30 Days Until Election 2004 - C-SPAN Is My Favorite Channel
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2004 10:39 PM
Yesterday, I watched the Town Hall Debate from October 15, 1992 with George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and H. Ross Perot. It was . . . fascinating. It was the first town hall format in the history of presidential debates. Clinton pointed out at the end that it was his idea and talk about playing to your strengths. I'm watching thinking a) he's twelve years old! and b) he's just insanely appealing and really made me miss having someone like that running. Mark Morford was so right when he said the problem with Kerry is that he isn't Clinton and Democrats kinda wish he was. (He notes we ought to let that one go.)

I can see why Clinton won, how Ross Perot got 19% of the vote, and, well, why Bush lost. He kept looking at his watch like he had somewhere else to be and he didn't seem to know how to talk to normal people. This was like on The Apprentice when the women talked to their restaurant patrons like they were running a joint for people who were kind of slow. Just because you wouldn't hang out with them doesn't mean you can't talk to them like they're equal human beings. In his defense on the watch thing, Perot kept going over his time and Bush was noticing it. Clinton would walk up close to the questioner and really make a connection and make whatever he promoted sound wholly rational. Perot, well, he pretty much would have said the same things if he was talking to an orange. It was dynamic and crazy and I'm not sure it made sense, but it sure sounded good.

The audience was sassy and pissed. They asked follow-up questions and totally called the candidates on not actually answering what they were asked. Well, mostly they were calling Bush on it.

The really weird part was that the candidates were all wearing variations of the same dark tie with red diagonal stripes of different widths. Actually what was eerie was that they were talking about the same stuff that we are now: Iraq; too many Americans without health insurance; the impending insolvency of Medicare, Social Security, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; the estate tax; the rising debt; the middle class tax burden; etc.-and that's so sad. Oh, and Bush mentioned that gynecologists were afraid to deliver babies because of the malpractice risks.

I also watched the October 17, 2000 town hall style debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore and it was nuts. It was boring and hardly the same freewheeling open experience the '92 debate. No one was allowed to talk back. Nice to really button down the format and keep things under control. I like Al Gore, but golly, all I kept thinking was "Say it simpler or just shut up." Oh, and Bush mentioned that gynecologists were afraid to deliver babies because of the malpractice risks.

I saw a bit of the Dick Cheney-Joe Lieberman vice presidential debate, but, my, that was the definition of dull. I don't have such low expectations for Tuesday's vice presidential debate between Cheney and John Edwards. It's totally going to be like seeing some weird father-son lecture/unsettling argument. But to the extent I can, I'll watch. I'll probably cringe, but I'll watch.

Register to vote if you still can or look into absentee ballots if you think you can't make it to the polls on Election Day.

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Election 2004 | 60 Days Until Election 2004 - Are You Ready? | 50 Days Until Election 2004 - Random Assortment of Links | 40 Days Until Election 2004 - Debates Are Coming | Finally! A Debate Drinking Game! | Vicki Liviakis Goes Down

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