Pittsburgh PA's Reaction to the Debate Last Night

writes3000

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Thu Apr-17-08 08:28 PM
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Pittsburgh PA's Reaction to the Debate Last Night

Pssst, they agreed with the black guy. Interesting analysis on the Pittsburgh suburbs as well.

FULL COURT PRESS
Charles Kaiser reports from Pittsburgh on reactions to the latest presidential debate
By Charles Kaiser

Pittsburgh, Thursday, April 16

Forget almost everything you've read about last night's idiotic presidential debate. It's true that George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson engaged in an unseemly competition to see who could humiliate himself the most on national television—but the people like NBC's Chuck Todd who thought Barack Obama's performance was "near disastrous" are just flat wrong.

Here in Pittsburgh, the viewers assembled to watch the debate by the local ABC affiliate were nearly unanimous in their instant analysis: All of the questions asked in the first 45 minutes were a waste of time, and the "journalists" asking them were ridiculous. When Obama said, "This is the kind of manufactured issue our politics have become obsessed with"—flag lapel pins, passing friendships with former Weathermen, or perfectly accurate ruminations about how 25 years of unemployment have embittered some of its victims—most people agreed with Obama.

What's worse? The fact that George Stephanopoulos would go on Sean Hannity's radio show to solicit questions for last night's debate, or the fact that he actually used one of Hannity's questions, asking Obama about his passing friendship with William Ayers, a former Weatherman who once said he wished he had set off more bombs in the 1970s.

"The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George," Obama shot back. Then he pointed out that he was equally close to conservative senator Tom Coburn, who favors the death penalty for anyone who carries out an abortion. "Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements?" Obama asked. Chuck Todd thought that was a mistake; I thought it was very effective.

Naturally, Hillary tried to distort the issue further by saying, "What did was set bombs, and in some instances people died." That's true—but the only people who died were the three Weathermen who blew themselves up by mistake in a Greenwich Village town house in 1970. (Bonus points if you can remember who initiated the magnificent American flag pin tradition. Answer: that Great American, Richard Milhous Nixon.)

But more important than anything you saw last night was the ringing endorsement Obama received yesterday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hillary had visited with the editorial board there Monday—entering the newspaper building through a side door, dashing into her meeting with the board, and leaving just as quickly. Barack arrived Tuesday through the front door. After wowing the board, he wandered into the newsroom and worked the reporters there for 10 minutes; then he dived into the crowd that had gathered outside the paper to make some more converts. Guess who made the better impression?

(continued at the link)

http://radaronline.com/features/2008/04/pittsburgh_debates_george_stephanopoulos_full_court_press_01.php