Sunday there will be another presidential primary debate. Yes, yet another round of witnessing democracy at work, history in the making. More likely the GOP debate in Florida simply another round of filling the 24/7 news cycle, venerating the host's importance, and seeking "sounds bites" for a small class of pundits? Voters are invited to watch, but only at the margin. The 2007 primary cycle seems more about special interest sponsors, hype, and new technical possibilities.
When do candidates find time to campaign, let along reflect. Simply put, there are too many debates. Even journalists and bloggers observed in Matt Towrey's Inside The Numbers: Too Many Candidates, Too Many Debates.
And here's the real kicker: our surveys show that virtually no one is watching these little gems. So all the rooms filled with spinmeisters and all the column inches wasted on these non-debate debates are a relative waste of time.
Republican debate in Dearborn concluded this afternoon. The debate is one among many, and had a "been there, done that" feeling, save a couple aspects.
First, it was Fred Thompson's debate debut. Expectations were set so low that Thompson had opportunities. He held his own, but not much more. Answers tended to show the lack of well practiced routines(e. g., Romney's strength through words or McCain's return to his political truths), and even walked the line of down-home homily without sounding slow. Nonetheless his answers showed the absence of months of practice. It also seemed he received less time early, although later he joined in and gained comfort. It will be interesting to see how Fred spins in the collective media.
Aired during the FOX News debate Fred skipped in favor of the Leno Show.
Paraphrase:
Future of planet at stake. Details will have to wait until tomorrow. Now back to the debate.
Click me to go to the video. Update [2007-9-5 23:6:24 by Ross Smith]:It was just a matter of time (and not very much of it) before the video made it to YouTube to its embed here:
