I was unable to watch the Pennsylvania debate as it aired, and for once, I was glad. Debate moderators George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson dragged the discourse to a horrifying new low: Stephanopoulos, because he was cribbing notes from Sean Hannity; Gibson, because he’s actually a 1940s-era gangster.
Between asking Barack Obama if he loved America more than Jeremiah Wright and airing the question of an older white woman inquiring as to whether he believed in the flag (What answers were they hoping to hear? “No, I, uh, hate America and want to become president simply to destroy it. Furthermore, the flag is imaginary. Only white folk can see it.”?), it was, politely put, a media clusterfuck.
The debate also solidified the transmogrification of Hillary Clinton from a politician who at least feigned dedication to progressive causes into a surrogate for John McCain. She is the vast right-wing conspiracy, out to destroy the politician who leads her in the popular and delegate count, even if that means we’ll have at minimum for more years of rule from a party that has done actual damage to America.
As HRC’s metamorphosis neared it end, Obama assumed her well-worn role as victim of the VRWC/presumptive frontrunner. McCain is still McCain, but when you’re that old, change doesn’t come easily. Is it possible the contest has gone on so long it’s altering candidates at a molecular level?
I think I can speak for at least a few of those stupid, impressionable youths who have witnessed Clinton cross the line so many times that if she ekes out the Democratic nomination, I can’t vote for her. I won’t be voting for McCain, either – Jonathan the Impaler is by leaps and bounds a better-qualified (and more appealing) candidate.
