Tx Gov Debate Video Online?

Both Kinky and Strayhorn looked pretty bad IMHO. I thought Bell looked very polished and informed while Rick Perry was same as usual. I think when Kinky dropped a line about the internet being the work of Satan, he pretty much lost the whole night. The guy from the Dallas newspaper kind of embarrassed him. I'll definitely be voting Bell.

 

I posted in the Ivens thread a little about it.

Kinky looked pretty lost. A few times he just kind of shrugged or threw his hands up as if not knowing what he was supposed to say. He stammered a lot and even had trouble with his prepared closing statement. Grandma was worse. She was a complete mess and repeated the same meaningless catch phrases and coudn't talk either.

Bell had by far the best delivery as far as knowing what he wanted to say. He rarely paused or said "um" and the two rapid fire trick questions they threw out to candidates were easy for him.

Perry seemed comfortable and obviously was only concerned with Bell. He talked as if it was only a Rep-Dem election.

Not any electric moments or great zingers. I guess the closest was Bell, though. When asked what the term limits were for Gov, he said something along the lines of, "None - and that should scare everybody to death because Gov Perry said he would run again if elected this year." That was the only time there was really any kind of audience reaction.

 

kinky and strayhorn both were horrible. I was thinking about voting for kinky then I saw the debate and I thought hell no. it's between bell and perry. both looked solid.

my favorite moment was when they were doing the 2 rapid fire questions and they asked "grandma" who the new president of mexico was. it was george bush-esque. she said something to the effect of "well, um....the new president of mexico was....um....elected by a very slim margin....um....blah blah blah". great stuff.

 

Thank you very much, Mulder.

Is Kinky Friedman really short or is Chris Bell a giant?

 

I just wanted to say, in defense of the performance of the three challengers, that the debate was the worst format I've ever seen (I've seen a hell of a lot of debates like this, over the years), and incredibly tilted towards Perry. In the "trick question" phase, designed to make the person look foolish by being so startled by the inane stupidity of the question (when was the battle of the Alamo?? who was elected president of Mexico??), Perry was asked the current interest rate on home mortgages. It was on the front page of the business section of the Austin American-Statesman that morning. He got the answer wrong, and the reporter/talking head smiled and said, "You were close!" Kinky was asked the tuition at the University of Texas. Flustered, he answered, "It's too high!" Something like that. Then the reporter smugly says, like he'd caught kinky out, "It's $8300 a year." The reporter was wrong! No one corrected him. There are colleges at UT that cost that much, or almost that much, like the business school, but the average for UT, though way too high due to Perry and company deregulating it, something Perry should have been hammered for (when would anyone have the time to hammer Perry about anything? insert roll-eyes here) is closer to $5000 a year. My wife and I sat there in disbelief.

The whole setup was a hatchet job on Perry's opponents, not that most Texans even got to see it. In a decent format, Perry could have been wrung out to dry. He could have been questioned about a host of things smelling of corruption, like the trip to the Bahamas. There was an attempt to get him on the payola from the Spanish company getting the multi-billion dollar contract to charge Texans for highways we should travel for free, or that should be built as traditional toll roads by the state. He didn't answer the question, babbling about a conversation he had with former Governor Dolph Briscoe while Ag Commissioner. None of the "questioners" bothered to delve deeply into the subject, and the challengers had no time to.

The debate was nearer a farce than anything else. if I were the campaign managers of the three opponents, I'd set up another debate on a night during the week when people would be at home, at a later hour, like 8pm, and through PBS, where all Texans could actually watch it. Set it up, and when Perry refuses to go, have the debate and spend the entire thing taking Perry apart like Ali took apart Foreman.

As for who looked best among the three, one would have to answer Bell, whether one was a supporter, or not. Any other answer would be dishonest. Strayhorn made the mistake of spouting slogans cut off in mid-sentence, and Kinky got so flustered by the kinds of questions asked of him, that he forgot his briefing and didn't help himself at all. Sorry, RMT... I think he was ganged up on by the panel, but someone running for that kind of office has to be able to handle a stacked deck like that. Under a decent format, I'm sure he would have done much better. He had little opportunity to use his wit and charm. Kinky was reacting the entire time, instead of putting himself forward, IMO.

Just a bloody shambles, that whoever was responsible for putting on, friends of Perry, no doubt, should forever be ashamed of, but won't be. They got what they wanted. Nothing.



Keep D&D Civil.

 

Why don't the other three debate without Perry? Leave a podium empty for emphasis.

 

The video I was watching just shut off on me, but when Bell was discussing schools they cut him off to give Friedman a "rebuttal." I didnt understand the reason for that, it didnt make sense... and when Kinky also seemed confused you could see Perry to the left snickering.

 

Absolutely. He was the only one who seemed to even take the debate seriously. Kinky was flustered, confused, and flippant (my favorite was during the time they were supposed to "cross-examine" each other and kinky did a Chris Farley impersonation to Bell, "Uh...you know how Perry is governor and really bad? Doesn't that suck?"), Grandma was all fake smiles and throwing out any empty cliché she could think of, and Perry seemed annoyed to be in the room with everybody.

Bell was smooth, prepared, and he listened to what others said and used it against them.

