Becuase Everything Else Sucks

CNN Democratic “Debate” in Las Vegas

By Manila Ryce
Published Friday, November 16th, 2007, 5:22 am
Filed under: Videos: Political, World: North America, Videos: Debate, Society/Culture: Civil Unrest, War, Videos, Society/Culture, World Issues, US Politics

As if you needed convincing, the latest Democratic debate proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the corporate media controls our electoral process and Americans are sick of it. CNN is not in the business of reporting reality, but in shaping it. For example, take the scheduled Hillary vs. Obama title fight the corporate media has been promoting since the last “debate”. These are the two worst candidates the Democrats have, yet CNN insists that everyone else is unelectable. The network decided that we should spend over one-third of the debate time on the two richest candidates arguing over their non-existent differences. The only differences which exist between Obama and Hillary are between the collective mission statements of their corporate sponsors. We would have been just as well served listening to an argument between Coke and Pepsi.

Rigging the debate and undermining our democratic process is a disservice to the public interest and nothing short of treason. At about the 6 minute mark in the first video, even the members of the audience started yelling out that Wolf should allow the other candidates to speak. You know you’ve stepped in a major pile when even a Vegas audience, familiar with gamblers, drunks, gangsters, pimps, and prostitutes, is disgusted by your unethical behavior. With such an obvious agenda, CNN is no more a valid news source than Faux News, and Blitzer no better than O’Reilly. Whether it’s an obvious branch of the Republican Party or a station which claims to be politically neutral, a corporate network is always spinning the story for the benefit of their shareholders. Both MSNBC, and now CNN, have made that clear by barring Mike Gravel from the debates.

If you’re short on time, here’s the best clip out of the entire debate from our main man.

Part 1 of 12

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Part 1 - (9:15) Joe Biden is the first of the ignored candidates allowed to speak. As always, Biden has a great sense of humor about the whole circus and lets Blitzer know he’s a turd.

Part 2 of 12

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Part 2 - (6:25) Kucinich was the only candidate to say he wouldn’t automatically support the Democratic nominee for president simply because that person was a Democrat.

Part 3 of 12

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Part 3 - (1:30) Kucinich slaps the shit out of Blitzer on a question about undocumented workers. (5:15) Dodd calls No Child Left Behind “a disaster” and the crowd goes wild.

Part 4 of 12

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Part 4 - (3:40) After a very detailed explanation of what needs to be done with regards to Pakistan, Biden jokes that he’s sorry he actually broke the pattern by giving a real answer to a question. (9:40 & 10:50) Dodd and Clinton think that human rights and national security are mutually exclusive. In other words, freedoms must be limited because 9/11 changed everything. Apparently they’ve never heard the phrase “give me liberty or give me death”. Blitzer finds it reassuring that a presidential candidate for the United States of America would have at least some level of contempt for democracy.

Part 5 of 12

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Part 5 - (1:25) After asking every other candidate about Pakistan, Blitzer skips past Kucinich despite Dennis making it known that he wants to weigh in on the issue. Blitzer brushes him off like a child, and tells him he’ll get his chance later. (7:20) Kucinich actually gets asked a question, and says that the other candidates (specifically John Edwards in his example) need to take responsibility for their positions. Edwards then shows his true colors by belittling Kucinich and dodging the question with his talking points.

Part 6 of 12

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Part 6 – (0:20) Hillary defends NAFTA the only way she knows how – diversion, stating the obvious about Bush, and good old fashioned bullshit.

Part 7 of 12

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Part 7 – (1:10) Hillary gets another softball question about the “gender card”, which ironically allows her to exploit the issue for applause. Exploitation? No, a Clinton would never exploit anything for political gain. C’mon CNN.

Part 8 of 12

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Part 8 – (4:00) Hillary defends her vote for the Kyl/Lieberman amendment, which declares a branch of the Iranian military a terrorist organization. She defends her position once again by blaming Bush for exercising the power she gave him. (6:45) Edwards explains why Clinton’s vote was incredibly stupid. Kucinich is intentionally ignored once again.

