Question of the Week
I had a dream last night. It was the morning after the primaries for the 2008 presidential election, which in my dream were all held on the same day. I had gone to bed early and missed the results, so upon waking I checked online to see who had won.
Surprisingly, the Democratic nomination went to John Edwards, the charismatic Senator from North Carolina who campaigns primarily on the issue of poverty. He hadn’t been my first choice, but I was somewhat pleased to see him win the nomination anyway and I looked forward to the possibility of his winning the presidency.
Even more surprisingly however, the Republican nomination went to Jonathan Edwards, the eighteenth-century American revivalist preacher, known primarily for his fire-and-brimstone sermons.
Turning on the television, I was dismayed to see that the media was entirely focused on the fact that both nominees had the same name. They had an expert on doing a statistical analysis of names of politicians to see what the odds of this happening were. I was frustrated, because I felt like the top story should have been that the Republicans nominated a Bible-thumping Puritan from the eighteenth century. Didn’t that concern anyone?
I went into the office – in my dream I worked in an office – and all of my co-workers in this office-type place were absolutely giddy with the coincidence of the two candidates having the same name. I noted that the Republican Jonathan Edwards was a dangerous religious zealot who would destroy all of the freedoms we currently enjoy, but – of course – nobody paid me any mind.
Even so, I woke up more amused than frustrated. And today, I learned that the debate tonight would feature questions being asked by voters via YouTube. So of course, that’s now the story far more than anything that was said during the debate. Can I dream ’em or what?
Anyway, the Question of the Week was suggested by Lee after reading that the ’92 Vice Presidential Debate was my favorite political debate ever. As always, free to answer the question, or just continue the conversation.
What was your favorite debate ever and why?
July 29th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
May I have two stabs at this one?
My recent favorite is the 2004 Vice Presidential debate, because it makes my choice for a 2008 candidate somewhat simpler. What do I mean by that? Well, if you think John Edwards might be an effective campaigner in ’08, just watch the debate from ’04. Your reaction is sure to be something like, “Hmm Dodd and Biden are looking pretty good!”
But my all time sentimental favorite is the fourth and final 1960 debate. In that one, Dick Nixon told us that we can’t stand Pat. Yes, the capitalization is added. (You may remember that Mrs. Nixon’s first name was Pat.) What Nixon really said was…
“But America cannot stand pat. We can’t stand pat for the reason that we’re in a race, as I’ve indicated. We can’t stand pat because it is essential with the conflict that we have around the world that we not just hold our own, that we not keep just freedom for ourselves.”
Poor guy.
July 29th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I saw that debate! (Not live, of course.)
I didn’t remember the “stand pat” bit, but what struck me most was what Nixon then went on to say:
The rest, as they say, was history.