 

the trick question was bad for everyone. carole keaton-rylander-mcclellan-strayhorn-mellencamp doesnt even know who the new president of mexico is and she wants to be governor of the state that deals the most with them? her "answer" was just pathetic. i would have respected her more if she simply said "i dont know", rather than giving us the george w-style non-answer. that woman was a total moron - i really dislike her.

bell got off easy with the basic 6th grade history question. the fact that he took about 7 seconds before answering what year the alamo happened is pretty bad too (and had to qualify it by saying "i believe it was 1836)- i hope he isnt a native texan b/c that is something no REAL texan should take more than half a second to answer.

perry was no better either. when you are talking about mortgage rates there is a BIG difference b/t 5.9% and 6.3%. it was not "close" as the reporter said.

kinky did get the toughest question - i cant believe tuition is that high already ($5000)!!! i graduated from ut in 99 and my last semester ran me about $1600. i wouldnt have been able to go to school if it was as high as it is now. damn - to think i could still be waiting tables!

perry got off easy - the other 3 candidates should have gone after him harder on the toll roads and the spanish company that will be running them, the failure of our schools, health care, border issues, katrina, ect. it should have been 3 on 1 out there.

i hate to say it, but kinky looked horrible - like a deer caught in the headlights - he answered the cigar question very badly - "well sam houston was a drunk and an opium addict" - this is true btw, but you dont need to say that. the correct answer would have been something along the lines of "well i certianly dont advocate children smoking, but im an adult and i love my cigars blah blah blah". he could have played it off alot better. the use of the unlit cigar was pretty silly too - he doesnt need to take his "props" everywhere with him - especially if its not even lit. we want substance over style kinkster!

and his answer to the question about his use of the "n word" was pretty bad too. "my nanny was black so im not a racist!"

i just dont think he has the basic knowledge necessary to do the job. i want to vote for him, but more importantly i want perry the hell out of office. i really hope carole keaton-mcclellan-rylander-strayhorn-mellencamp drops out immediately - we can see how the deck reshuffles.

than bell or friedman need to put their ego aside and let the other take perry 1 on 1. in a two person race i believe either one would defeat perry.

 

KHOU has the video at http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou061006_mh_debate.12ad10d5.html along with an AP story.

 

well I guess I'm not a real texan since I forgot the alamo battle date. doh. maybe I should cheer for the stupid sooners today.

and I thought the answer on the mortage rates was 6.03%, which is only a few BP away from what perry said.

either way I am leaning towards bell. he was very solid in the debate. I do need to read up on him a little more though.

 

Unfortunately, Kinky did look horrible, but it seemed like he was getting screwed. That audience e-mail asking if he would still smoke cigars while in office might be the most ridiculous question I've ever heard. What does that have to do with ANYTHING? I came in rooting for Kinky, but Bell looked to be the best candidate. Only problem I had with Bell is I just don't like him -- not anything he said, just his personality and the way he talked and acted, it just really annoyed me.

 

i guess not. why dont you just cheer for the aggies instead?

you thought wrong.
"Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent from 6.31 percent last week. A year ago, the rate was 5.98 percent."
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/10/06/6bizbriefs.html

 

true, but it was an easy question and he totally blew it. his answer should not have been "well sam houston was a drunk and an opium addict". that is true but it was irrelevant to the question.

the question was about how kids might be influenced by seeing him w/ a cigar all the time. his answer should have been along the lines of how kids shouldnt smoke and if he's governor he will increase penalties for people who provide tobacco to minors. that would have been the "politicians answer".

thats the danger of his using a cigar as a prop and image booster. unfortunately, he has tied his image to the cigar so he cant go around saying its a bad habit and people shoudnt smoke.

 

Honestly, if you thought Chris Bell clearly won, you didn't watch the first few minutes. His slipperiness and completely avoiding questions smacked of pure dishonesty. And he did his dead-level best to tell how bad Perry was while saying little about what he would change. Only Grandma was worse. He got it together and looked very smooth and polished (and boring to me) to end the debate. I would say that overall, he probably did a good job of holding his ground in the debate. He didn't scare any voters off and maybe he'll pick up a few that Grandma scares off, but he had the most to gain in the debate and did little to pick it up.

I wouldn't even pick a clear winner. If I were forced to, I would pick Perry, but he owes more to the poor format than anything. Democrats will hate that he barely acknowledged that Bell was in the race, but that is more realism than anything. Perry knows that if anyone has a chance other than him, it's Kinky.

Kinky was Kinky. If you expected him to be polished, you wouldn't vote for him anyway. He didn't mince words and dropped a few one-liners. My favorite part of the entire debate was when the panelist questioned Kinky on him calling Texas last in education. Kinky responded, "If you prefer to say that Texas is 37th, God bless you."

There was a clear loser in this debate. Grandma is way over her head. If anyone saw the debate and still votes for her, they need to have a lobotomy.

 

Can't edit: Should read "47th"

 

I thought the cigar question was reasonable.

If you are going to have a cigar in your hand so much it is reasonable to ask about the influence on kids, etc when they see a potential governor with a cigar all the time.

If you are going to have a cigar in your hands so much you have to expect those type questions.

Why did he have a cigar in his hand during a debate anyways.

 

I ask about the cigar in his hand because I think that there are plenty of voters who will not take him seriously.....