Part 9 of 12

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Part 9 – (1:00) Bill Richardson says he would pull out all contractors; not just soldiers. Kudos. Our occupation is not just a military one, it’s a private occupation as well. (3:10) Edwards takes a page out of Hillary’s playbook by bashing the Bush administration for the implementation of his embarrassing vote. (4:20) Kucinich lands a devastating blow to all the candidates on stage who voted for the Patriot Act and every other shitty decision they’ve made in the past. Best line ever: “That’s because I read it.” Hell yeah. (9:55) Dodd shows off his impressive linguistic skills. I wasn’t paying attention to what he said after that suave display, but he sure is sexier than I had previously thought.

Part 10 of 12

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Part 10 – (4:00) Clinton dodges a question about raising taxes for the rich. (5:45) Obama compares Hillary’s number manipulation to the tactics of Giuliani and Romney.

Part 11 of 12

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Part 11 – (4:30) Kucinich separates himself from the other candidates on the issue of abortion by vowing to protect a woman’s right to choose while making abortions less necessary. The audience seems to like his position. Imagine that. (5:40) Clinton praises Biden and condemns Bush. How surprising.

Part 12 of 12

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Part 12 – (3:40) Richardson mentions the Israeli/Palestinian issue. Kudos for bringing that to the discussion Bill. However, as soon as he mentions the illegal Israeli settlements, Blitzer tries to cut him short. (4:30) Clinton is handed another softball question by some random twit in the audience. Hillary’s brand of feminism is a step back to the hypocrisy of early feminism in America. She fights for the rights of the privileged instead of the rights of lower-class women or minorities in general. Hillary defends no one but her corporate sponsors, and the disenfranchised love her for it. She’s completely disconnected with what inequality really is. After this is made more than apparent she then gets handed a “fun” question about jewelry at the end of the “debate”? Good Lord I hope that was just another audience plant.

In conclusion, can the mainstream blogosphere finally acknowledge what everyone already knows? Kucinich is the best Democratic candidate. He is everyone’s favorite. We all know it, and we also know he’d be the most electable if America was allowed to hear him. Let’s finally battle the corporate agenda (I’m looking at you Kos) rather than parroting it as our own insightful commentary. Blogs touting Obama or Hillary as the most electable candidates simply have no fucking clue what they’re talking about. These tools are running on the same failed platform that Gore and Kerry ran on.

As always, props to CSPANJUNKIEdotORG for the clips. Subscribe to him if you haven’t already.

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17 Responses to “CNN Democratic “Debate” in Las Vegas”

  1. I haven’t watched the whole debate yet, but that link you provided showing the talk time per candidate is disgusting. Kucinich is outpolling Dodd, Richardson and Biden and yet got far less time then all of them.

    But at least Dennis got one good segment when he got huge applause for his comments about the Patriot Act and Impeachment. And of course Blitzer tried to cut him off before he could utter the magic “i” word, but Dennis got it out and received rowdy cheers for doing so.

    Andy
    11/16/07 at 5:55 am

  2. Not only the “debate” was slanted to Clinton/Obama, but the reportage afterwards was worse.

    At the beginning of the debate was that Blitzer continued to ask questions not just to or about Hillary, but also inside the “frame” that the real story is Clinton’s “performance” in a debate.

    Surprisingly, I did see differences between the candidates during the debate. As someone who was not really up on all the candidates, I had to say that I finally had to choose Obama over Hillary. He’s lawyerly. Hillary struck me as a safe, process-oreinted policy wonk that would put a committee on everything, but may have trouble getting change out of a committee.

    Kucinich and Biden looked great. I loved Kucinich, he’s committed, smart, and best of all…. succinct! He’s kind of got that, dare I say it, brevity that goes with strong belief that we’ve all seen in the … yikes.. current president. Having said that… I don’t think he’s the best candidate. This is not a working class country. We need big go forward ideas to transform our nation into the world leader it should be - a leader of political values, of international values in environment and labor, and an economic leader. I found your blog on Google for christs sake. We have the international language of science. We ought to rock. So, while Obama can realy get going on this… I have to say, as a result of the debate:

    I would vote for Biden. He stood out. He has everything.

