here’s the chronology of the first hour of questioning:
1. Any chance at a “Dream Ticket?”
2. “Bitter, much?”
3. “Do you think your opponent stands a chance against McCain?”
4. “What about Reverend Wright?”
5. “Wait. I have an even stupider question about Reverend Wright.”
6. “Seriously. Who were you fooling with that Bosnia shizz?”
7. “Hey, Hussein! Why no American flag lapel pin?”
9. “Hey, Sean Hannity wanted me to ask you something, Barack! I got a question on the Weather Underground! Maybe later we’ll talk about the Symbionese Liberation Army!”
–Huffington Post

Notice how 6 of the 8 are directed at Obama. Clinton only had to defend herself against the Bosnia craziness, while Obama had to answer questions on the Bittenerss remark, his realistic chances against McCain, Rev Wright, his patriotism, and the Ayre controversy (which only the right-wing media is bitching about but now will certainly be brought into the 24 hour news stream because it’s been baptized by the mainstream media as a legitimate story).

There is no doubt in my mind that Obama can, and rightfully should, defend himself against this criticism. He’s done an excellent job doing so. My issue is with ABC and how they felt compelled to bring up trivial political stories over issues. The reality is that Pennsylvania has lost a ton of manufacturing jobs because of NAFTA, health care in the state is in crisis and the housing market is in a shambles. Why did they only spend a half hour on these issues? Why did ABC decide to spend the duration of one hour criticizing Obama with trivial political stories over serious issue-oriented questions.

Never in the 21 debates has a network botched a debate this bad (and mind you I thought ABC was a respected news organization.)

————————–

Help Retire the Campaign’s Debt:

“To those of you that supported my campaign, thank you. We could not have waged the ideas based campaign and raised over $15M without you. Unfortunately, we do have a debt to retire and I am grateful for your support.” — Chris Dodd

I find it funny that the old Dodd campaign wants people to donate to their nonexistant campaign.

It’s right on their website’s homepage, “help retire the campaign’s debt.” Why would someone contribute money to a dead campaign, what motivation is there?

This also begs the question of how much the Dodd campaign was left in debt. It certainly reveals that they outspent their means. And honestly for what?– 0% in the Iowa caucus?

I don’t like picking on Sen. Chris Dodd, after all, he did endorse Obama, but when I see a plea on his main webpage for campaign donations long after his long-shot bid for the presidency has ended, it makes you wonder who is actually going to contribute, and how much they were in the hole towards the end of it.

It’s a dumb idea on behalf of Senator Clinton…

Two thoughts:

1. Lets not forget the influence of China (should she be elected)… she’ll be the new President of the United States, and she would have decided to have boycotted the Beijing Olympics. The Olympics are revered by the Chinese people, an incredibly significant moment in their nation’s history, and they’ve invested huge amounts of money in building the infrastructure in a timely manner. The planning for this Olympic ceremony is impeccable. It makes me nervous, given the justification of boycotting their Olympics for human rights abuses, simply because of the international implications involved. They’re buying our debt, they have our bonds, and the only way were ever going to have a stable relationship with North Korea is through the Chinese.
2. Simply, when you boycott the opening ceremony, it looks like you’re boycotting the athletes. Lets remember that all the athletes wear their nation’s flag with pride. Everything they do, all their training, all the preparation… the workout, the time, energy, and support–  everything these people invest in these games takes pride, hard work and endurance. And if the president, future or current, doesn’t stand with them in a demonstration of pride and confidence, it doesn’t need context, it just looks bad.

I would first like to apologize for taking a hiatus from posting. I had dental work done last week (still have more to do), and flew back to Philadelphia last Sunday. Spring Break is over : (

So here’s an interesting thing I’ve drudged up…

Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton’s high profile campaign chairman, is posing for a picture with a gigantic Obama ‘08 sign, while he still wears his Clinton pin.

Is there a Hillary sign on the other side of the Obama sign? Were the Obama supporters being deceptive? Or is this some form of self-deprecating humor?

Interesting story in Politico today on how Pennsylvania voters resent James Carville’s ‘Alabama’ comparison:

“People think it meant that basically there are two areas of the state where people can read and write and treat people with a certain amount of respect and the rest of the state is redneck trailer trash,” said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia public affairs consultant with ties to the Democratic Party. “It ended up being a slander on people who are living in those places. I would like to see the line retired.”

A quick observation: what are they saying about the state of Alabama?

Carville is a Clinton loyalist, but in his defense, he was referring to the strong socially conservative, churchgoing tradition in the sparsely dense center of the state. It’s not his fault that his analogy is so apt, nor that the people of Pennsylvania can’t control their narrow minded anti-Southern bias.

Seriously–the South isn’t incest-ridden, backwoods, redneck hillbilly trailor trash. If people are seriously taking offense to this comparison, then they should look at themselves and their own biases.

Also noteworthy, a Public Policy Institute poll has Obama taking the lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania, 45-43. I haven’t been able to look at the specifics of the poll, but based on precident, PPI has been better than most polls.

My nerves are a little shocked, I’m getting a root canal in about an hour so wish me luck!