Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/19/2006 | Casey, opponents will debate tonight Debate coordinator G. Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College, which is hosting the debate, said he supported the rule restricting the use of debate footage. Madonna said the college proposed a list of rules for the debate and agreed to the Casey campaign's suggestion to restrict use of debate footage.
'We didn't want this forum in an academic environment to be used by the campaigns,' Madonna said. 'We are not in the business of helping people win or lose elections.'
The 90-minute debate at Franklin & Marshall College will be shown live on PCN at 7 p.m. Madonna said C-Span might run it tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Casey, opponents will debate tonight
Good news: The debates is being hosted by an educational institution. Bad news: The debate host seems to have an ego that is going to block the public event from being taped. What's next, pay-per-view books in the library?
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Read that again -- the restriction is ar CASEY'S request. The host only agreed with it.
I read the info. The host said he was not interested in winning or lossing an election for someone. The host didn't want to set a stage for film clips as it was an educational stage.
However, I bet CASEY's folks felt okay with the request too. But, that is a dodge. Smoke, if you will.
When you host a debate -- a public meeting for a public office -- you don't put up silly rules.
If you can't very basic, "free press type" rights, and advance freedom in the Dem Party with a Dem Candidate Debate -- then the Dems are worthless.
And, hosting an event with those rules should NOT occur. They all put a turd into our shared well of democracy. T.M. helped that squatting get sanctioned. He ran cover, if nothing else.
I agree that Madonna is wrong for fluffing this off.
I wouldn't say that the Dems are worthless, only that there's a 600 lb gorilla in the race who gets to set all the rules.
And no debate is worse than a debate with bad rules because this is the only chance that Pennacchio and Sandals get for any real press.
The 600 pound gorilla gets to set the rules if others agree to let him set them. This is part art, part science, part money -- and a lot of community.
People have to take ownership of these types of events. Some people are the media folks (4th estate).
Some people are academics.
Some just play along doing their bit roles and that is huge too (C-Span, etc.)
Debates, their rules, and when and IF they even happen -- are huge issues and something I've always wondered and worried about
philly: "There is an additional rule against using the official debate footage. The campaigns were not to use any of the video footage from the debate of their opponents [or even snippets of themselves?]. PCN talkshow host and professor at Franklin & Marshall [the host of the debate] Terry Madonna had this to say:
'We didn't want this forum in an academic environment to be used by the campaigns,' Madonna said. 'We are not in the business of helping people win or lose elections.'
Now what kind of bullshit is that? What the hell is the fucking point of a debate if you can't show it to the public? While the debate will be re-aired on Lancaster's NBC affiliate in a couple weeks in two parts and perhaps nationally via CSPAN [sweet], it's not easy to get people to sit down and watch almost two hours of debate. Back and forth exchanges on an issue here and there are more effective methinks. But what the hell do I know, I'm not the one pulling strings behind the scenes like Madonna. His hair seemed weirdly dark to me, sorta like he used some of that spary hair stuff, anybody else notice that?"
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