The Sears-Spanberger Debate--After Watching the Whole Damn Thing

I hate all candidate debates, but I think I might actually hate this one most.

Spanberger dodged and dissembled on the things she had to dodge and dissemble on--especially so-called "transgender" boys (i.e.: boys pretending to be girls) in girls' restrooms, locker rooms, and sports. And, of course on Jay Jones. The Jones thing is almost certainly a poli-tactical decision...but there's no doubt where she stand on transanity.

That should have made it a very easy debate to win...but WES basically just talked over Spanberger almost the entire debate. It was one of the more grating performances I've seen--even though Sears was often right about what she was saying.

It's clear that each candidate came in with her strategy mapped out:

      Spanberger: Don't say what you think about you-know-which issues.

      WES: Just keep talking over her.

Each stuck relentlessly to her game plan.

I'd have a hard time picking the biggest loser in this debate.

Hard as it is for even me to believe, it's entirely possible that Spanberger is the biggest loser. I'd have thought there'd be no way to lose against Sears's fingers-on-a-chalkboard strategy of ceaseless interruption...but the moderators actually did a great job of pointing out that Spanberger was not answering the questions...and they didn't do a good job of keeping WES in line. They seemed to get on her only maybe half as often as I thought they should have...though maybe the rules permit commentary by the person who doesn't have the floor? Well, I doubt that.

I'm no good at scoring such rhetorical contests.

But I guess if I had to pick the bigger loser, it would be Spanberger?