Disappointing 45th Congressional District Debate
Last evening's televised 45th Congress District debate between incumbent Mary Bono Mack and her Democratic challenger, Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, was disappointing. Candidate performance was not the fault. It was the questions! They appear to have been selected based on television viewer production values, for relevancy to the 45th Congressional District was clearly not the most important consideration used in the question selection process.
My disappointment stems from not hearing a question that could have revealed how the district would benefit in the next two years from either of the congressional candidates occupying the office. There are many local issues in need of federal dollars and attention and yet no opportunities were provided for candidates to clearly state how and what they would expect to accomplish for the district's benefit. Among questions clearly irrelevant with respect to district needs, the most egregious was one asking for candidate views of the "near Ground Zero" new Mosque proposal in New York City. While the question definitely had entertainment value, it took precious time away from genuine issues that should have been addressed.
The questions were designed to encourage candidates to attack the positions of the other and each showed no hesitancy in making responses. In listening to the candidates I found both to be good debaters and able to present positions with clarity. Congresswoman Bono Mack avoided directly answering a couple of questions, but her challenger wasn't able to use her evasions to his advantage. Also, she wasn't able to clearly articulate tangible benefits to the district arising from her twelve years in office and much of her campaign platform appears to be based on running against the Obama administration. Mayor Pougnet was portrayed by her as a potential "rubber stamp" for President Obama's policies and his record on the Palm Springs city council as one lacking in accomplishments.
The war in Afghanistan proved to be an emotional issue. The congresswoman supports the war and keeping the troops in place. Her opponent opposes the war and favors early troop withdrawals. She accused Mayor Pougnet of advocating no support for our troops and claimed he should be ashamed. He failed to provide a meaningful response such as highlighting the dreadful costs in lives and money that have resulted from votes to wage wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The "near Ground Zero" new Mosque question was certainly one that begs the question whether either candidate was really prepared for it? Mayor Steve Pougnet said he supported President Obama's comments on the subject, but that he had carefully reviewed the issue and believed it should not be built in that location due to noise and traffic density issues. His response amounted to bureaucratic nonsense and one unworthy of rebuttal.
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has a nice television personality. She comes across as charming, at times emotional but with sincerity, appears knowledgeable, and sometimes forceful. Her pleasing physical appearance, coupled with personality, are all pluses and clearly worked to her advantage in the televised debate setting. Mayor Steve Pougnet is personally quite charming on a one-to-one level, however, he's unable to exude that same degree of charm from a podium and was at some slight disadvantage in the television personality category. His presentation was rather methodical and appearance somewhat cold. Neither candidate appears to have the ability to crack a joke at the other's expense or otherwise inject a bit of levity into their presentation. Too bad, for modern politics is turning out to be a calling in which entertainers have an advantage.
If forced to decide a winner from the candidate debate, I'd have to select Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack. Mayor Steve Pougnet failed to demonstrate he would do a better job representing the district.
Bond Shands
Palm Springs - August 20, 2010
My disappointment stems from not hearing a question that could have revealed how the district would benefit in the next two years from either of the congressional candidates occupying the office. There are many local issues in need of federal dollars and attention and yet no opportunities were provided for candidates to clearly state how and what they would expect to accomplish for the district's benefit. Among questions clearly irrelevant with respect to district needs, the most egregious was one asking for candidate views of the "near Ground Zero" new Mosque proposal in New York City. While the question definitely had entertainment value, it took precious time away from genuine issues that should have been addressed.
The questions were designed to encourage candidates to attack the positions of the other and each showed no hesitancy in making responses. In listening to the candidates I found both to be good debaters and able to present positions with clarity. Congresswoman Bono Mack avoided directly answering a couple of questions, but her challenger wasn't able to use her evasions to his advantage. Also, she wasn't able to clearly articulate tangible benefits to the district arising from her twelve years in office and much of her campaign platform appears to be based on running against the Obama administration. Mayor Pougnet was portrayed by her as a potential "rubber stamp" for President Obama's policies and his record on the Palm Springs city council as one lacking in accomplishments.
The war in Afghanistan proved to be an emotional issue. The congresswoman supports the war and keeping the troops in place. Her opponent opposes the war and favors early troop withdrawals. She accused Mayor Pougnet of advocating no support for our troops and claimed he should be ashamed. He failed to provide a meaningful response such as highlighting the dreadful costs in lives and money that have resulted from votes to wage wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The "near Ground Zero" new Mosque question was certainly one that begs the question whether either candidate was really prepared for it? Mayor Steve Pougnet said he supported President Obama's comments on the subject, but that he had carefully reviewed the issue and believed it should not be built in that location due to noise and traffic density issues. His response amounted to bureaucratic nonsense and one unworthy of rebuttal.
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has a nice television personality. She comes across as charming, at times emotional but with sincerity, appears knowledgeable, and sometimes forceful. Her pleasing physical appearance, coupled with personality, are all pluses and clearly worked to her advantage in the televised debate setting. Mayor Steve Pougnet is personally quite charming on a one-to-one level, however, he's unable to exude that same degree of charm from a podium and was at some slight disadvantage in the television personality category. His presentation was rather methodical and appearance somewhat cold. Neither candidate appears to have the ability to crack a joke at the other's expense or otherwise inject a bit of levity into their presentation. Too bad, for modern politics is turning out to be a calling in which entertainers have an advantage.
If forced to decide a winner from the candidate debate, I'd have to select Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack. Mayor Steve Pougnet failed to demonstrate he would do a better job representing the district.
Bond Shands
Palm Springs - August 20, 2010
Posted by Desert Observer at 8/20/2010 10:19 AM 
Categories: Politics, The Desert Sun
Tags: Steve Pougnet Mary Bono Mack
Categories: Politics, The Desert Sun
Tags: Steve Pougnet Mary Bono Mack
Glad you liked the appearance of Mary Bono-Mack, WHATEVER THAT HAD TO DO WITH ANYTHING.
Clearly you lean toward the Republican side. I don't.
I THOUGHT MARY BONO-MACK WAS VERY SMUG, Condescending AND JUST DOWNRIGHT HATEFUL (TYPICAL REPUBLICAN STYLE).
If Republicans think they are going to continue to win elections by acting like this, they sure won't get my vote, but they've targeted the dumbest Americans with lies told over and over and over, and innuendos and half truths and partial statements, that no one takes the time to look up and verify.
This country is in the MESS it is in because Bush lied to us and invaded a country that did not attack us, and then he ended up spending spending spending AND NO ONE DID ANYTHING ABOUT IT UNTIL IT CAUGHT UP TO THEM, AND THEN IT WAS TOOOOOOOOOO LATE.
Americans will get what they vote for, and deserve it.
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