5/03/2007

Gather ye soundbites while ye may

Tune in tp MSNBC tonight at 8 EDT (5 PDT) to hear 10 GOP presidential hopefuls take their best shot at a good soundbite.

On stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., will be the Messrs. Brownback, Gilmore, Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter, McCain, Paul, Romney, Tancredo and Thompson.

10 candidates. 90 minutes. And, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews as moderator.

With Matthews’ penchant for talking over everyone else and cutting folks off mid-sentence, he will have to exercise great personal restraint if the candidates are to get in the proverbial word edgewise.

Matthews tends to get so caught up in “historical events,” delivering verbal orgasms, he forgets to throw the hardballs he’s famous for.

The top issues tonight? Well, according to neoconsevative Steve Forbes’ magazine (LINK), they are: “Iraq, immigration, taxes, abortion, gay marriage and terrorism.”

One war, three hot-button issues, that old standard “taxes” and the ever-present fearmongering. Where are the issues which affect Americans every day?

Keep an eye on the elephants not in the room tonight: Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson.

***

“The Politico” (politico.com) will stream the debate live, and viewers will be able to question the candidates via the Internet. (LINK)

For in-depth profiles of the candidates, including links to archived articles, visit MSNBC’s debate page: (LINK)


Postscript:
In a discussion of Ronald Reagan's impact on tonight's debate, politico.com's Mike Allen told Chip Reid on MSBNC: "Of course, at the time, Ronald Reagan was no Ronald Reagan. He's been very much idealized."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What, no Braves game tonight? Quick, down to Blockbuster before the crowds back out the door.

Anonymous said...

Ten ancient, overweight white men all on stage at the same time, and not a single one with any balls. Frodo would not follow any of these clowns into a dark alley, even though he is sure that is exactly where each of them would lead our nation.

airth10 said...

Frodo, why the sarcasm? Instead, you should be rejoicing that there is a political process going on, even though it seems a bit premature in presidential politics. Nevertheless, there is a debate going on, no matter how tiresome, that may and probably will improve the direction of the nation.