Now that the Dem and Repub fields have trimmed down to a manageable number, the debates have gotten interesting to me. Last night, I was able to sit through a little of the Repub scrimmage at the Reagan Library, albeit in the after-hours replay version. Tonight, it was Hillary vs Obama, mano a mano. I decided to see it live, starting at 7 pm on CNN.
It was obvious that the CNN crew wanted to stir the chumbucket and get the candidates ripping at each other's jugulars, but HRC and Barack weren't having none o' that. They were patient and civil to each other throughout, and even grinned at each other's one-liners. From a media standpoint, it had to be a letdown, but I appreciated the fact the two camps had apparently agreed to stay on the high road for at least one night. Having seen McCain, Willard, and The Hucker last night, I'll admit I'd have an easier time coping with four years of either of the Dems. It was relaxing to watch a debate in which the spirit of Ronald Reagan wasn't being invoked every few seconds and in which the debate participants weren't constantly claiming to be the most conservative one. As a bonus, there were a lot of celebrities in the audience. I spotted Stevie Wonder, Rob Reiner, and I'm almost sure I saw Steven Spielberg. Plus one of the guys who played James Bond, can't recall his name offhand. I can't think of a single cool Republican star, although there might be a couple. Bruce Willis ? Is he cool ? Clint Eastwood, unquestionably cool, was a Repub once, but may have crossed over into the light in recent years.
The post-debate panelists were pretty much the same crew as last night, with the addition of Jeffery Toobin. The only hardcore RWer in sight was Bill Bennett, the nation's self-proclaimed morality czar who has the gambling problem. Bill looks like he might be weighing in at about 300 pounds these days. Is gluttony a moral issue ?
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