Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Grown-Ups In The Room

I've been watching the debates for Congress across Indiana and one thing keeps striking me: The Republicans and Democrats sling mud at each other and dance around the questions, and the Libertarians are the grown-ups in the room. From Indiana Public Media, on the first US Senate debate:
Both Democrat Brad Ellsworth and Republican Dan Coats were on the offensive during last night’s Senate debate in Indianapolis… while Libertarian Rebecca Sink-Burris remained more focused on questions and responses.
Absolutely, I'm going to prefer the Libertarian candidate's answers 95 times out of 100, and Rebecca is a friend. But the glaring difference in demeanor gets me. I can understand the Democrats going negative. They're trailing in the polls by and large. I don't get the Republicans taking the bait. When you're in the lead, you dismiss the negativity and go on about what you're about. For all the money these guys spend on their campaigns, precious little goes towards training and solid advice.

But hey, their idiocy is our gain. I love the coverage Scott Wise got on a Fort Wayne TV station along these lines:



Rebecca Sink-Burris will debate two more times with fellow candidates for US Senate. Well, she will debate. The others will sling mud. I hope she tells them to knock it off and behave.

Fri Oct 22, at Fort Wayne
Mon Oct 25, at Vincennes

These should be widely televised again. If you missed the first US Senate debate, see it by clicking here.

1 comment:

Doug said...

I'd love if the Democrats and Republicans answered questions directly. And, there's even an outside chance they'd be rewarded by such behavior at the polls.

With the Libertarians, I tend to get the feeling that the directness is often a product of freedom being another word for nothing left to lose. (With apologies to Mr. Kristofferson.)