    The post-game commentary almost made me feel like I hadn’t watched the same show as the pundits. Oh yeah, I’m supposed to vote for Obama or Hillary. I forgot. I

    alisa
    11/16/07 at 7:43 am

  3. @ alisa
    “This is not a working class country.”???
    American business is supported on the backs of the working class.

    nowho
    11/16/07 at 8:21 am

  4. Thanks for the Link, just a small ray of hope, the only hope we have for change. What happened to Gravel? Special Interests as usual select who we get to vote for.
    Kucinich, said what made more sense, I have not watched the whole debate, but I can imagine the direction it took.

    Thanks Again,

    Leefeller

    Leefeller
    11/16/07 at 8:28 am

  5. Thanks for posting the true “highlight’ of this corporated controlled and manipulated “debate.” I could not believe how Wolf started this debate with a clinton/obama slant that made a mockery of what a debate is!

    You have 8 candidates and Kucinich, among others, barely got ANY time! It’s just not a debate, AT ALL. CNN is a disgusting corporate media mouthpiece. It’s about as anti-democratic media institution one will find.

    Go democracynow.org!!!

    cutis
    11/16/07 at 10:22 am

  6. I love Dennis. I hate these so-called debates.

    I would like to see in the next debate Clinton, Edwards and Obama on the ends of the stage not the center and have Dennis, Bill, Joe, Chris, and Mike (remember him?) in the center of the stage.

    Rowdy
    11/16/07 at 12:14 pm

  7. I wouldn’t call it “Treason,” but yeah, I get your point. These debates are never debates. They are and have been Q & A sessions since the beginning. And as far as CNN’s credibility is concerned, I agree that if the people of Las Fricken Vegas think you’re a scumbag, you’ve really got a problem. In fact, I think CNN is the only news station I can think of that is simultaneously hated by both the Right and the Left. Both Conservatives and Liberals, Republican and Democrat, use this network as the example when they argue how biased the media is. They really put themselves in a spot.

    And yet, as far as Mike Gravel is concerned, I’m not broken up about this. That guy, while vocal and fun to watch, had about the same agenda as Obama, in that no one could tell if he had any real plan what so ever. The difference was that Gravel bitched a lot more. Honestly, I was getting pretty annoyed at his bellyaching, despite the fact that a lot of it was justified. (Mr. Richardson, are you hearing me?)

    PapaFigue
    11/16/07 at 7:54 pm

  8. I’m so glad I found this site. I was beginning to think I was the only one who noticed all the unjust, one sided moderating going on. CNN used to be one of the only news channels that I watched (and even then believing only at least half of everything they were reporting on). NOT NOW, not after such a slap in the face at the intelligence of it’s viewers. The debate was a waste of our time and was just ridiculous. What a shame at a time when we need drastic change in our Country and our Leadership.

    Dan
    11/17/07 at 10:53 am

  9. CNN is truly horrible.

    Some interesting debate/insight on the debate on this show: http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/lr/lr071116pakistan_dem_debate_

    The (guest) host of the show actually attended the debate. He says the crowd’s booing was overwhelmingly over CNN’s horrible moderation.

    @ PapaFigue

    Gravel has the same agenda as Obama? The center piece of Gravel’s campaign is creating a constitutional amendment to allow the general public to create law themselves. He wants to abolish the IRS and the income tax (he has a weird, libertarian streak). His plan for ending the Iraq war is the best I’ve seen. He wants to end the war on drugs by legalizing them and focusing on education and treatment (which the US government’s own studies say is the most effective solution).

    Care to draw a parallel for me between Gravel and Obama?

    I don’t agree with a lot of Gravel’s positions, but he was an absolute breath of fresh air compared to duds like Dodd or Biden.

