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SNL, Farrakhan Prominent in Democratic Debate
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Health care, NAFTA and Iraq were the evening's main policy topics. But a skit and a question about Louis Farrakhan dominate the reporting.
30-Second Summary
For the first 20 minutes, the candidates argued the merits of their health care plans, proposals that FactCheck.org describes as 95 percent identical.
Despite the time spent on that issue, the post-debate analysis focused closely on Hillary Clinton’s opening comments about media bias.
Clinton referred to a Saturday Night Live skit in which a moderator fawns over Sen. Obama. She continued, “I just find it kind of curious that I keep getting the first question on all of these issues.”
The New York Daily News and John Nichol of The Nation described the comment, respectively, as a “whining” and “cringe-worthy” faux pas that could only damage her campaign.
The New York Times, however, pointed out that she has, indeed, answered the first question in all three debates with Obama. In one of two articles on the issue, the Times wrote that “the MSNBC debate did look a bit like the SNL parody.”
The Weekly Standard conceded that moderator Tim Russert “didn’t make it easy on her, but then she hasn’t made it easy on herself either.”
Russert came under fire from another angle, as well. He pressed Obama on how the candidate felt to receive praise from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farakhan, who has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism. Talking Point Memo described this as “Russert’s lowest moment.”
Words like “heated” and “testy” featured largely in the reporting on the debate. But progressive magazine Mother Jones concluded that it was “largely a repeat of last Thursday’s face-off.”
That publication, however, did not part from the consensus that the front runner, Barack Obama, came off best from the encounter.
Despite the time spent on that issue, the post-debate analysis focused closely on Hillary Clinton’s opening comments about media bias.
Clinton referred to a Saturday Night Live skit in which a moderator fawns over Sen. Obama. She continued, “I just find it kind of curious that I keep getting the first question on all of these issues.”
The New York Daily News and John Nichol of The Nation described the comment, respectively, as a “whining” and “cringe-worthy” faux pas that could only damage her campaign.
The New York Times, however, pointed out that she has, indeed, answered the first question in all three debates with Obama. In one of two articles on the issue, the Times wrote that “the MSNBC debate did look a bit like the SNL parody.”
The Weekly Standard conceded that moderator Tim Russert “didn’t make it easy on her, but then she hasn’t made it easy on herself either.”
Russert came under fire from another angle, as well. He pressed Obama on how the candidate felt to receive praise from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farakhan, who has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism. Talking Point Memo described this as “Russert’s lowest moment.”
Words like “heated” and “testy” featured largely in the reporting on the debate. But progressive magazine Mother Jones concluded that it was “largely a repeat of last Thursday’s face-off.”
That publication, however, did not part from the consensus that the front runner, Barack Obama, came off best from the encounter.
Headline Links: The Ohio debate
“In the debate, she attacked Obama for claiming she supported the North American Free Trade Agreement, which she said she believes should be renegotiated,” wrote Reuters.
Source: Reuters
The Los Angeles Times emphasized that both candidates would opt out of NAFTA if they deemed it to be in the country’s best interest. The Times described Clinton as making a “clear ploy for the sympathies of women voters,” a tactic that was most obvious in her reference to the SNL sketch in which she implied that Obama received favorable treatment from the press.
Source: Los Angeles Times (free subscription may be required)
The Swamp, a Chicago Tribune blog, offers a brief synopsis of the Democratic debate last night, followed by a complete transcript of the discussion.
Source: The Chicago Tribune
Background: ‘Mailers and Photo Heat Up Democratic Race’
As March 4 approaches, the gloves are coming off. findingDulcinea reported on the allegations of negative campaigning that preceded the debate.
Source: findingDulcinea
Analysis: Victory for Obama?
Progressive magazine Mother Jones found the debate less dramatic than many other news sources, writing that it “was largely a repeat of last Thursday’s face-off.” The article concludes, “At debate's end, there was no blood on the floor—and not much enlightenment. Which, of course, benefits the front-runner.”
