It was really bad and I don't think it'll inspire the students who attended which is sad.
They appeared to be responding to thoughts they'd brought with them without being open to what was being said. Both gave responses to questions that had little to nothing to do with the original topics.
No one ever asked about Haley Barbour and only one student asked about economic development yet job figures and Herring's love of Haley and Haley's ethics came up multiple times.
Their responses were not always clear and often included multiple unrelated topics.
Herring seemed to speak like he was being paid by the word.
The most interesting point of the night was when the following student stood up to offer a popular opinion from the students there. You needn't watch past the first minute. The response to this, like everything else, was largely disappointing.
Thanks for covering this. I feel your pain; it sounds like it was excruciating, and I know I'm not going to want to sit through it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the purpose of the Iraq discussion was supposed to be. Is Governor Barbour supposed to withdraw troops if the parliament doesn't meet a timetable? What? It doesn't make any damn sense.
Good to hear Dowdy at least took a moderate position on immigration reform. Props to him for that. I hear today that Bryant is also deemphasizing the role of immigration and lowering his volume a little bit on that issue, so if Eaves drops the matter, too, maybe we'll all get out of this without a kristallnacht.
Was Herring asked about the "vote with the black caucus" remark?
War came up because is was more a Democratic/Republican Debate rather than a 2007 Elections debate.
ReplyDeleteI thought about asking Herring about the quote and even wrote it down so I'd quote him correctly, but decided against it. I came close to asking during the immigration questions and would have framed it as "a new American racism," but they cut questions off before I could ask.
Other folks didn't necessarily stay on topic, but I decided against a gotcha question.
Oh, and before anyone points it out, I do realize that Herring is "voluntary" chairman.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would have considered it a gotcha question--when Richardson was asked in the first 2008 debate about a remark he'd made regarding Alberto Gonzales, for example, it gave him the opportunity to clarify and apologize--but I can respect the fact that it would have distracted from the debate, which from the sounds of it was intended to be about ideas rather than personalities.
ReplyDeleteWhen you hear "stop loss" really loud, that is me. I hate it when they call it an "all volunteer army" over and over when they won't let thousands leave even though they've served what they expected to and when even my own family members have joined for economic opportunity; not the opportunity to go shoot and be shot at.
ReplyDeleteOf course Jim Herring talks like he is being paid by the word---He was a lawyer, and they do virtually get paid by the word.
ReplyDeleteOf course Wayne Dowdy says he would have voted against Iraq. It is easy to say that now. However the situation was different at the time. Just ask Hillary Clinton, who, by the way, voted to go to Iraq.
John, maybe your family is fighting for economic reasons instead of for patriotic reasons, but I know so many kids who graduated from high school and signed up for the army because they want to protect their freedom, kids who aren't Republican or Democrat--kids who are AMERICANS!
AS Americans it is our duty to support our trooops. We do not have to agree with what they are fighting for, but it is our DUTY to support our troops.
"AS Americans it is our duty to support our trooops. We do not have to agree with what they are fighting for, but it is our DUTY to support our troops."
ReplyDeleteNo disagreement here, and you can support the troops while opposing the mission. If you can't question your government during a time of war when can you question it? (especially considering how often we are a war)
I also have a friend in Iraq right now and we disagree on a lot, but I still care for him and wish for his safety and a clear mission that has a possibility of success.
The "duty to support the troops" line is far more often used to attack people with legitimate concerns than it is to actually show concern for the welfare of our military so I generally dislike the line.