Hillary & The 7 Dwarfs

Democratic Debate on MSNBC

Hillary & the 7 Dwarfs

by Gary Wood

© September 26, 2007

What an interesting two hours of Democratic Debate watching, did you see this one? Taking place at Dartmouth University, in New Hampshire, there were 8 candidates on the stage. Tim Russert, of MSNBC, was the person asking most of the questions. Now, I’d use the term moderator but he showed very little sign of being a moderator so I’ll leave it at the person asking most of the questions.

Many of the questions were very good yet a candidate may or may not have the chance to answer one since the questions changed rapidly from candidate to candidate. Some were specific to a point while others seemed formulated to garner a more broad view. This was good until a broad question would be asked of a couple and then a specific of the others. Watching it unfold I began to feel there was a pattern of broad, thought inducing questions asked to the few front runners and more specific, defensive inducing questions asked of some of those trailing. Former Senator Gravel was specifically asked about business and personal financial challenges, attempted to answer and then was cut off abruptly while trying to expound on the answer.

This was a pattern that was too obvious and too widely used. During the so-called lightning round, each candidate only having 30 seconds, it depended once again on who the candidate was. Representative Kucinich went 35 seconds and Tim Russert was calling time. The previous candidates were allowed to go from 40 to 70 seconds without a word from Russert. If you were not a front runner it was a night of little opportunity and strict timing. Aside from the first time Sen. Gravel was called on he was rarely heard from. Perhaps that is because at the end of his first answer, when he was discussing the vote in the Senate today which was very similar to the legislation on Iraq but this time named Iran, he praised Senators Biden and Dodd for voting against it. He then turned to Senator Clinton, as if he were her father, and stated, “...and you Hillary I’m ashamed of, and Obama wasn’t even there to vote!” It was priceless but it may have cost him precious camera time the rest of the way.

There was a lot of leeway given on time if you were Joe Biden, John Edwards, or Barack Obama. Each had ample opportunities to run past their allotted time in each of the different rounds. Chris Dodd had a little less time to voice his opinions. The four were all treated relatively respectfully at all times, as well, which was not the same for Richardson, Kucinich, and Gravel. It speaks well of their fortitude to be able to stay at their lecterns. If I had been treated the way they were I would have been tempted to walk off the stage in protest.

One that should not protest at all is Senator Hillary Clinton. Tim Russert gave her inordinate amounts of time to answer her questions. If she were rambling she was allowed to ramble. If there was confusion about her answer Mr. Russert would even be kind enough to ask it another way and then give her equal amounts of time to answer again. At first it looked like he was confronting her and I thought he was just upset that she was dodging an answer, which she was. As the debate wore on it became quite apparent, this was his way of allowing her to dominate the debate. There can be no doubt Tim Russert manipulated the questions and time to favor Hillary Clinton. Even on the final, traditional ‘Yankees or Red Sox’ question Mr. Russert allowed her to answer and then interjected the scenario of her other favorite team, the Cubs, getting in and they enjoyed a nice conversation which she finally said she would have to basically switch between the two during the series (why not, she switches her politics depending on the audience, might as well do the same for her baseball teams). The others it was straight up and down, which one.

Another slanted aspect was when Tim Russert said one of the candidates would face a Republican in the General Elections, and it may be Rudy Giuliani. Then he proceeded to ask a question regarding a stance by Giuliani so all of a sudden it was the Democrats, mainly Hillary, against Giuliani in the General Election. He mentioned no other Republican by name. Nice try Mr. Russert and MSNBC. Tonight you not only tried to help the Democratic race be Hillary and the 7 Dwarfs but you also are trying to then make it Hillary and Rudy.

I’ll let you dig into the questions and responses to determine what was said. As can be expected there was a talk of nationalist controls, higher taxes, fiscal responsibility, caring for us, and denials of State’s ability to do so. Oh...Ok, just one of the questions. It was asked if elected would the candidate support ending the manipulation of Federal highway dollars to persuade States to keep the drinking age at 21 and instead allow each State to decide the age with no Federal penalty (robbery) of funds. Quickly the answers started ‘no’ which I expected, since that would mean giving more power to the States instead of in the Federal level. But, in a flash, the question was turned into whether they would lower the drinking age to 18 and Tim Russert even used that as the question to push for quick answers from 5 of the candidates after allowing 3 to go well beyond time limits. It was as if none of them care to address the real question, one of State power over Federal power and one of the Federal manipulations of tax dollars from the people to control not only the people but each and every State as well. That’s Nationalism folks, and each candidate but Kucinich and Gravel were all for it!

All in all it was the worst excuse of a ‘debate’ I’ve ever seen. On the eve of the 47^th anniversary of the Kennedy – Nixon televised debates it was comical. I have to say comical because the longer it went and the more obvious the slanted nature toward Hillary became and one could only laugh and not take any of it serious. The debate formats used these days are bad enough and cannot really be classified as debates but this was the Hillary and Tim comedy hour. Bring back the Lincoln - Douglas debates, they can work even in a crowded field! After watching this display, I simply felt sorry for the poor 7 Dwarfs while hoping to never have to endure another Tim Russert, MSNBC sponsored Hillary coronation.