I'm trying to read the NBC News article, "Kari Lake was booted from Arizona town hall audience before Hobbs took the stage/The scene, which took place a forum that has yet to air, is emblematic of the contrasting styles of the two candidates in Arizona's tight race for governor."
I have no quarrel with the headline — other than that "booted" suggests physical resistance to removal — but the text is slanted. It begins:
Democrat Katie Hobbs won’t debate her opponent in Arizona’s race for governor, yet Republican Kari Lake tried to make it happen at a candidate town hall that organizers say she disrupted.
Before describing exactly what Lake did, we're pushed to regard it as disruption. And we're told Lake "tried to make [a debate] happen," so I'm picturing Lake getting on the stage and attempting to argue with Hobbs.
Under the agreed-upon rules for the pre-recorded event, which was taped Monday and airs at 7 p.m. Saturday Arizona time, the candidates were not supposed to be onstage at the same time and Hobbs was supposed to go first.
Again, we're pushed to think that Lake got on the stage with Hobbs, and we're told that would violate the specific rules that Lake had agreed to.
But a problem arose before Hobbs even took the stage...
You can't violate the rule against being on stage with the other person if that other person isn't even on the stage. But, more importantly....
Lake was sitting in the front row, in a direct line of sight at where her opponent would sit.
Lake wasn't even on the stage! That should have been revealed in the first paragraph: Lake wasn't on the stage and there was no agreed-upon rule that Lake violated. Lake sat in the audience. Or had they agreed to a rule against sitting in the audience?
As a crowd of more than 200 watched, organizers said Lake was supposed to be in a hold room under the rules, a copy of which they refused to provide to NBC News.
You know what you presume when a document won't be shown to you? The document doesn't support what the withholder of the document is trying to use it to mean. Who were "the organizers"? They've been referred to twice now. They don't sound neutral.
Lake protested, saying she was unaware of that rule and said Hobbs should come out and debate her. Hobbs didn’t.
If you want to prove Lake must have known the rule, you've got to at least establish that there was a rule. Lake chose to do a little demonstration that would forefront her opponent's refusal to debate. Now, her opponent — or the "organizers" — would like to deflect attention and get the focus on Lake's disrespect for rules and decorum.
After several minutes, Lake complied, leaving behind her campaign surrogate, Mexican telenovela star Eduardo Verástegui....
Okay, my attention got deflected onto this photo I found when I googled this name I'd never run into before:
Apparently, this lady, Kari Lake, has the handsomest man in the world as her "surrogate." If you're bent on hogging attention in the front row of an event, would you intentionally sit next to this man?! He is so good looking that I would think it vastly overshadows anything Hobbs might say or whatever the difference between Hobbs and Lake happens to be. It doesn't matter that Lake is removed from the scene, if everyone has seen that Verástegui is allied with her, and Verástegui remains. It's utterly perfect for Lake.
“Kari Lake brought along a Mexican telenovela star and she brought the drama. It was like a telenovela,” said Joe Garcia, an independent voter and the executive director of voter outreach for the group Chicanos Por La Causa Action Fund..... “She rattled her opponent. She was big, brash, and very larger than life, Trump-esque. Anyone who thinks she was there to follow all the rules doesn’t know Kari Lake.”...
Was there also a rule against telenovela stars in the audience? How many rules does Katie Hobbs need to avoid getting rattled? And how can Hobbs benefit from this kind of coverage? A male supporter jumps to support her by saying she got "rattled"?!
Lake has repeatedly called Hobbs a “coward” for her refusal to share the debate stage and points out that Hobbs also refused to debate Democratic primary rivals.
If you don't debate, that kind of argument is inevitable. It's so predictable that maybe you need some sort of stunt on top of it, but Lake's sitting in the audience and then leaving when she was told it was against the rules wasn't much of a stunt. Getting Verástegui sitting with her, however... that was hilariously great.
And there was no basis for kicking him out too, was there? Some implied rule against overly beautiful people in the front row?
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126 comments:
This is how Democrat operatives in the media roll, professor.
It's "trying to make a debate happen" because NBC said so. Also that guy looks like a date-rapist, but to each their own.
verastegui, is a very strong conservative and pro life activist, in the latino community, he was in the andy garcia passion project for the glory about the cristero rebellion
they weren't interested in a debate,
Kari Lake "Pounced" by sitting with friend peacefully.
I expect an indictment from Merrick Garland against Lake for Making A New Soviet Democratical Look Bad In The First Degree, followed by a Stasi-FBI fully outfitted SWAT Raid on Kari's home.
wait a minute, just Wait One Minute!
are you trying to say? That the Main Stream Media would Intentionally SLANT their coverage?
That the MSM might Not be COMPLETELY OBJECTIVE? is That what you're implying?
okay, got it
That guy is so handsome I laughed out loud. Such an absurd situation!
Democrats cannot debate. so they provide sound bites for the hack-D press.
There is an unwritten rule, known to every True Conservative like Mitt Romney, against doing or saying anything that makes a Democrat opponent look bad. Violators of this rule are beyond the pale, threats to democracy.
Could you please tone down the sarcasm when I do a post on the slant in a particular piece?
The exclamations based on the idea that I haven't noticed slant before or don't acknowledge it generally when I have been writing every day on this problem for almost 20 years are distracting from the new issue, disrespectful to me, and make you seem like you just dropped by this blog 5 minutes ago.
I know I don't have to put comments like this through and I can delete them, but I would appreciate it if you'd voluntarily step down from this kind of jackassery. If you don't like my approach to blogging, please don't read it.
