November 15, 2015

Did CBS end the debate early?

Politico said: "CBS ends Democratic debate with seven minutes to spare" ("CBS brought in the second Democratic debate seven minutes under time... The candidates began their closing statements with more than 10 minutes to go until the scheduled 11 p.m. conclusion"). And various more incendiary sites said things like "Democrat debate so boring CBS ended it seven minutes early."

But I think it was planned. Look at the transcript. The moderator, John Dickerson, was doing commercial breaks like clockwork throughout the 2 hours. He even said "We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down." After that, he set up the "final segment," which wasn't "closing statements" (as Politico put it), but a focused question that precluded a canned statement: "What crisis have you experienced in your life that suggests you've been tested and can face that inevitable challenge?" When that was done, Dickerson didn't say good-night or act as though they'd ended early. He said, "All right, back with some final thoughts in a moment."

What followed was very weird, but obviously planned. With the candidates still on stage but the debate now "in the books," Dickerson brought out Major Garrett to report on the CBS "partnership with Twitter," which made it possible to identify "the most-talked-about moments for each of the three candidates." What got the most tweets?

It was Hillary Clinton, "when she defended her integrity on campaign contributions and mentioned 60% of her donors are women." I imagine there were lots of tweets of the ooh-Hillary's-mad variety or "Ouch!" Bernie Sanders's moment was "I'm not a socialist compared to Eisenhower." And Martin O'Malley's height of tweetability was also taking a shot at someone not on the stage, the phrase "immigrant bashing carnival barker Donald Trump." The candidates stood there smiling as the Major delivered the results. O'Malley, who seemed boyish throughout the debate, smirked and gave a thumbs-up. Yeah, I'd like to see him cop that attitude when Trump is there to punch back.

For some reason, CBS decided it would be cool to do a partnership-with-Twitter dance and that Major Garrett was the guy to twirl with Twitter. The candidates didn't opt to leave the stage. They put up with the absurd theater of saying who won.

And by the way, when I heard Major Garrett say that Hillary "defended her integrity on campaign contributions," my immediate outburst was "Assumes a fact not in evidence!"

22 comments:

David Begley said...


I have seen Hillary in person three times in four months. If I could see her today, this is what I would say:

You were a complete f*!cking failure at State. You are an epic liar. You incompetently exposed our secrets to our enemies. You are a grifter and bribetaker of historic proportions. You enable your cheater husband to humiliate you in public. And you are annoying as hell. Given all that, you have the gall to think you can be president. Quit before you get indicted. Leave us alone.

rehajm said...

New metric reveals how far network news has fallen: Network news considers quantity of tweets a meaningful metric.

Bay Area Guy said...

@David Begley

I agree with what you wrote and enjoy your fluorish. Hillary is a disaster.

But.

Obama got 66 Million votes in 2012. Which means Hillary starts with about 60 million votes in 2016.

I'm not saying I like this, just saying what is.

She not only has the gall to be president, she is the favorite to become president. This is true, until and unless the GOP candidates and potential GOP voters get on the same path towards beating Hillary - which, in my view, is the sole objective.

Michael K said...

It was a nice example of coordination a day after another example of coordination in Paris. I wonder when we will see it here ?

Democrats must hope that the Muslims are on their side and will leave them alone until 2017. Maybe they are right.

David Begley said...

Bay Area Guy:

If Hillary gets exposed for who she is at her core, some of those 60 million stay home or vote GOP.

At a Hillary rally in Council Bluffs, the young woman I sat next to at one time favored Trump.

Laslo Spatula said...

"CBS ends Democratic debate with seven minutes to spare"

A big win for Hillary, because she gets to her Vodka seven minutes earlier than expected.

Because Hillary is a Black-Out Drunk.

Do a Google Search on images of Huma's purses. Most of them are huge. Like, carry two bottles of Vodka huge. Hillary's pack mule.

Again:Hillary is a Black-Out Drunk.

I am Laslo.



Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If Hillary isn't managing, media crutch to the rescue.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

@ Devid B.
[Hillary] "You were a complete f*!cking failure at State. You are an epic liar. You incompetently exposed our secrets to our enemies. You are a grifter and bribe-taker of historic proportions. You enable your cheater husband to humiliate you in public. And you are annoying as hell. Given all that, you have the gall to think you can be president. Quit before you get indicted. Leave us alone."

Worth repeating.

Michael K said...

AprilApple, I am afraid those are her qualifications in the minds of many Democrats. Think about the grifters among black politicians. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Adam Clayton Powell, Jesse Jr, Alcee Hastings, Charles Rangel who now holds the seat once held by Adam Clayton Powell.

Successful criminals are an attraction for a large segment of the D vote.

Why is Jon Corzine not in prison ?

David Begley said...

AprilApple

Pass it on.

And I couldn't decide whether a hyphen was needed in bribe-taker and Inow think that a hyphen is needed. Thanks.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Huma, where ARE you?"

"I'm in the limo, Hillary. We're caught in traffic."

"You have it, though, right? Secret Project VK?"

"Six bottles, Hillary."

"I don't understand why you are taking so long."

"Hillary, I have to go out of town farther and farther -- the Liquor Stores start putting it together, you know."

"Putting what together?"

"That I seem to be getting a LOT of Vodka for you --

"--Don't say the 'V' Word! people are listening, I know it!"

