How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
O'Donnell and Chris Coons went head-to-head in a highly anticipated debate last night. Politics Daily has a comprehensive round up of the debate here.
I think O'Donnell did well. Despite her reputation for being a bomb-thrower, she handled herself in a mostly gracious and dignified, if feisty, manner--especially as she grew more comfortable into the debate. She was shaky at points, and moderator Wolf Blitzer targeted her unfairly many times, which didn't help, but she responded calmly. Coons, by contrast, was on the defense more than he should have been, and he often came across as smarmy and condescending.
I think The Daily Beast's analysis is accurate, but I would give O'Donnell more credit than The Beast does.
Who won the debate? Neither of them. O'Donnell didn't demonstrate any of the intellectual heft which her campaign sorely needs. Coons appeared annoyed, recalling Al Gore's frustration when he was placed on the dais with Texas Gov. George W. Bush. His attempts at laugh lines fell flat. He kept up a consistent patter about the debate not providing enough time for him to dispel his opponent's attacks. Against O'Donnell's salt-of-the-earth presentation, Coons was aloof. But then the stakes were unfair: the threshold for O'Donnell, thanks to her helter-skelter campaign thus far, were very low and Coons likely didn't do himself any favors by reflecting the nation's disbelief. Sometimes a candidate has to take his opponent seriously, even when most others don't.
What's your read on the debate?
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
She did better than expected, impressing some of her harshest critics. But here's the question every conservative should be asking at full volume: Which is more important, intellectual heft? Or good judgment?
We have lots of intellectual heft in America, men and women with high IQs, prestigious degrees with every conceivable enhancement, nuance, bell, and whistle. But most of these people have demonstrably bad judgment.
I'm certain Christine has much better judgment than her opponent, and better character.
Edited on Oct 14, 2010 at 6:46amJul '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
Of course you didn't like her Emily. You wouldn't have liked her if she enunciated conservative positions with elan. Oh wait, she did do that.
Paul Mirengoff at Powerline: "I watched most of tonight's Delaware Senate debate between Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell. Coons was articulate and polished, but O'Donnell was also articulate, and she was much sharper on the issues. In my view, she won the debate handily. . . . It's no secret that I would be happier with Mike Castle as the Republican candidate because he would be an odds-on favorite to win a seat that O'Donnell is likely to lose. But tonight we saw one of the upsides to nominating O'Donnell -- the forceful and articulate presentation to Delaware voters of the conservative case on foreign, domestic, and economic issues."
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
Michael, turn your headlights on, I don't think you read my post correctly. I said I thought she did well. That said, I'm not ready to vote for her for president in 2012.
May '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
Didn't see it, but can't imagine she'll make up an 18-point deficit with it. So many winnable races on which to focus, and she's got plenty of money, so it's not like we're leaving her high and dry.
From Geraghty's newsletter Morning Jolt, TV's Andy Levy opines "I think things would be a lot better if we'd all just agree that Delaware isn't allowed to have senators."
May '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
Not only good judgment, but sound values, right principles, and the moral courage to act on them. There's a much more serious dearth of those items in the government than there is of brains.
May '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
On a lighter note, has any one ever noticed how much Ms. O'Donnell resembles actress Anna Belknap? Which means that if she wins, Ms. Belknap has a bio-pic opportunity and if she loses Ms O'Donnell is available for CSI: Wilmington.
Aug '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
Now there's an idea. Can we add California to the list maybe?
May '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
Heck, when even a CNN hack notices that "Coons can can barely contain his disdain for his opponent" that's saying something.
Dennis Miller's got the hate on for O'Donnell as do a number of Ricochet contributors. Same as with Palin although many conservatives finally came around when they realized Palin had significant political power.
Doesn't anyone see a disturbing pattern here? Oh sorry, I forgot, it's just because Christine lied or she didn't pay back her school loans or whatever. I'm not smart enough to figure out what actually lies beneath all this; I do realize however that something is going on, that it's pretty creepy and and that it goes beyond individual candidates.
Sep '10
Re: How Did Christine O'Donnell Do?
I can now see that O’Donnell’s experience on Politically Incorrect directly relates to the modern campaign debate. Simply put, that old Bill Maher show was “gang up on the conservative.”
People don’t remember how a multiple-moderator debate is supposed to be conducted. The candidate used to get a question from the left, then one from the right, then one from the center. These days, a conservative candidate has to challenge the premise behind every question – because every question is from the left.