Putting some of the Vice in the Presidency
First and foremost, tonight’s vice presidential debate – overlaid on last week’s first presidential one – is that any lingering question of why Dick Cheney was paired with G.W. Bush, and why Bush didn’t want to appear before a senate panel without Cheney was put soundly to rest. Generally composed and sharp, however suspect his facts may have been.
Tonight we definitely saw a foreshadowing of this Friday’s presidential debate as Cheney and Edwards moved onto the issues of the economy. They are most assuredly loading the President with key points of rhetoric, and Kerry has to come equipped with at least the most telling facts and figures concerning the Bush administration’s policies on the economy, education and healthcare. Meanwhile, Bush is undoubtedly being schooled as best they can in any seemingly contradictory senatorial votes Kerry may have been party to over the past 30 years, and if they can't find anything or can't depend upon Dubya to retain it, he'll undoubtedly harp on the vote for "No Child Left Behind." If both camps use this opportunity to sharpen their points heading into this it could be a good and telling exchange. Unfortunately, anyone with two brain cells to shift charges between and who’s paid any attention to politics over any stretch of most of the history of mankind knows that facts and figures will be chosen selectively by each side. A hard evaluation and sifting of the facts is nearly impossible to accomplish within the structure of a debate, where poise, forceful language and a well-placed zinger are the real weapons. Indeed, such things often become lost even in the post mortem period.
Getting back to the vice presidential debate, Cheney started strong and then ultimately began to dissolve into the administration’s smoke screen charge of “flip-flopping.” He also lost major points by momentarily bringing out the tired charge that the Democrats promised improvements in healthcare access for years and didn’t deliver, which neglects the reason for that lack of delivery: The GOP, supported financially by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, blocked it over and over. Just as they wasted both terms of the Clinton administration – especially the second one – with a relentless witch hunt for anything they could find. First was the protracted Whitewater investigation, and when they couldn’t get the Clintons on that they went after sexual matters that should never have become a public matter. I will never forgive any of the moralists who pressed the “Monicagate” debacle as far as it went.
Tonight we definitely saw a foreshadowing of this Friday’s presidential debate as Cheney and Edwards moved onto the issues of the economy. They are most assuredly loading the President with key points of rhetoric, and Kerry has to come equipped with at least the most telling facts and figures concerning the Bush administration’s policies on the economy, education and healthcare. Meanwhile, Bush is undoubtedly being schooled as best they can in any seemingly contradictory senatorial votes Kerry may have been party to over the past 30 years, and if they can't find anything or can't depend upon Dubya to retain it, he'll undoubtedly harp on the vote for "No Child Left Behind." If both camps use this opportunity to sharpen their points heading into this it could be a good and telling exchange. Unfortunately, anyone with two brain cells to shift charges between and who’s paid any attention to politics over any stretch of most of the history of mankind knows that facts and figures will be chosen selectively by each side. A hard evaluation and sifting of the facts is nearly impossible to accomplish within the structure of a debate, where poise, forceful language and a well-placed zinger are the real weapons. Indeed, such things often become lost even in the post mortem period.
Getting back to the vice presidential debate, Cheney started strong and then ultimately began to dissolve into the administration’s smoke screen charge of “flip-flopping.” He also lost major points by momentarily bringing out the tired charge that the Democrats promised improvements in healthcare access for years and didn’t deliver, which neglects the reason for that lack of delivery: The GOP, supported financially by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, blocked it over and over. Just as they wasted both terms of the Clinton administration – especially the second one – with a relentless witch hunt for anything they could find. First was the protracted Whitewater investigation, and when they couldn’t get the Clintons on that they went after sexual matters that should never have become a public matter. I will never forgive any of the moralists who pressed the “Monicagate” debacle as far as it went.
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