Austinist: The Democratic Debate: The Fever Breaks, a Dead Heat Cools

elvislives

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:31:18 -0600

I enjoyed this review as well, very good job. Hillary's NPR zinger, the "change you can xerox" really irritated me because it was such a lame attempt of an attack. I understand she needs to attack as she's lost 11 straight states but seriously, you nailed it when you said she's pretending that speech writers don't exist. I was happy when one of the CNN post-debate "experts" immediately accused Hillary of plagiarizing her last comment (her cross-court winner if you will) the "We'll be fine, I only hope we can say the same about the American people" directly from John Edwards. Here's a link that shows she could have gotten it from either Bill Clinton or John Edwards http://wonkette.com/359517/hillary-plagiarizes-john-edwards-bill-clinton

Mike Agresta

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:54:58 -0600

This is the best debate coverage I've read anywhere online, and I've looked around a bunch. Good job! I wonder if it was that whiff of the lincoln bedroom sheets that had obama sniffling, or the texas cedar.

timgrad

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:20:27 -0600

Unfortunately, they're not really "debates" in any meaningful sense--it's more like, "Senator, could you please recite your talking points about fill-in-the-blank?" If they were actually addressing one another...that would be a debate.

truecraig

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:04:59 -0600

I didn't catch the post-Xerox groan, but the commentator introduced it as some sort of stinging blow, but then countered that with the Obama quote about her being the co-chair who handed him the lines etc, to an equal uproar of applause. They could have just made fun of each others' hair styles or started some 'yo mamma' jokes and the entertainment quality of material delivered would have increased tenfold. You know, I'm not a huge fan of debates like this to begin with, but is there anything of merit that ever comes out of these things? I mean, is it just my growing cynicism at work or did this debate produce nothing beyond toothy photos and some really lame sound bites?

shototsu

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:49:14 -0600

"Which is informative, since I wasn’t aware good ideas ever got that far." That one definitely pulled a snicker out of me. Nicely done. This post is better than the mathematical proof I demanded to show that "CNN=politics" Oh, and truecraig, I heard the audience groan in the NPR clip; at least all was not lost.

truecraig

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:33:43 -0600

On NPR they made the whole "Xerox" comment appear to be pretty well-received by the crowd. Not that it really matters, because the general public (though not represented at all in the attendance there at the debate) is deeply in love with American Idol, and can pretty much clap/laugh on cue at this point. So, there's that.

Edie

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:01:54 -0600

Watson only made himself look bad - not Obama.

Sal Costello

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:52:19 -0600

Sen. Kirk Watson is a SNAKE and Karma is a bitch. It's just too bad that it has to make a presidential candidate look bad. In October, Sen. Kirk Watson voted to ignore the public and divert nearly a Billion tax dollars to convert portions of Austin existing freeways (183, 290W, 290E, 71E, and 71W) into tollways. This double tax scheme is Gov. Rick Perry's! Tolling drivers to use public expressways to drive to work, school and shop, benefits Watson contributors, developers he was hired to lobby for and the City of Austin, who pays Watson $450 an hour to do land deals. http://salcostello.blogspot.com/

tomt

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:29:30 -0600

Great piece. Well done.

Edie

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:22:08 -0600

Thank you for the excellent summary. Your writeup is a lot more entertaining than the debate. I swear I saw a manufactured tear welling up in Hillary's eye at the end - right after "People ask me, how do I do it?...." Did she have visine in her pocket?