Value Judgment: The Other Eight

Value Judgment is a daily weblog written by two independent voters on the eastern seaboard of the United States. VJ will focus on the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, including strategy, tactics, and substance. The authors supported Howard Dean in the Democratic primary. Accordingly, his activities will be a prominent topic on this site.

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J at valuejudgment.org

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December 11, 2003

The Other Eight

I'll have a lot more to say on this point soon, but for now I'll say, I agree 100% with Atrios:

No Dean/X or X/Dean

Where X=one of the other 8 candidates. The failure to "raise their hands" when Koppel asked them to do so if they thought Dean was capable of winning the election has pretty much ruled that one out. They'll play that video over and over...

Is it just me, or did you also see the Careful Eight looking at each other on that question to check first if anyone else was going to raise his/her hand?

Leaders, all. [cough]

Posted by V at December 11, 2003 09:42 PM

Comments

The Careful Eight did indeed drop the ball. One of them could have grabbed the mic and said what a stupid and insulting question it was.

I do wish that Clark or Edwards had said what others have suggested, along the lines of: "A brain-damaged ferret on speed could beat George Bush. He's failed at everything he's tried to do while in office and has made the country less prosperous, less secure, and less united as a result. He's a failed President and the American people will remove him from office as soon as possible."

I'm disappointed that the Dems are too cautious and hidebound to take it straight to him, but my loathing is still deeper for the media who think this kind of gotcha crap serves the public good in any way. Koppel was a disgrace to his profession for asking the question. It was idiotic and insulting to all of the candidates and to the audience.

Posted by: J at December 12, 2003 08:04 AM

I would've gone with "That's like asking if he can beat Dick Cheney in a foot race."

Posted by: Madden 11 at December 12, 2003 09:57 AM

J, actually it was the best question of all the debates! It probably ruled them all out as VP should Dean win the nomination, and then none of them would back it up by taking it to Dean. "Leaders, all (couhg)" is right. What other question has shown so much?

It was a crappy debate, but Koppel was trying to break up the candidates' scripts. It just didn't work... backfired.

Posted by: Todd at December 12, 2003 11:40 AM