Whenever there’s any kind of big political event, there will always be those that complain that they didn’t get a seat at the table. It seems that presidential debates are no different, with a couple of groups already making statements that their favored topic (or hobby horse, depending who you ask) hadn’t been raised in the Clinton/Obama debate at UT on Thursday.
First up, Lance Armstrong and his LiveStrong anti-cancer campaign sent out an email circular on Friday entitled “Not even in my own backyard,” in which he complained that the candidates hadn’t taken the time to make a pledge on cancer research funding. Although, that said, every member of the press corps was issued with a LiveStrong yellow wristband.
Next up, Independents for Texas. The self-appointed forum for non-aligned and disenfranchised voters, founded by alumni of Ross Perot’s Reform Party, sent out a press release last Wednesday, talking about 1.3 million independent voters in Texas and how they’re up-for-grabs these days, and what they’re really bothered about more than anything else is the Trans-Texas Corridor and, uhh, can someone ask the candidates a question about that, thanks.
They then reached out to Obama, saying that, since he was opposed to predatory loans, he should say that that he’s opposed to “predatory globalists.” Then, of Friday, after there wasn’t a specific question about the road, they issued an angry missive entitled “CNN Liar Liar Pants On Fire,” demanding an explanation as to why there wasn’t a specific question on this one issue. “We hope you can sleep at night,” group spokesperson Linda Curtis wrote to CNN political director Sam Feist. Maybe they should have got some wristbands sorted out.
This article appears in February 22 • 2008.
