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YouTube Presidential Debate audience down on slavery question; Edwards the cave-man?

CNN’s got some nice coverage of the YouTube Presidential Debate last night that was a first of its kind and leftward leaning. See here.

But before you go clicking away, here are some quick highlights:

First: viewer-generated questions about the war, healthcare, and race, proved to be more thoughtful than mainstream media coverage.

Second: A question about slavery received lowest audience ratings, reported Donna Hernandez for RaceWire:

Did you see the audience meters from the most recent democratic YouTube debate? The audience rating went all the way up to 90 when Edwards discussed healthcare, down to 50 when Clinton discussed gender and up to 70 when Obama talked about uniting the races. The lowest point of the night was when they video conferenced in a question about slavery. The question was not asked clearly and I think it was put in deliberately to make people think race is not an important issue. Wag the DOG!

Third: apparently there will be another YouTube debate, featuring the Republican candidates on September 17.

And fourth: Sen. John Edwards is a mess for calling out Sen. Hillary Clinton in a question that had the candidates look to their left and express something they liked and disliked about the person. CNN reported:

Edwards said he liked Clinton’s service to the country, as well as her husband’s. But Edwards looked at the salmon-colored jacket Clinton wore and said jokingly, “But I don’t know about that jacket.”

Luckily Sen. Barack Obama said “I don’t see what’s wrong with the jacket.” But the idea that Obama or Edwards would choose to devalue Hillary’s clothes over her many questionable policy positions is really not ok…

Posted at 9:44 AM, Jul 24, 2007 in News | Permalink | View Comments