Carolyn Washburn As Nurse Ratched

DMR Editorette and Gannettoid Carolyn Washburn

You know me. I don't watch the debates, I read debate criticism.

Boy, they sure raked the Des Moines Register's Carolyn Washburn over the coals concerning her moderating of the Republican debate in Iowa.

Here's Dean Barnett at the Weekly Standard:

HERE WE WERE on Wednesday, a nation of political junkies gathered around our televisions to watch the candidates debate each other one last time, and we had as a moderator one Carolyn Washburn, the editor of the Des Moines Register. I don't mean to go all East-coast-elitist on you; I'm sure there are people in Iowa who could capably moderate a presidential debate. Unfortunately, and obviously, Carolyn Washburn is not one of them.

The bulk of the post-debate analysis will probably focus on how maladroit Washburn was at the job. She did the impossible--she moderated the last Iowa debate between the Republican candidates before caucuses and yet saw to it that none of the candidates engaged each other. In other words, the moderator ensured that the debate would be as lively as a 12 part PBS series on "How Grass Grows." A personal aside to the Des Moines Register--"boring" is not synonymous with "serious."

The problems went beyond Washburn's lack of mad moderating skillz. From the outset, Washburn announced that the candidates would not be discussing either Iraq or immigration. Swell! It's the biggest debate of the season, so let's take the two biggest issues off the table. For what it's worth, Washburn brought all the charm to her assignment of a latter-day Nurse Ratched.

At some point, the political parties will have to begin to wonder why they entrust such a critical part of our president-choosing process to people like Carolyn Washburn, people who obviously aren't up to the task.

Jay Wagner at Iowa Independent:

...the debate was a train wreck, difficult for even the most ardent political junkie to watch...

Moderator Carolyn Washburn, editor of The Register, was determined to hold the politicians to a 30-second time limit for their answers. Do we really want a presidential with a fiscal policy that can be explained in 30 seconds? Even a tightly written editorial in The Register on something as banal as, say, taxing pumpkins as food during Halloween, couldn't be read aloud in 30 seconds, let alone one of the paper's carefully researched editorials on more complex topics.

What next, a bumper-sticker debate?

And what good does it do to exclude discussion about immigration reform and the national security? Most Iowa voters list those issues as the most important of the election. It's the prerogative of debate organizers to establish any ground rules they deem fitting. But avoiding issues that voters care most about seems a bit elitist.

And Charles Krauthammer:

That was not just the worst debate of 2007, that was the worst debate in western history, and that includes the ancient Greeks. There was no record in any major European record of a debate this transcendently and crushingly dull. It was an astonishment.

The best line of the day was Fred in commenting after the debate where he said the moderator was Nurse Ratched. This moderator had the candidates shackled, handcuffed, and gagged with these absurd 15-second responses, 30 second responses. It was like a quiz show.

And, as you said earlier in the show, she had taken the major issues of any interest — Iraq and immigration — off the table at the beginning and never asked about the NIE or Iran or proliferation or interrogation — anything on our minds today.

You've got to wonder, are the people running the GOP today complete idiots? I think they are.

Why do they allow this?

After the CNN scam of including Democrat trans plants in their debate, why would the Republicans bother trusting the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television to host a debate?

The Des Moines Register is a newspaper that would love to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

The Register hates the Iraq war so much that they won't report on the success of the surge or the heroism of our soldiers, but rather only when soldiers die or when crazy old ladies protest.

The GOP should have told the Register to fuck off. Give the debate to the Cedar Rapids Gazette or some other newspaper that isn't chocked full of ultra-radical nitwits.

And Alan Keyes! Seriously. What the fuck is he doing there?