Reason #783 that Phnee shouldn't be allowed near politics

[mousme]

There was a lot of screaming at the television tonight. A lot of it involved the words "LIAR!" and "OHMYGODDIDYOUHEARTHAT?!?"

I flicked between the U.S. debate and the Canadian debate. Palin made my ears bleed. "Nucular." Didn't the U.S. learn their lesson about letting people into the Oval Office who can't pronounce "nuclear?" (Yes, yes, I know it's an "accepted" regional difference, blah, blah, WRONG!)

The Canadian debate made me want to throw heavy things at the television. Not because of what was said, although there was plenty of screaming about that. No, what got me was that the moderator intervened, not once, but several times in Harper's favour, defending him against both Dion and Layton on at least two occasions that I can think of off-hand.

What. The. Fuck?!?

I don't understand why this happened. I don't understand why all five leaders didn't jump on him and tell him to shut the fuck up. I kept looking back at my mother and asking: "Why is he speaking? Why are they letting him speak? Why is he letting his lips flap with opinions about the content of the debate? Why?"

There are no words. I am incensed. So much for a "neutral" moderator this evening. The French moderator was fantastic, but sadly only French-speaking Canadians got to see what a well-run debate looks like.

Comments

[aislingtheach.livejournal.com]

No, what got me was that the moderator intervened, not once, but several times in Harper's favour, defending him against both Dion and Layton on at least two occasions that I can think of off-hand.

Quessé ça, tabarnak!! Mets-en que c'est enrageant!! :(

Je t'avoue que je n'ai pas regardé le débat. J'étais en train de me botter le cul avec un pied imaginaire pour tenter de relancer cette histoire de post-doc.

En tout cas, je me demande s'ils vont revenir sur cet aspect dans les médias de demain.

Nookyouleer

[ankhorite.livejournal.com]

(Yes, yes, I know it's an "accepted" regional difference, blah, blah, WRONG!)

NO IT IS NOT!! NOT!!! I swear, and hordes of my flist from all over the U.S. say so too!

We had moderator trouble too, see my post, but not nearly as bad as you did, sounds like.

Woe for our nations!

[heartofawarrior.livejournal.com]

I scrambled for the remote the moment I heard the word "nuclear" come up in a question so I didn't have to hear it being butchered. *sigh*

[fearsclave.livejournal.com]

What happened? I was busy canning tomatoes :).

pro-harper moderator?

[elanya.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that.

I listened to the debate over the radio, and what I noticed is this: every time one of the leaders made a direct attack on Harper, mostly calling him a liar to his face, he was given a chance to defend himself. This was generally during the free-for-all sections. I assumed that was part of the debate format.

From what *I* heard, no one else was ever directly called a liar, or really attacked in such a way, so they didn't need to be given any special chance to respond.

However, Harper is a lying sack of shit, so there was a lot to call him on. So he got called out a lot, and got his chance to respond to direct accusations. I did notice the moderator generally tended to be explicit as to what he was supposed to reply to, however Harper didn't always use his allotted time to do it.

Unless you are talking about something else?

[agelade.livejournal.com]

>>Yes, yes, I know it's an "accepted" regional difference

Nuuuuu not to me it isn't. Trust me, I'm a linguist!