ADRASTOS
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THE DISMAL DEBATE
posted Friday, 27 October 2006
I've racked my brain to recall if I've ever seen a worse political debate/forum than last night's Congressional debacle but nothing came to mind. It was truly horrendous: bad questions, badly informed candidates and even bad post-debate analysis by Silas Lee and two stiffs at 10:30 on Six On Your Side Live. It was Panglossian analysis: the best possible debaters in the best possible world. Poppycock. I've always wanted to use that word in a post. My life is complete.
I remain appalled by Karen Carter's performance. She hasn't done her homework and didn't even have good pat answers to the softballs that were lobbed her way. She's definitely a political princess who wants a social promotion to the United States Congress. She may well get her social promotion but I'm no longer inclined to help her out in my small way. You're on your own, toots. I'm trying out a new nickname for her, Princess BOLD. Any thoughts?
Not only is Princess BOLD poorly versed in national issues, she was equally incoherent on the sort of uber local issues that the dismal debate was fixated on. For example, the state of public schools in Debrisville pre-k. The main reason that school buildings et al were so poorly maintained here is that School Board employees were stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. Hell, I'm sure some theft by un-nailing went down as well. Is un-nailing a word? If not, it oughta be.
The depressing thing about the debate is how much better informed and cleverer the Klepto Congressman is than his opponents with the exception of TCarter. Dollar Bill may be a crook but he's no fool. Greedy, yes. Stupid, no.
Joe Lavigne was so programmed that I almost zoned out every time he spoke. He kept circling back to his "program" for this and that; not that a freshman Congressman can pass any legislation in the real world. Much of the time Lavigne spouted the straight Republican line but he *was* on message.
The evening's weirdest exchange was when Carter asked Lavigne if he and his family were back in their houses. I'm not sure what she was driving at: was she race baiting as in "all you white folk did well during the flood." Or was she showing some concern for and/or interest in him as she claimed later in the exchange? Or is she simply clueless? For his part, Lavigne looked genuinely hurt and not at all like your basic Jones, Walker type robot lawyer. He said that he was in his house but that his mother had died in exile. Lavigne asked Princess BOLD why she'd asked the question and she couldn't explain. It reminded me of the ancient Who classic "Got a feeling inside, can't explain. It's a certain kind, can't explain."
Watching the debate reminded me of one of the things that I don't like about New Orleans: its relentless and often over the top provinciality. No, I don't consider the recovery issues discussed to be provincial. But things like the exchange between Derrick Shepherd (aka the Marrero Pander Bear) and Troy Carter about whether the latter had fixed potholes on a specific street in Algiers drive me batshit. Yes, one of my political heroes, Tip O'Neill, said that all politics is local but these candidates took that adage to new extremes last night. Hmm, perhaps I should ask Derrick to fix the bigass pothole around the corner from me on Bordeaux Street. It's getting big enough that Mr. Moron could fit inside of it and he's a real wide load, y'all.
The fact is that the great national and international issues being debated in the 2006 campaign DO affect the Louisiana Second. Louisiana has a very high casualty rate in the so-called war on terrorism. Katrina is not the *only* thing we need to recover from. We also need to recover from the Iraq War, the Patriot Act and the Republicans persistent attempts to privatize Social Security. National issues *do* matter even in this time of local crisis.
This was the first time in a life of following politics that a televised debate ever changed my mind about who I'm voting for. Princess BOLD's performance was that bad. Am I in love with Troy Carter? No. I do, however, think that he's a plausible successor to the competent but dishonest incumbent. He's intelligent, articulate, knows the issues and may even be able to find the bathroom in the House cloakroom unlike the Other Carter. I'm not enthusiastic about voting for TCarter but I plan to delay holding my nose and voting for Princess BOLD for as long as possible. If she makes it to the runoff against Dollar Bill, I'll clamp a clothespin on my nose and vote *against* the Klepto Congressman. It won't be the first time that I've voted for the lesser of two evils and it won't be the last. Democracy can be a bitch sometimes.
THE ADRASTOS RANKING OF THE DISMAL DEBATE:
1) TROY CARTER
2) DOLLAR BILL
3) JOE LAVIGNE
4) THE MAN FROM MARRERO
5) PRINCESS BOLD
UPDATE: The Picayune put its debate story on page one of the Metro section. It mentioned something that I forgot: Karen Carter telling Joe Lavingne that she had no "mal intent" with her weirdo question. Mal intent? Izzat like malpractice? It was one of several times last night that Princess BOLD reminded me of Lucy Bustamante...
comments (8)
1. dangerblond left...
Friday, 27 October 2006 12:44 am :: http://www.dangerblond.org
You mean she committed the cardinal sin of asking a question she did not
know the answer to? Heh Heh. Thanks for this write-up, I didn't see the
debate and now I don't have to. Who else are we voting for?
3. MAD left...
Friday, 27 October 2006 7:46 am
Missed the debate, but the poor quality of the candidates does not surprise
me. Other than for selfish personal reasons, I can't imagine why anyone
would want to serve in Congress. Congress is at its lowest ebb in my
lifetime. Congress' productivity is almost zero. It is badly factionalized.
It has long since lost the respect of most Americans, and shows no
inclination to improve itself.
4. Mark Folse left...
Friday, 27 October 2006 11:44 am :: http://wetbankguide.blogspot.com
So, that leaves Troy? I haven't seen any of the candidates in the flesh or
in debate, but that might explain the polls.
5. mominem left...
Friday, 27 October 2006 1:47 pm :: http://fematrailer.blogspot.com/
I wish "None of the Above" was on the ballot. This is a race (s)he might
win.
6. bayoustjohndavid left...
Saturday, 28 October 2006 12:08 am :: http://bayoustjohndavid.blogspot.com/
You're making me feel dense. I was wondering what K. Carter's mal intent
was; I knew she wasn't just trying to inject some humanity. She was trying
to make Lavigne look like a rich white guy who couldn't relate to people
who still don't have homes.
7. adrastos left...
Saturday, 28 October 2006 12:13 am
I agree with your analysis, David. The problem for Princess BOLD was that
Lavigne comes off as a Yat made good and not as a Rex/Comus toff.
8. bayoustjohndavid left...
Saturday, 28 October 2006 10:49 pm
I didn't think of it, til you threw it out as a possibility. I just knew
the official reason made no sense. One of the stiffs giving the analysis
with Silas Lee was Charles Rice. Didn't that strike anybody at WDSU as a
little improper? Nagin endorses Jefferson, WDSU brings on Nagin's former
CAO (who apparently still does business with the city) to discuss
Jefferson. Are they working their way up to Gill-Pratt?