...And not just on content of his positions (yeah, I'm biased, so I'm not getting into those, too much).
Tactically, the debate was a solid win for Goddard, and not just because Brewer did such a horrible job ("we has did"!! YES!).
Like many folks, my opinion on the race is already well-defined (GO GODDARD!). He did a good job on Wednesday night, but even if he had turned in a mediocre performance he'd still have my support.
Likewise, Brewer supporters would still support her even if she had just stared into the camera and drooled (which might have been an improvement over the performance she turned in, but I digress...)
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission must really have had it in for me when they scheduled both the LD17 and Governor's debates for the same time.
Thank God for the wonders of technology.
Went to the LD17 debate at ASU and watched the debate between the candidates for governor via DVR.
In addition, the debate can be found on the website of KAET, the PBS affiliate in Phoenix, and on YouTube (the YouTube video is embedded below).
After viewing the debate, and pondering Brewer's grammatical gaffes (i.e. - "we have did what was right for Arizona.." at the 4:45 mark), deflections (i.e. - blaming unions and SB1070-inspired boycotts for Arizona's long-cratered economy and the decades of damage to Arizona's education system wrought by the decades of unrelenting attacks on it by Republicans in the legislature) and outright lies (Brewer at the 39:00 mark: "We have balanced the budget!"), one clear observation emerges -
As bad as Brewer did during the debate, the Rs' biggest tactical mistake was allowing their faux-Green candidate, Larry Gist, anywhere near a camera and microphone.
His positions of "privatize prisons" and "health care reform violates states' rights" and more, he gave strong evidence that he's nothing more than a Republican plant in the race.
Any Green party voters watching that debate would have realized that if they vote for Gist, they'll just be allowing themselves to be used by cynical Republican operatives like Derrick Lee.
According to the Secretary of State's latest voter registration count, there are 4585 registered Greens in Arizona.
Most of those voters were almost certainly pushed into the Goddard column by the debate.
5 comments:
Thanks for reporting the gist of the debate.
"...gist of the debate."?
[groan]
Thank you for the coverage of the debate.
I am amazed that Gist advocated for privately operated prisons. He seems more likely to pull votes from the Republican candidate than Terry Goddard.
Thane,
FWIW, I thought that Hess gave the 2nd best performance of the night I disagreed with most of his positions, but his presentation of those positions was solid.
As for Gist, well, his presentation sucked. Which is good for Ds, but that was about it.
I completely agree that Barry Hess was a more reasoned opponent to Goddard. And I'm slightly surprised at the chorus of crickets from the "Brewer Amen Chorus" I typically have the misfortune of hearing cackle over on the Facebook. It's almost too silent. It's kinda freaking me out.
You don't think we're about to hear reported on the news...hah. Nevermind. Too creepy to venture a
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