Zingers, Sound Bites Fly At Gubernatorial Debate – But Who Will Californians Pick?
Editor;
Being Californian and with no plans to evacuate to Texas or Florida or any other state telling me things are way better there I tuned in to the debate this week and learned a few things.
I learned we’ve learned nothing about debating, finding my interest in the political future of my state focused on a jibber-jabbering alley fight as five Democratic and two Republican candidates slashed and maneuvered for enough CNN airtime to land an effective sound bite.
With less than four weeks to go until the primary I’ll confess to some worry. Apparently Sheriff Chad Bianco is a dues-paying member of a group of seditionists who pushed their way into the capitol Jan. 6 (WTAF – how did this guy get to be a sheriff much less a gubernatorial candidate? In California?). It came as no surprise that Bianco would bro heavily with former Fox News host Steve Hilton, both of them taking turns dumping on their Democratic rivals.
Democratic candidates Steyer, Porter and Becerra attempted to focus on issues facing the state, presenting different interpretations on the causes of homelessness in the state and offering solutions, with Hilton throwing in with Bianco and declaring his plan to combat the issue “exactly right.”
The state’s proposed Billionaire’s Tax and single-payer healthcare also demonstrated differences among candidates Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, Matt Mahan and Antonio Villaraigosa – with everyone joining in to spend the last minutes of the debate flaying Becerra – who apparently is leading in recent polls.
I moved a few names around my preferred candidates list after Tuesday’s tele-brawl but more than anything I realized the mellow pace of past debates is officially a thing of the past.
Educate yourself and cast your vote wisely. June and November will be here before we know it.
Sincerely,
Carl Peskor/Concord
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Well we are leaning towards Steve Hilton. This state needs some balance in its politics! We are not happy with how the democrat supermajority have been handling things. They need some checks and balances and push back. Steve Hilton is the perfect one to deliver that. And I will be candid, we kind of don’t trust the democrats from recent past experience. They, and the propositions they support, always seem to do the exact opposite of what they say they’re going to do before you vote for them. And liberal billionaire Tom Steyer scares the daylights out of us!
We need change. And yes we thought of leaving the state too, but that’s not going to help anything. it we’ve decided we’re going to stay right here in the Bay Area and ‘fight’
We’re not going to cede this beautiful state to the crazies. Anna & Greg / Alamo
I’m not sure who I will vote for, but it won’t be someone who cannot acknowledge who won the 2020 presidential election.
“Calmate, Antonio, calmate.”
This one is easy. Each of the Democratic candidates is fervent in supporting the rights of ILLEGAL immigrants over the rights of American citizens (free healthcare, benefits, etc.). The world will NEVER run out of poor people to send to California. The schools are overrun in many communities already as are health care facilities in the Central Valley as well as LA.
Even in “more civilized” times these were never really debates, and these days they’re just high decibel, fast talking, heated alternatives to cage fighting. Virtually no light is shed on matters of substance, the focus being on aiming zingers at opponents.
I’d prefer having one journalist/newsperson interview each candidate individually and privately with identical questions, maybe for 15 minutes, then broadcasting them sequentially in the two hour time segment current allotted for these debate debacles.
Unfortunately, calm reasoned discussion doesn’t appeal to broadcasters or viewers.
Dems clearly aren’t perfect and supermajorities are not at all good., regardless of party But, as a long time independent I will never vote for a republican ever again in my lifetime. The republicans these days are, as a group, without any honor or integrity and seem to revel in destroying all good American ideals while supporting white “christian” nationalism.
The GOP pedoprotectors have put up a former Fox host (Fox lied about the 2020 election and had to pay out $787M to Dominion and the Smartmatic lawsuit is still ongoing) and a white nationalist oathkeeper constitutional sheriff who illegally seized ballots. Neither one of these two have any experience in large political office and neither is a rational choice for governor of California, the 4th largest economy in the world.
Bianco is a joke and shouldn’t be in law enforcement much less government. His interview yesterday was a disgrace. When questioned about his involvement with the oathkeepers he pivoted to how many members of the media he’d arrested for child molestation saying there were “many many.” When asked for the exact number he looked like he’d been hit with a board. These guys don’t like to deal with facts.