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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

(NC-13) Debate 2 - Bernie Reeves vs. Bill Randall -- Impressions

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First off, thanks go to The League of Women Voters and NBC-17.  This was a televised debate and my concerns about living outside the viewing area were not realized thanks to the nearly immediate posting of the debate here by mync.com.

Again in this debate, as the last, Bernie Reeves and Bill Randall agreed on far more than they disagreed. This leaves more room to comment on  impressions rather than substance.

Bernie Reeves was feisty from the opening.  He attacked Randall on the plagiarism issue with such ferocity that he lost track of his limited number of rebuttals.  I suppose his strategy was to throw Randall off his game.  He failed at this and was left with little rebuttal time to use later.

Randall responded to the attacks  as only one can in his position.  He took responsibility for staffing errors and denied an argument by Reeves in which Reeves conflated two issues in an effort to create the appearance that Randall was attempting a cover up.

Although, this exchange burned through Reeves limited rebuttals, Reeves refused to be constrained to simply answering the questions; he is, after all, skilled in verbiage. While answering questions not only did Reeves repeatedly frame Randall's arguments in his own preferred words, he also incorporated rebuttals in his answers.  As Randall later pointed out to the moderator, the agreed upon debate rules did not allow for that, but for an establishment  politician like Reeves rules don't matter.

And for Reeves, this is a problem.  Whether it is a heckler in the crowd, as in the previous debate, or debate rules that impede him in this debate, Reeves visibly rankles.  His frustration is so great that he can't even hide it from the cameras.   In response he flouted the agreed upon rules of the debate.

As with Pelosi, for Reeves rules are not so much a guide to decorum as a hurdle to clear whether over under or around.

Would Reeves truly have a cleansing effect on congress?



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2 comments:

  1. I can't let this go-how in the world did Bill Randall not know that the Governor of Arizona is a woman in a debate sponsored by The League of Women Voters???

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  2. It should be pointed out that a non-establishment candidate is more likely to make such a mistake than an establishment politician backed by long time political operatives. Reeves is one of those establishment backed candidates who is familiar with the current crop of politicians.

    Secondly, judging Randall's character by a misstatement seems a reach when Reeves offers a pattern of operating outside agreed upon rules within a single debate. This seems to be a character flaw in Reeves, a flaw that is far more weighty than misspeaking.

    On the other hand, it is worth noting that Randall made the same mistake you mention in both debates when addressing the Arizona issue. (See the beginning of part 3 of the first debate on youtube.) I would like to see glaring errors like these addressed and not repeated.

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