The Gibbons/Titus Debate Poll
First, its a shame Gibbons for trying to belittle Titus, the little woman running against him, by declaring in his opening statement that he has “the temperment” to be governor, thereby raising the spectre of all the past misogynist references made about Titus’s temperment in the past made by the Gibson campaign (thanks again babe!). I’d like to think that most people running for the state’s highest seat are smarter, bigger and better than that, but these guys keep disappointing me. And while the candidates were busy trying to convince the student audience the other was more corrupt, Gibbons once again attempted to belittle Titus when he said: “Dina, you can point your finger at me, but you can’t blame me for your problems.” Yep, Gibbons invoked the gubernatorial candidates’ version of “I know you are but what am I?” A truly sound debating technique.
Gibbons also stated that one of the Nevada hard core values–living within your means-is part of his vision for the state. I guess that’s a good value to have, but is it really a Nevada “hard core value?” I know Gibbons is trying to portray himself as a home grown fiscal conservative as evidenced by his repeating the phrase “I will save you money” more times than a Wal-mart commercial, but is “living within your means” really a part of his vision for the state? If that’s the best he can do, then clearly we can find someone a bit more imaginative to lead our state.
The three most uncomfortable moments in the debate:
- First of course is when Titus’ referred to UNR as UNLV and then insulted the UNR students by telling them they all look a like to her. Clearly, she has not been paying attention. UNR has a lot more long-haired, pale-skinned EMO dudes.
- Second, Gibbon’s bizarre list of platitutes about how he would better serve the gay and lesbian community? “rich culture,” “recoginizing their acheviements,” “break down the barriers,” “move forward,” and blah, blah, blah. I haven’t witnessed someone that uncomfortable since Rick Santorum in his man on dog interview.
- Third, the audience was clearly uncomfortable when Gibbons brought up September 11th as evidenced by their groans of dismay. No he didn’t! Sadly, he did.
Unfortunately, I think Gibbons sort of won in the “he didn’t look so bad” way. He played the Mehlman/Rovian game of repeating simple concepts while Titus made the typical mistake Democrats always make–she treated the audience as intelligent human beings and related too many facts during the debate. Voters make choices based on emotional appeals and memorable slogans as shown in research dating as far back as the 1930s.
How close did Discontents come to predicting the winner of the Gibbons/Titus debate in the Discontents’ poll? Since each mainstream media article I’ve read lists Titus as the technical winner, while members of the audience are reported as believing it was a tie, I guess you were about half right. However, the real winner was Monday Night Football. Over 16 million Americans watch it each week, and we can assume that several thousand more Nevadans choose the NFL game over debates.
Who do you think will win the Titus/Gibbons Debate Monday?
* Titus in a smackdown: 47% (23)
* Gibbons in a not making any mistakes kind of way: 20% (10)
* The students who get to challenge the candidates on the issues, finally: 12% (6)
* The audience who finally get to see “Dina Taxes” and “Jim Fibbons” duel over who has the worst nickname: 4% (2)
* Who cares, only intellectual whimps who don’t like to watch Monday Night Football will even watch, losers: 12% (6)
* The one with the scariest smirk1: 4% (2)
Total Votes : 49, 1 = Added by a guest
Similar Posts:
Enjoy this post? Leave a comment below or subscribe to my feed. You also can sign up for email delivery by clicking here.
Can you and the G-J stop referring to it as a crowd of students? I saw it — and there were plenty of geezers there. The students just make more noise.
I just hope Guinn remembers to box up all his Gleam Brite denture paste before moving out of the governor’s mansion. Gross.
OK but I have an excuse because I wasn’t actually there.
I can’t watch past the opening remarks. I will try again later.
Unfortunately, technical difficulties will have to be referred to KNRV
It was unfortunately the UNLV gaffe. That was so difficult for me that I didn’t get any further in.
What’s EMO?
What the heck is EMO (postindie to be specific):
http://www.fourfa.com/styles/index.htm
I was finally able to watch the debate all the way through. Titus is obviously the superior candidate. She would make a superior governor. However I can’t help but wonder what her response is to the Gibbons ads where he quotes her calling Washoe County a “sponge”