Source: Mother Jones
Michael Goldfarb of The Weekly Standard concludes that it was a bad night for Clinton. “Russert didn't make it easy on her, but then she hasn't made things easy on herself either.” He continues, “The Obama/McCain debates will be a nice change of pace.”
Source: The Weekly Standard
Clinton failed to rattle her opponent enough to revive her flagging campaign, writes Stephen Braun of the Los Angeles Times. Braun ends his piece by observing, “Obama appeared to be thanking Clinton from his newfound position of strength, dispensing a front-runner's graciousness.”
Source: Los Angeles Times
Michael Goodwin of The New York Daily News thought that Hillary’s whining cost her any points she may have won. He writes, “Her uneven performance, punctuated by one of the strangest complaints I have ever seen in a presidential debate, likely dashed her last hopes of victory. The self-pity behind the complaint was shocking and unappealing.”
Source: The New York Daily News
Obama the orator
“Let us assume a bold thrust and go forward together. Let us carry the fight against ignorance to the four corners of the earth, because it is a fight that concerns us all.” That is a great Obama speech, writes Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times. Unfortunately, it comes from 1960s British comic actor Peter Sellers. “Mr Obama might easily give a speech like that,” writes Rachman, “although he would probably strip out some of the detail.”
Source: Financial Times
Obama’s stump speeches have been judged inspirational, but not by everyone. To some the best oratory the primaries offer merely confirms that the days of great political speeches are over. Beyond the Headlines examined the subject in January.
Source: findindDulcinea
Opinion: The first question, the SNL sketch and Farrakhan
Saturday Night Live
Early on in the debate, Clinton said that interviewers had been tougher on her than her opponent. She referred to a Saturday Night Live sketch portraying a reporter fawning over Barack Obama, a clip of which is available from the ThreeSources.com blog.
Source: ThreeSources.com
Nation writer John Nichols says that Clinton’s SNL comment was a “cringe-worthy moment" in which “Clinton tried to take a swing at Obama and hit herself in Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate.”
Source: The Nation
The New York Times wrote that in claiming that she always gets the first question, Hillary Clinton has a point. According to the Times, she “has received the first question of the night in all three of her one-on-one debates with Mr. Obama—about Cuba, about the North American Free Trade Agreement and about their biggest policy differences.”
Source: The New York Times
A second piece in The New York Times wrote that “the MSNBC debate did look a bit like the SNL parody.” The article continues, “Debates give candidates a chance to break loose of YouTube-ification and speak for themselves at length. But the Ohio debate opened with clips of Mrs. Clinton in two starkly different moods that underscored expectations that she would display multiple personas.”
Source: The New York Times
Louis Farrakhan
Interviewer Tim Russert pressed Obama about the praise with which Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan has spoken of the Illinois senator. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo thought the question marked “Russert’s lowest moment.” Farrakhan has repeatedly been accused of anti-Semitism. The question gave Clinton an opening to suggest that Obama should have “rejected” Farakhan rather than merely “renouncing.” His response drew applause.
Source: Talking Points Memo
Reference: The health care plans
FactCheck.org makes a detailed comparison of the candidates health care proposals: “Experts say the health care plans put forth by Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are very similar—and Obama himself has said his proposal has 95 percent in common with hers. But that other 5 percent is a source of contention.”
Source: FactCheck.org
Related Topic: Russian election debate ends in scuffle
Although no one seems to doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev will win the Russian presidential election this weekend, presidential hopefuls are campaigning nonetheless. In one of the debates, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, representative of the Democratic Party leader, verbally abused his opponent as follows before pushing him off the stage: “He’s a scoundrel. Look at his face! The guy’s sick! A typical schizoid! Any psychiatrist will tell you the guy’s a wacko.”
Source: Russia Today
The televised scuffle in Russia never aired, but was leaked onto the Internet.
Source: YouTube
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