anyone watch california governor debate ?

[JI7]

today, there was a lot of arnold bashing. the candidates seemed very comfortable with themselves and each other. one of the best was when they were asked about their favorite books and mcclintock specifically was asked "besides the bible" which i thought was kind of funny as it always seems like the kiss ass answer right wingers give. but mcclintock said milton friedman's book and arianna mentioned how at the state republican convention shwartzenegeger had also said he liked milton so they have something in common. and mcclintock responded by saying how he actually READ the book. another thing was bustamante challenged the other candidates to take up his offer to skip the "debate" which arnold will attend where the questions will be given before and to attend a REAL debate on the same day and time.

[Clete]

1. I was really busy today to watch.

I'm glad that Arianna and Cruz are holding their own though. From what I have heard Arnold say up to now, I have no idea how he thinks he is going to go up against Arianna in a REAL debate. I do hope to be able to see that. :-)

[dfong63]

2. no!!!

another thing was bustamante challenged the other candidates to take up his offer to skip the "debate" which arnold will attend where the questions will be given before and to attend a REAL debate on the same day and time.

i will vote for Cruz, but i don't support this idea. the people of the state deserve to see a debate with all the major candidates going head-to-head. if Cruz tries to sabotage this, he's not acting in the best interest of the voters.

also, i for one don't have a problem with the questions being known in advance. what's wrong with letting them think about the answers and do research? being governor is not like a closed-book midterm exam.

[JI7]

3. not sure about that

i would not really mind it if arnold had participated in the other debates, but this just allows him to repeat rehearsed statements. that's how bush runs his news conferences. and they are running for governor and will be asked questions about that, it's something they should be prepared to answer mostly without having a preview of the questions. of course they might stumble at times, but if they are prepared to be governor they should be able to answer most.

[dfong63]

6. i don't think so

i would not really mind it if arnold had participated in the other debates, but this just allows him to repeat rehearsed statements. that's how bush runs his news conferences.

even if the debate questions are known in advance, it's not a "debate" unless there are unscripted followups of some kind. arnie wouldn't be able to get away with merely repeating from rote memory.

[Democat]

7. Don't be fooled! It is not a debate - it's a press conference for Arnold

There is no debate with Arnold, his "advisors" demanded behind the scenes that he get all the questions in advance so he can just read answers written by someone else.

Cruz is smart to push for a boycott.

Arnold needs to be exposed and letting him read speeches written by Bush speech writers isn't going to help Democrats or voters.

[JI7]

8. agree

that's why he didn't attend these other debates. and only one where he gets questions in advance. notice he does shows like oprah and larry king rather than meet the press or wolf blitzer. not that they are so great, but at least it focuses on politics.

[JI7]

4. ON CSPAN NOW

at the moment gray davis is speaking bu ti think they will play the debate with the other candidates afterwards. it was kind of fun to watch, so watch if you can.

[hooligan]

5. Thanks for the heads up

I've got it on C-SPAN now. I forgot all about it.

[Moot]

9. "Tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend"

"Tax, spend, tax, spend, dat's all deh know to duu," and that's all Arnie's managed to memorize so far. So I can't really see him doing well in a debate, rehearsed or not. But, I'm sure it will be amusing....if it ever he does participate. Just look how well he did on Oprah.

I hope Bustemante was kidding about moving the debate. That would actually benefit Arnie by giving him an excuse to miss another debate and make the others look like dirty tricksters. Well, at least now we know how Bustemante thinks. The 'Green' guy seemed to defer to all the other candidates on everything except renewable energy. I thought Ariana was witty, but I'm not sure I agree with her on some of the issues. Who else was there.....oh,um. McKlintok. NOT! He's too arnery and just plain wrong. So who does that leave to vote for? I have a friend who's running, I think I'll vote for her.

VOTING QUESTION:
If I lived in CA and I was voting NO RECALL, would I still have the option of voting for one of the 134 candidates? I think I would but not sure.

[JI7]

10. yes you can

even if you vote NO on the recall , you still CAN vote for one of the candidates running for governor. there are some right wingers who are lying about this to people.

[AP]

11. I think McClintock serves the purpose of making Democrats feel

comfortable voting for Arnold. People look at that sick RWer and say, man, he makes Arnold seem like a moderate.

[JI7]

12. true

i even thought early on that arnold could not be so bad. but seeing how the media favors him even when he skips real debates and only appears on entertainment type shows and doesn't really answer questions got me totally against him.

[GregW]

13. Let's face it ... Ahhhnuld is a coward

Someone should be following him around in a chicken suit DEMANDING he debate the other candidates 1:1 with no prepared questions. Every Democrat candidate should lead off every news conference and interview with, "Where's Ahhhnuld?"

[yellowdawgdem]

14. Huffington very likable

I watched half of the debate, and liked the part where the mod. asked Arianna if she'd give up some of her time to Cruz, since she had 6 minutes, and he only had 1 or 2. I thought it was just great that she refused to give any time to him, and also said that the reason she had the 6 minutes was cuz she budgeted really well. I thought Camejo also got a chance to express his views, but he is not as fiery as huffington. In some ways, it would be exciting to have her for gov, I bet she could totally balance the budget.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Huffington and Peter Camejo were on target

when they blamed both major parties, including the Bush regime, for California's woes.

I thought that Bustamante held his own very well.

McClintock does appear to be the greater and rising threat to Democrats in the recall election.

[JI7]

16. how so ?

how do you see mcclintock as being a threat to democrats ? i always thought it would be better if he was the repbulican candidate and arnold dropped out since he has extremist views. personally i want to vote for arianna and don't really like bustamante, but i also don't want to take the chance of arnold getting in so might go ahead and vote bustamante. i liked it how they all bashed arnold.

[yellowdawgdem]

17. Agree about McClintock

Yes, I think that Huff and Camejo were on target, and also thought Bustamante did fine, though he is a bit blustery at times. I think he has a good chance on this one. But you are right that McClintock seems to be picking up steam, and has so far been lucky to avoid discussions focusing on his rightwing views. He does have a pretty good sense of humor, and some backbone. I'd hate to see him win, but think the only way would be if there was some funny business with the vote counting. I mean, I just don't think California is that conservative to go for him. But I agree it's a scarey thought.