{"id":1317703,"date":"2020-01-15T23:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/funt-column-debate-fatigue\/"},"modified":"2020-01-15T23:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T06:40:00","slug":"funt-column-debate-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/funt-column-debate-fatigue\/","title":{"rendered":"Funt column: Debate fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Tuesday\u2019s event was supposed to be the big one, the final showdown before actual voting begins. If, like me, you\u2019ve watched every minute of every Democratic debate so far \u2013 and here\u2019s wishing we\u2019d all get a life \u2013 you know the unfortunate truths:<\/p>\n

\u2013 The candidates are what they have become. There\u2019s not a scintilla of insight regarding the front-runners that wasn\u2019t clear after the first debate last June.<\/p>\n

The Democrats\u2019 debate performance looks increasingly like a traveling road show \u2013 meant to be sampled by curious crowds at each stop, but not by the same TV audience over and over. The actors know their lines. They\u2019ve polished and trimmed. A few players have left the cast and one new billionaire recently stepped in, but for the most part it\u2019s a pat performance.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The basic format is fine for one or two debates, but it doesn\u2019t deliver month after month. The Democratic National Committee has fixated on the rules for qualifying but ignored the need for alternative formats.<\/p>\n

A single-topic debate was considered but rejected by the DNC. Other changes have been floated \u2013 including a few by me in this space \u2013 but party leaders won\u2019t budge. That\u2019s unfortunate because voters would benefit by seeing if these candidates can go off-script, if they can sing as well as dance.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Aggression pleases commentators but not voters. After earlier debates there was a lot of pundit-speak about who delivered meaningful blows and who was able \u201cto take a punch.\u201d It\u2019s an ugly way of describing Democratic politics, plus it doesn\u2019t work. The hardest hitter, California Sen. Kamala Harris, has quit the race. Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was another early aggressor, as was former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. He\u2019s out and she\u2019s fading away.<\/p>\n

The four front-runners wisely mind their manners. Former Vice President Joe Biden saves his aggression for the end of each debate when he bellows at the audience, \u201cThis is America!\u201d (Sounds like Eddie Murphy, \u201cI\u2019m Gumby, damn it!) Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren lets facts, figures and a plethora of plans do her talking. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is an articulate choir boy. Only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is a bit gruff \u2013 but he\u2019s not nasty. He\u2019s more like a lovable uncle.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Defeating Trump is important, dwelling on how is not. The most overworked and bankrupt line of questioning in each debate is some variation of \u201cWhy are you the best candidate to beat Trump?\u201d The answer, to the extent there is one, will be found in the sum of everything said in all debates, on the campaign trail and, ultimately, at the polls. But there is no way whatsoever to meaningfully address the question in a single debate-stage statement.<\/p>\n

Yet, the question keeps getting asked. It forces Buttigieg to remind us he\u2019s a Midwesterner who served in Afghanistan; Biden to note that he\u2019s experienced and sat at Obama\u2019s side; Warren to point out that she and Klobuchar have won every election they\u2019ve been in; Sanders to restate the need for sweeping social and political change. Truth is, they can each beat Trump but only one will get to show us how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Rooting for gaffes isn\u2019t fun, or particularly useful. At one point on the stage in Des Moines, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar couldn\u2019t quite recall the name of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. After the debate, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared to rebuff Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 offer to shake hands. So what?<\/p>\n

The night\u2019s Big Deal was supposed to be whether Sanders did or did not once tell Warren that a woman couldn\u2019t be elected president. If ever there was an inconsequential he said\/she said issue, this is it. Suffice it to say, Sanders and Warren are friends and, yes, a woman can and will be elected president \u2013 in 2020 or soon thereafter.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Moderators keep messing up. Right near the top, CNN\u2019s Wolf Blitzer asked Sanders about \u201cattacking\u201d Biden over his voting record on Iraq. Moments later Blitzer asked Klobuchar about why she has \u201cpublicly questioned Mayor Buttigieg\u2019s experience.\u201d These are not appropriate debate questions, they are transparent attempts to bait the candidates. Moderators have persisted in this for seven straight debates.<\/p>\n

One bright spot this time was the valiant effort by Abby Phillip of CNN and Brianne Pfannenstiel of the Des Moines Register to control the clock. Since June the candidates have deliberately stretched their answers and squeezed more time, despite the presence of warning lights on stage and gentle pleas from moderators. Klobuchar is one of the biggest abusers; Biden is the most respectful of the rules limiting time. The interruptions by Phillip and Pfannenstiel might have annoyed some viewers, but they had no choice. These Demo-cats have proved hard to herd.<\/p>\n

The best that can be said for the seven debates is that the whole might prove to be greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps the grind \u2013 as redundant as it\u2019s been in some ways, yet incomplete in others \u2013 is necessary to confirm who is best able to go all the way to November. Maybe the best we could have expected from the debates so far was that a huge field, that reached 25 at one point, would be cut to a more manageable roster of four or five for the next rounds.<\/p>\n

But after seven debates Democrats have pretty much given us a Peggy Lee: \u201cIs that all there is?\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday\u2019s event was supposed to be the big one, the final showdown before actual voting begins. If, like me, you\u2019ve watched every minute of every Democratic debate so far \u2013 and here\u2019s wishing we\u2019d all get a life \u2013 you know the unfortunate truths: \u2013 The candidates are what they have become. There\u2019s not a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 05:12:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}