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alwayssummer -> RE: Sen. Scott Brown (R) Meets Elizabeth Warren (D) in Mass. Senate Debate (10/1/2012 8:57:13 PM)
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I've been a huge fan of Eliz Warren for years and even a modest contributor to her campaign. So I was excitedly anticipating this debate#2, which I watched livestreamed, and was unabashedly rooting for Warren. So, my views expressed will be obviously skewed in her direction.
I was really upset to tune in and find David Gregory "moderating" this debate. He is a very aggressive Republican, his Sunday morning show statistically heavily favors Republican male talking points and heads and beltway/bubble nonsense. Overall Gregory did not moderate but framed and controlled this debate, as if it were his own "Meet the Press", shortchanged Warren in equal time, even frequently tried to interrupt ( i.e.end) her thoughtful replies. It was painful to watch. If I were a Mass voter I would feel cheated indeed that this journalistic carpetbagger so emphatically inserted himself and his Beltway ideology into the debate for a Massachusetts Senate seat.
So Gregory was a major handicap to this even being a forum for debate and exchange of ideas. Supporting the supposed panacea of Bipartisanship and The Catfood Commission(B-S) are not the benchmarks for judging suitability for Senatorial election...these are Beltway myths. The obligation of Democratic candidates is 1) to defend the perpetuity of medicare, social security and medicaid against lock step ALEC/KOCH/ROVE/Norquist water carriers who now never compromise their decades old obsession to destroy these programs 2) to take a hefty scalpel to the DOD and now Homeland Security budget whales 3) to make sure that citizens' Constitutional rights like the right to choose, to vote, to privacy, to equal opportunity, and now to affordable health care are protected by Supreme Court appointments 4) to protect the environment and the planet and 5)to pass fair tax policy and grow employment. The current Congress, including Scott Brown, stand for none of these principles so they all need to be replaced. Despite all of Brown's whimping, he is not a Democrat and does not espouse or protect any of these defining ideals.
I was hoping this debate would get deeper into the meat of these issues instead of rehashing/wasting time on the personal garbage Gregory was intent on rehashing and Brown was happy to
keep on embarrassing himself over/diminishing his likeability advantage. I was hoping that Warren would have also questioned Brown's work as a "small bank real estate attorney"...not in reality the small time, folksy guy he pretends. Instead Brown really has some issues to answer for in working as a legal "closer" for the parent company of LPS, one of the worst offenders in the foreclosure fraud industry.
A recent informative article about Brown's association with foreclosure fraud, Mike Lux,"Dumb Idea-Put the Guys Who Caused the Problem in Charge" Huffington Post, Sept 28 2012.
I also wish Warren would define factually a few of Brown's misleading terms. He has in both debates referred to studies by The US Chamber of Commerce and The NFIB to support his own
stubbornness to preserve tax cuts for the top 2%. Both of these agencies are mouthpieces for Corporate interests (ALEC/KOCH/ROVE/Wall Street) only. They do not represent the interests of either small business or small businesspeople...they were created and operate only to further the opinions and priorities of their own self-aggrandisement. Finally Warren needs to emphasize that Brown and the Republicans perpetual canard about "protecting small businesses" is really about only protecting "vampire squid" level, taxpayer subsidized corps. Small businesses, of less than 50 employees, which is really the definition of small business, would be effected less than 3% by raising taxes on income over 250,000 or by Obamacare.
Brown's low point was obviously the "I'm not one of your students" remark tonight. Warren's did ok but she should have been given equal time. Her high point probably her funny response to Gregory insipid ? asking her to explain why there has never been a woman senator from Ma...as if that's even a legitimate question. She made it lemonade with her "I don't know.... but I'm trying to change that."
BTW I just watched right after another live stream (on ESPN website) of the Va Congressional District 7 debate tonight with Eric Cantor against a really strong opponent.
That Moderator, a local(!) Chamber of Commerce Member and unlike Gregory a nonegotist, was really good. and resulted in an highly informative and entertaining debate to watch.
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