Governor's debate or 'Friday Night Sound Bites?'
Cary Clack: Candidates will talk, but who will listen?
10/04/2006
Cary Clack
San Antonio Express-News
Copytright 2006
You silly Texas voters, thinking that your opinions don't matter and that your votes are taken for granted. How ridiculous of you to think that certain powers-that-be in the state don't want you to be fully informed and engaged in this year's gubernatorial race.
Tomorrow night, just in time to dispel your feelings of insignificance, a real live candidate debate will take place. OK, maybe it's not a "real" debate, but at least it's live, in a sterilized kind of way.
And so what, if all of the candidates have not been invited to participate?
With Republican incumbent Rick Perry, Democrat Chris Bell and independents Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman having all of the answers to the state's problems, what could the Libertarian Party candidate, James Werner, possibly have to offer?
So, with important issues such as school finance, a teacher shortage, health insurance for children, property taxes, water and the Trans-Texas Corridor to be discussed, tomorrow night's three-hour debate in Dallas will be the first of several gubernatorial debates, right?
Well, tomorrow's debate will last for one hour and it will be the ONLY debate. There will be no studio audience and it will be held in an undisclosed bunker in Pakistan.
But it's an important debate and the Perry campaign and Belo Corp., the sponsor with exclusive rights to THE debate, really, really, honestly and truly, dear voters, want you to see it.
And that's why they scheduled it for a Friday night. A Friday night, when the state of Texas is consumed with high school football. A Friday night, before the UT-OU game. A Friday night, before a big NFL weekend featuring the Cowboys in Philadelphia. A Friday night, so that radio talk shows won't be able to discuss and dissect the debate the next day.
What else? Oh yeah, only Belo affiliates in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin and television stations in smaller towns can carry the debate live. Everyone else must carry it tape-delayed within four days.
Again, they really, honestly, truly, desperately want you to see this debate.
Those Texans at football games Friday night who want to follow the debate live can do so by bringing a radio to the game and listening, over the din, to KTSA, 550 AM.
In a Perry television ad touting his commitment to education, there's a scene of the governor greeting children as they board a school bus. Now we know he was shipping them to a high school football game because he didn't want them to see him debate.
The Perry camp, citing a scheduling conflict, declined an invitation for a debate that would have been held tonight and carried on public stations across the state. It will be interesting to learn what's on the governor's schedule for tonight.
In any election, it's the challengers for an office who want to debate and the incumbents, regardless of party affiliation, who avoid them.
Bell, Friedman, Keeton Strayhorn and Werner deserve multiple opportunities to showcase their ideas and critique the performance of the man who has been governor for six years. They deserve more debates but, most important, the people of Texas deserve more. The governor's seat belongs to them and not to Perry or Belo.
Why doesn't Perry relish the opportunity to defend his record in a debate format? Why doesn't he want the eyes of Texas to see him make a case for himself that may, just may, force him to venture from the safety of a prepared script?
Either you have a record you want to trumpet across the state or one you want to be drowned out by the jubilance of high school bands that have something to celebrate.
Cary Clack's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Call him at (210) 250-3546 or e-mail at cclack@express-news.net.
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News: www.mysanantonio.com
10/04/2006
Cary Clack
San Antonio Express-News
Copytright 2006
You silly Texas voters, thinking that your opinions don't matter and that your votes are taken for granted. How ridiculous of you to think that certain powers-that-be in the state don't want you to be fully informed and engaged in this year's gubernatorial race.
Tomorrow night, just in time to dispel your feelings of insignificance, a real live candidate debate will take place. OK, maybe it's not a "real" debate, but at least it's live, in a sterilized kind of way.
And so what, if all of the candidates have not been invited to participate?
With Republican incumbent Rick Perry, Democrat Chris Bell and independents Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman having all of the answers to the state's problems, what could the Libertarian Party candidate, James Werner, possibly have to offer?
So, with important issues such as school finance, a teacher shortage, health insurance for children, property taxes, water and the Trans-Texas Corridor to be discussed, tomorrow night's three-hour debate in Dallas will be the first of several gubernatorial debates, right?
Well, tomorrow's debate will last for one hour and it will be the ONLY debate. There will be no studio audience and it will be held in an undisclosed bunker in Pakistan.
But it's an important debate and the Perry campaign and Belo Corp., the sponsor with exclusive rights to THE debate, really, really, honestly and truly, dear voters, want you to see it.
And that's why they scheduled it for a Friday night. A Friday night, when the state of Texas is consumed with high school football. A Friday night, before the UT-OU game. A Friday night, before a big NFL weekend featuring the Cowboys in Philadelphia. A Friday night, so that radio talk shows won't be able to discuss and dissect the debate the next day.
What else? Oh yeah, only Belo affiliates in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin and television stations in smaller towns can carry the debate live. Everyone else must carry it tape-delayed within four days.
Again, they really, honestly, truly, desperately want you to see this debate.
Those Texans at football games Friday night who want to follow the debate live can do so by bringing a radio to the game and listening, over the din, to KTSA, 550 AM.
In a Perry television ad touting his commitment to education, there's a scene of the governor greeting children as they board a school bus. Now we know he was shipping them to a high school football game because he didn't want them to see him debate.
The Perry camp, citing a scheduling conflict, declined an invitation for a debate that would have been held tonight and carried on public stations across the state. It will be interesting to learn what's on the governor's schedule for tonight.
In any election, it's the challengers for an office who want to debate and the incumbents, regardless of party affiliation, who avoid them.
Bell, Friedman, Keeton Strayhorn and Werner deserve multiple opportunities to showcase their ideas and critique the performance of the man who has been governor for six years. They deserve more debates but, most important, the people of Texas deserve more. The governor's seat belongs to them and not to Perry or Belo.
Why doesn't Perry relish the opportunity to defend his record in a debate format? Why doesn't he want the eyes of Texas to see him make a case for himself that may, just may, force him to venture from the safety of a prepared script?
Either you have a record you want to trumpet across the state or one you want to be drowned out by the jubilance of high school bands that have something to celebrate.
Cary Clack's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Call him at (210) 250-3546 or e-mail at cclack@express-news.net.
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Wednesday, October 04, 2006
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