"Okay, okay: the Liquor Stores have started asking why I am always getting so much Secret Project VK."

"It's the CIA, isn't it? Those fucking bastards, they don't know who they are messing with..."

"I don't think so Hillary. I'm just trying to keep it out of the NY Post."

"Can't you just tell the Liquor Store clerks that YOU are the Hopeless Drunk?"

"I tried that: I tried that for YOU, Hillary. They can't believe only one person can drink that much. Especially as skinny as I am."

"Yeah, I know: you're skinny. You're MY Skinny Bitch."

"Yes, Hillary: I am your Skinny Bitch."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you said some of it is for Chelsea."

"I try to keep Chelsea out of these things..."

"What's the point of having a child if she won't take a few hits for Momma? No one seems to understand Gratitude anymore."

"Well, if that is what you want, I'll mention that Chelsea is having a party --"

"--Leave Chelsea out of it, you whore!"

"But you said --"

"I don't remember what I said; I've got the Shakes so bad..."

"We're almost there, Hillary..."

"Remember the Special Knock..."

"I will, I will..."


I am Laslo.

Annie said...

You were a complete f*!cking failure at State. You are an epic liar. You incompetently exposed our secrets to our enemies. You are a grifter and bribetaker of historic proportions. You enable your cheater husband to humiliate you in public. And you are annoying as hell. Given all that, you have the gall to think you can be president. Quit before you get indicted. Leave us alone

Well said.

I would add that by staying with him and attacking his victims, to ride his coattails to power, she enabled him to sexually assault other women. This makes her worse than him.

It amazes me that self-proclaimed feminists do not reject her straight out. They will vote for her because she's a democrat and the 'better liar'.

Martha said...

When Hillary indignantly claimed that Sanders had impugned her integrity, I so hoped someone, anyone, had followed up with:

"Integrity!!!!!! What integrity do you have left, Madam Secretary?"

Sammy Finkelman said...

Major Garrett didn't say it was a good defense.

Hillary said people from Wall Street gave her money because they were affected by September 11th, and not to buy her help on financial issues..

So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan, where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country.”

walter said...

"We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down."

walter said...

From transcript:

The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn unit (?). (LAUGHTER)

Man..Bill just can't keep his unit out of the spotlight.

walter said...

Ok..maybe not slipping so much. See how quickly he transitions in opening statement:

"Well, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world this country will rid our planet of this marvelous organization called ISIS. I'm running for president because as I go around this nation I talk to a lotta people. And what I hear is people concerned that the economy we have is a rigged economy.

People are working longer hours for lower wages. And (UNINTEL) income and wealth goes to the top 1%. "

walter said...

Wait..Sir Spatula. Based on your recent and extensive dildo testing, could that account for the size of Huma's purse?

walter said...

"So Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you, hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think ISIS is gaining strength."

Hey there John..conveniently skipping over the term "contained".

Berno: ..we have to understand that the Muslim nation in the region, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, all of these nations, they're gonna just have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground.

They are gonna have to take on ISIS. This is a war for the soul of Islam. And those countries who are opposed to Islam, they are gonna have to get deeply involved in a way that is not the case today. We should be supportive of that effort. So should the UK, so should France. But those Muslim countries are gonna have to lead the efforts. They are not doing it now."

"those countries who are opposed to Islam"? Is that a transcription error?

"We haven't come up with an exact number yet. But it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower which was 90%. But it will be-- (LAUGHTER)

Laughter?

Marty: "in talking to a lot of our neighbors who are in that super wealthy millionaire and billionaire category great numbers of them love their country enough to do more"
Is there a barrier to donating to the IRS? Let's push Buffet et al towards a 1 percenter telethon..let them compete on this.

Hil: "I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate."
Yeah? Do tell..

"the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, Alan Krueger has said the national increase of $15.00 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences like job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable?

BERNIE SANDERS:

Let me say this-- you know, no public policy doesn't have in some cases negative consequences. But at the end of the day what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because that wages that they are earning are just too low."

Nice..and your answer is?


Later Berno: "I have never heard a candidate, never, who's received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate, go, "OH, these-- these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm gonna be independent." Now, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? They expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, $750,000 and $30 apiece. That's who I'm indebted to.

HILLARY CLINTON:

Well, Scott, Scott, wait a minute, wait a minute.

(OVERTALK)

JOHN DICKERSON:

Secretary Clinton gets to respond.

HILLARY CLINTON:

--answer to impugn my integrity, let's be frank here.

BERNIE SANDERS:

No, I don't.

HILLARY CLINTON:

Oh, wait a minute, senator. (LAUGH) You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small, I am very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. (APPLAUSE)

i.e. "What? Damnit Bernie..VAGINA!

averagejoe said...

Compared to Old Bag Clinton and Old Kook Sanders, Strom Thurmond would seem boyish...

averagejoe said...

Hillary had to take the Wall street money or the terrorists win...

Nichevo said...

Rudy Giuliani spurned a $10M donation from a Saudi prince:

CNN.com - Giuliani rejects $10 million from Saudi prince - October ...
CNN › edition › rec.giuliani.prince
Oct 12, 2001 - NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday the city would not accept a $10 million donation for disaster relief from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after the prince suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the September 11 attacks. "I entirely reject ...