Tough follow-up questioning is so much more fun to watch than the wimpy kind-and it makes for better informed voters besides (as long as it’s fair).
Case in point: CBS4’s Gloria Neal’s exchange Saturday night with Ken Buck over the question, “Will you really make a raped woman carry a child to full term?”
Fair question, but Buck didn’t answer it, prompting Neal to ask it again.
Buck responded by arguing that “we need to stay focused on the issues that voters in this state care about, and those are spending and jobs.”
Neal responded:
“Social issues are important to the voters in this state. I am one of them. So I need you to answer that question, because in addition to votes and jobs and all of that abortion is very important, and when you start talking about rape and incest, that is important to the voters. So, please, answer that question.”
Buck then said:
“I am pro-life, and I don’t believe in the exceptions of rape and incest.”
As a debate moderator, Neal gets credit for noticing that Buck said voters don’t care about social issues. It’s a lot harder than it looks to realize that, yes, Buck had just said voters don’t care about social issues, like choice.
Was Neal right to tell Buck that voters do care about social issues? Absolutely. Plenty of polls show that voters, especially women, care about these issues. Otherwise, you can bet Bennet wouldn’t keep harping on them.
Was she right to say that she is one of those voters who cares about social issues? Yes, she’s entitle to say this, as a journalist representing the public.
Neal just needs to be fair to both candidates, which she was.
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buck, like most republicans running this year, hoped to run on anger without substance. Flip flop on issues, don’t stand for anything just be angry and say no.
What has surprised me is buck’s lack of skill as a debator and having to actually answer questions. Aside from his really dumbass “buyer’s remorse ” comment – which made headlines all around the country, you had his idiotic remarks comparing being gay to being alcoholic and then in the one debate not knowing what the donut hole was. In many of the debates he looks bewildered or lost.
n/t
I don’t think she was being unfair. She grilled both of them on what she felt was on the minds of the voters.
On the other hand, I want to note that the entire debate seemed weird. It was as if CBS4 was trying to make it some sort of action film. “First we start with these two old white guys, followed by some lady in a pantsuit, and now to some chunky lady at a computer, and now back to pantsuit lady, and now back to the old white guys.”
The entire thing just seems kind of bizarre.
In their defense, I had been drinking.
is the only real way to enjoy a debate.
we’d be drunk for the next 7 days straight. I’m starting to think it’s the only way to get myself through this election.
You could be right:)
If women just couldn’t vote, the R’s would be a lock on this and most other races.