Thank Carolyn Washburn (taking heat) for moderating the Iowa debate?

[angrydragon]

I think we should.

E-mail cwashbur@dmreg.com

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/017682.html

Carolyn Washburn, editor of the Des Moines Register and moderator of yesterday’s debate, is taking heat for her performance. Showing once again that I'm a contrarian, I think she did a fine job.

I wonder if such superficial critics are really capable of electing a decent president.

How dare her just stand there and ask straight-forward direct questions of the candidates and let them answer! How dare her not make a spectacle of herself and try to steal the show!

Her minimalist, less is more approach, stripped the debate of everything but facts and logic and therefore showed the utter bankruptcy, shallowness, phoniness and self-contradiction of all the candidates but Ron Paul.

Ron Paul, without the cheap shots thrown at him by a biased panel and by hacks like Rudy, actually got a chance to speak and literally blew away the sophomoric competition.

I was reminded of Patton’s speech: "Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we're going up against. By God, I do".

Here's the transcript of the debate. Judge for yourself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/us/politics/12debate-transcript.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1197511584-FqgTX3LKoUpotC4Zvuqdhg&oref=slogin

[hawkeyenick]

the fuck us, so we fuck them back

[Luther]

It was the best performance by any "debate" moderator so far in the campaign.

[Paulitician]

I agree, call this debate "dry" if you will, but this is exactly what we need in this country. All the celebrity-style reporting and debate formatting is killing this nation.

[angrydragon]

Isn't this what we wanted? No frills or anything, no filler questions for the candidates and all that bs? Even ABCNEWS declared Ron Paul the winner (with Huckabee). It really showed their truer colors.

[cswake]

Perhaps we should do a flower shower?

[JeffersonThomas]

bump

[risiusj]

I just sent a quick thank you to her.

cwashbur@dmreg.com

[Midnight77]

I just emailed her thanking her for her unbiased performance.

[Luther]

Isn't this what we wanted? No frills or anything, no filler questions for the candidates and all that bs? Even ABCNEWS declared Ron Paul the winner (with Huckabee). It really showed their truer colors.

What I wanted was a real debate.

[jasonoliver]

I thought she was a terrible moderator. I rather see Chris Matthews doing it.

She asked Alan Keyes about the transparency of his future presidency.......come on!

[angrydragon]

Yah I'd rather see them debate themselves. Just need the moderator to get in control in case things get too out of hand. Debates are boring, this was more boring, but at least it wasn't fake like the other debates (cnn?).

[IowaSupport]

Not fake is a step up in my opinion - thank you e-mail sent.

[ConstitutionGal]

I think this was the best run forum to date. The moderator kept all the canidates pretty well under control which kept the Ghould, Romney and the Huckster from rambling on and on and on, thereby stealing everyone else's time, like they usually do. Everyone got more time and, as we all know, when Dr. Paul gets the air-time, he wins!

[robert4rp08]

I too would like to see an actual debate between candidates, but I think she did the best job at moderating. She asked direct questions and tried to make them answer it. She also didn't ask any loaded questions. Fine fine job!

[RedLightning]

It wasn't great, but it was the best one so far.

[jlink7]

I'm sorry, but I have doubts about the ability of ANY outlet to host a "true" debate between 9 participants in 90 minutes. What they've given us is the best possible solution. You won't see "real" debates until we have 1 v 1 or 1v1v1 debates after the primaries.

[quickmike]

Perhaps we should do a flower shower?

NO

That creeps people out.

[vegetarianrpfan]

I thought she did a better job than Wallace, Matthews, Cooper, et al. A debate moderator needs to be unbiased and just ask straight-up questions, and she did that. She also didn't cater to Rudy McRomney as much as the other moderators have. Good job. It's a sad day when a neutral debate performance is criticized.

----------------------
Libertarian Girl
http://www.libertariangirl.com

[LibertyEagle]

the fuck us, so we fuck them back

Please remove references to your sexual exploits from this forum. This is not the place for them. :eek:

[Bradley in DC]

Just let people do their jobs. At least, no more orchestrated campaigns nor calling people at home. :(

[DjLoTi]

It sounded ok but the YouTube coverage was really quick and only Ron Paul, so I didn't see the whole debate performance.

[rasheedwallace]

It was the best performance by any "debate" moderator so far in the campaign.

minus some of the dumb questions, like what alan keyes would do in his first day of office, ect...

she did great. cut those overtalkers off, like NO ONE else has had the balls to do. she kept the debate more fair and lively.

[Bradley in DC]

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/12/have_we_met.html#comments

Have We Met?

At some point watching today’s debate, it dawned on us: we’ve seen this no-nonsense demeanor, black and white wardrobe and excessive blush application before. Des Moines Register debate moderator Carolyn Washburn, it occured to us, is a dead ringer for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/debatemoderator.jpg

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/ruthbadar.jpg