    Sam
    11/17/07 at 2:11 pm

  10. @Sam:
    I did care to draw a parallel between Gravel and Obama already. Scroll up and read my post again In It’s Entirety. The first sentence of the second paragraph specifically states that Gravel “had about the same agenda as Obama, in that no one could tell if he had any real plan what so ever.”

    It’s not that I didn’t find the guy amusing, nor is it that I think all of his ideas are without merit. But like Obama, Gravel has all these wonderful campaign platforms, but as far as I know, no plan whatsoever to get them done. That was my point. Thanks for reading.

    PapaFigue
    11/18/07 at 8:29 am

  11. @ PapaFigue:

    Yes, I read that, and then proceeded to point out that it was complete nonsense. I’m guessing your impression of Gravel is based entirely on the 20 or so minutes of cumulative time he was allotted in the sound-bite debates prior to his being shut out of them completely. I can’t imagine another way someone would come to the conclusion that Gravel was similar to Obama, in that he didn’t have a plan to get his platform enacted, unless they hadn’t bothered to research his campaign outside the minimal mainstream media attention he received. Which brings the discussion back to the poor job CNN and the other “news” channels have done in allowing the candidates to fully explain and elaborate their positions on the issues.

    Again, Gravel’s campaign is centered around the National Initiative, which empowers citizens to make laws independent of their representatives. This center piece of the platform is THE plan for getting the rest of the platform enacted. Now, whether you think the plan has a chance of going into effect or not is another matter. On the other hand, Obama talks about bi-partisanship, “bringing people together on both sides of the aisle,” and other such platitudes that politicians have polished and recited since time immemorial.

    So I don’t see the parallel. Then again, we’re going off your impression, so I suppose their isn’t much substance to this discussion to begin with.

    Sam
    11/18/07 at 11:03 am

  12. I am an american living in Finland, and for 1. I do not get why CNN cannot stream the debate themselves… and 2. CNN makes me sick. The way they pander to just hillary and obama ! I think it is sad that because we have cnn international here in Finland mainly from USA, that most people here who do not follow american politics only hear about Hillary and Obama… I keep saying there are some other good candidates and I give names and my friends in Finland just look at me with blank stare… but mention Hillary or Obama and they say… oh I saw them on CNN ! If that is not controlling the election, I do not know what is… makes me sick and I am disgusted at american media… I feel like I get better news from BBC or MSNBC, although MSNBC has such fluff news…. but then I do not watch CNN anymore because it is just crap.

    Dave
    11/19/07 at 2:15 am

  13. and by the way, did I forget to say: Go Kucinich ! The best candidate, I have thought so after each debate…

    Dave
    11/19/07 at 2:25 am

  14. BBC is generally not much better than CNN.

    Andy
    11/19/07 at 2:40 am

  15. Well that is probably true also of the BBC, but in any case, if you want to find out the different points of view, it seems you have to really search for it on the web on many different news organizations… But it was still sad to see hillary and obama being played as the “no-doubt” favourites. My point mainly was that it is too bad that other candidates cannot get their message across as fluidly as the “Rich” candidates can.

    Dave
    11/19/07 at 4:46 am

  16. I agree with you completely, Dave. I remember when I first went abroad and started watching other networks like the BBC expecting something better. It didn’t take long to see they were all spewing out the same propaganda. Blogs like this one are a good way to keep grounded in reality. Sometimes it’s easy to get sucked into believing the CNN-MSNBC-BBC-FOX fairytale land when it’s pumped relentlessly into you from every direction.

    Andy
    11/19/07 at 5:48 am

  17. Manila, this is the best coverage of the debate yet! Very accurate and colorful. Dennis DID slap the shit out of everyone there, Wolf is a biased asshole, Biden won my heart (but not my vote) and I was generally nauseated by both Hillary and Obama. Edwards? The best I can say is that I like his southern accent. I’ll be checking in after further debates to catch your insightful commentary. ^5

    Feebs
    11/26/07 at 1:17 pm

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