Catholic Countdown to Election 2012, Day 20.The Slugfest in Hempstead Failed to Deliver

Catholic Online ^ | 10/17/12 | Deal W Hudson and Keith A Fournier

[tcg]

Hempstead was hot as the two Presidential contenders engaged in verbal fisticuffs from the moment the bell rang. The second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney was a verbal slugfest.

Those who predicted that the Town Hall format would not lend itself to such an aggressive and bombastic brawl were wrong. The real question is whether this second debate actually helped many in the purported target audience, the undecided voters, make up their mind in what is clearly one of the most important presidential contests in American history.

Candy Crowley of CNN's "State of the Union" did not help much in the entire experience. Rather than promoting several exchanges between the contenders which could have led to a robust and helpful delineation of their disagreements over the topics brought up by questions from the audience, she seemed more bent on securing her own place as a phantom third party contender seeking to bolster her own importance in the encounter.

...we raised some issues we hoped would emerge in this long anticipated event. The clear contrast between the candidates on vital matters such as the fundamental human rights to life and religious liberty, the best way to deliver health care, the need for school choice and real education reform, how to best fulfill our obligations in solidarity - among Americans in our common National purpose as well as with the needy - and the urgent need to protect and preserve marriage and family, were not really even addressed. We were disappointed.

Instead, the night seemed to devolve into what...appeared to be a spectacle from a pay per view sporting event with the two opponents seeking to best one another through interruption and various forms of aggressive maneuvers played out on a stage which resembled a fighting cage...

[tcg]

Our sincere hope is that the moderator of the third debate, Bob Schieffer, a veteran newsman and the host of Face the Nation on CBS, will get out of the way and let these two candidates debate. The American people have a right to hear where they each stand as they prepare to pick the path of their future and the future of their children.

For those looking for heat with little light, they got the price of admission in Tuesday's second Presidential debate. However, for those hoping for much more, those concerned about the candidates governing philosophy and wordview, the slugfest in Hempstead failed to deliver

[wiley]

Any Catholic who still has questions on whom to vote for should find another religion. The choices in this election aren’t even close and no honest Catholic would pretend otherwise.

One can’t be Catholic and Democrat at the same time. It’s logically impossible. With one hand one professes a belief in transcendant truth, with the other hand one denies the same. It’s schizophrenic.