Another Debate Today…
…but then, there’s a debate every day, isn’t there? This one was won by Mitt Romney, says Mark Halperin, but he also says Rudy accomplished job #1 – staying clear of big gaffes…
Meanwhile, 7 of the 8 Democrats kowtowed to the Nutroots® this weekend, if you haven’t already heard. Don’t know who won, but the loser is free speech…
Yeah, free speech lost there Mark. My god, you sound like the ACLU, except you have no case as he did not follow military protocol. And, as far as the other individual not following protocol either, that remains to be seen as there were no direct quotes from said individual so it’s hard to judge what “criticism”s he made and whether or not he was in violation of anything.
Also, he says himself:
In other words, it’s a mixed bag. What’s your beef? Some people think he’s an idiot. But, of course, the article says jackspit about what points he was even trying to make, just “charts and graphs”. Wow, he must be informed with charts and graphs. If anyone is stifling his speech it is Pajamas Media!
So many debates, so little attention.
Mike, granted, he does seem to have crossed the line on a military regulation, as was stated in the article…no argument there…
The loser is free speech? Because the Democratic candidates showed up and answered questions at a blogger convention? That doesn’t make any sense.
And how is this any different than when Republicans show up at CPAC?
Sorry, guess I should have read the link.
Still pretty weak, though. Did you actually watch the video of that guy asking his “question.” He went on forever and ever and was actually tolerated for quite a long time. Find me any convention anywhere that would just allow some dude to monopolize a panel with an endless speech.
I hear ya…look, I’m not really up in arms about this…to be blunt, I was looking for an angle to get in the soldier story, and I probably made an unforced error in my choice of phrasing…
A.L.: aren’t the Kossacks the ones who claim that “dissent is patriotic”? (as Thomas Jefferson himself once said
). Attack on free speech may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this still seems just a wee bit hypocritical. The Kossaks should either let the man speak all day if that’s what he wants or put a cork in their whining about suppression of dissent everytime someone gets ticked off about one of Markos’s “screw ‘em”* comments.
* For the record, no, I will never ever ever ever ever ever ever forgive or forget that comment from Markos. I had a friend who was a contractor and was kidnapped in Iraq (fortunately he survived, and is now a minor celebrity in Australia). Screw Markos.
Sean P.–Markos actually had very little to do with convention, which was organized by someone else (they just wanted to use his name). Next year it will have a different, more generic name. Most of the attendees were just left-leaning bloggers, not “kossacks.” It was basically just a liberal activist convention, much like CPAC is for conservatives.
And I don’t understand what you think they should have done differently. You only have a limited time for each panel discussion and lots of people have questions to ask. You can’t let one guy completely monopolize the microphone endlessly. This guy was politely tolerated for quite a long time, but he just wouldn’t ask a question. It’s not at all hypocritical to take the microphone away from somebody who’s doing that. I can’t imagine a situation anywhere where that would be tolerated.
A.L.: My point isn’t that they didn’t have a right to move him off the panel. To paraphrase Reagan, they were paying for the microphone, so if they wanted to switch it off its their business. What makes it hypocritical is the hyperbole present over at TDK every time they believe they are being suppressed (what was the comment on the Daily Kos last week — back in 2002, dissent was outlawed!?! Please). You can bet your ass that if this had happened at a wingnut convention — i.e. a Ron Paul supporter started prattling about the twin towers being an inside job, only to be escorted out of the room — TDK would be full of diaries denouncing the action. THAT’s the hypocricy.