The organizers weren't neutral, the writers weren't neutral, etc. etc.
Face it, Althouse: it's you against your Dem overlords.
It took me a while to realize Kari Lake isn't Ricki Lake, who used to have a TV show or something.
Rikki don't lose that number and Charlie don't surf.
Perhaps he was so handsome as to give Hobbs the vapors.
a little context, the country is being torn down in real time, and they won't allow a debate, on the exercise,
"If you don't like my approach to blogging"
Slightly OT: I like it, and I especially like the evolution of the blog posts, as Althouse records her being mugged by reality and cuts down on that's-terrible/they-should-be-better handwringing, even if a slightly more realistic theory of modern politics could save time and effort.
Holding public debates exposes the Biden Administration's failures and allows them to be heard by society. Republicans must engage in debate -- no more bullsh*t about the moderators being liberal drones.
How can you support someone who won't debate her opponent? What's the rationalization? 'It's so unfair, she's smarter than my candidate!
Democrats are so awful now - they must be shielded like children from - scary debates.
Hobbs is the poser child.
"Face it, Althouse: it's you against your Dem overlords."
Familiarize yourself with my positions before attempting statements about me. You come across like a troll. There's nothing I'm not "facing." You sound like a jackass.
Would have been a better look for Hobbs to ask Verástegui to leave, on account of being a distraction.
I just don't get who these Democrats refusing to debate think they are playing to. Fetterman's got an obvious reason (not that it makes him look any better) but what does Hobbs think Lake is going to do? Stalk her like Gore stalked W in 200?
"Slightly OT: I like it, and I especially like the evolution of the blog posts, as Althouse records her being mugged by reality and cuts down on that's-terrible/they-should-be-better handwringing, even if a slightly more realistic theory of modern politics could save time and effort."
No, you don't understand my writing and you are saying ignorant and insulting things about me. I'm tired of responding to you and I am telling you to raise your game. If you want writing that is more exaggerated and hot-headed, please go somewhere else.
Boy they sure try and make the normal ones look nutty and excuse the nuts behavior completely! Hobbs demanded and the supine organizers agreed to a curtain so Hoobs wouldn’t endure the horrors of seeing her opponent, and for the same reason they were brought in separate entrances. What is this new cooties fear that Democrats are demonstrating? Why are they deathly afraid to see or debate opponents?
It’s the extreme otherizing that they did to Trump extended. I’m kind of surprised that the issue hasn’t come up yet here. Last week Nancy Pelosi apologized for “accidentally saying his name out loud” when she ride her broom onto a late night show. Haven’t you noticed Democrats act like he shall not be named? That’s the whole reason for the ultra-MAGA bullshit Joe yells and whispers about. It’s a substitute for his name. Hobbs is attempting the same thing in AZ treating Lake like her who must not be named or seen or even near her. As most democrat habits this one is infantile and bewildering.
This blog has had a consistent tone and attitude for nearly 20 years, and I am proud of my work. It's not going to change and it's not me somehow not "facing reality" or failing to issue a blanket denouncement of this or that. I know what I'm doing and I believe in it. If it's not for you, you should face reality and find something else to read. This blog is exactly what it is. Some people like it.
I can't find it now but a couple days I read that Hobbs proposed a debate with the two candidates separated by curtains so hobbs would not be able to see lake as they debated.
That must be some really powerful juju that lake has emanating from her.
What kind of candidate us so weak that she can't even see her opponent without getting the vapors?
This is bizarre.
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
I remember Verastegui from years ago. Something about being a young, drop-dead handsome Catholic in California, the land of hedonism. He decided to practice chastity. I'd forgotten about him. (I don't think he works in Sodom anymore.) He's very interesting, even to the blind, lol.
I'm reminded of mayra the attractive dominican maga lawyer in the 2nd debate that left tongues wagging,
Althouse--I summarized the background for my wife, and then I showed her the picture of Lake's surrogate. She, like you, laughed out loud. Lake herself is very good looking, has a deep, rich voice (like Tulsi Gabbard), and great presentation skills. Hobbs has a piping, girlish voice. Lake would completely overshadow her in a face to face.
Lake is perhaps too glib, but she is running a great campaign.
This is a great post. Thanks.
He does have a bad case of "good looks". I'm not sure if it would be a burden or a blessing. Great political stunt. Lake is going to be President one day.
I propose we call it voldemorting as the technique is childish but adults do it, the term defines itself and it’s way shorter than “he or she who must not be named” although longer than the perfectly apt shunning.
Original Mike-
Candidates also won’t debate because they know they’re a lock. Why appear in public when you don’t have to?
It’s extremely condescending to their constituents. This act assumes the candidate owns their votes. It also deprives the populace of any chance for a deeper dive into issues.
Mike @9:04 has it. Is treating every conservative like Voldemort a coordinated plan or an instinctual reaction? (I know, embrace "and".) Part of them genuinely believes that the evil is so great that their souls are at risk. I wish Kari would say, "Be brave like Harry and say my name out loud."
The media is seeking to be more brazen in their lying and story telling. This article deserves the fisking it just got. If only this could replace it on the original site.
Althouse--I have been a reader from almost the beginning and I agree your tone has been consistent from the start. We often agree, but even better, we sometimes disagree.
Anyone who went to law school knows the thrill and frustration of learning by being asked questions. My sources tell me that you were an excellent classroom teacher. This blog consistently challenges your readers to understand what they think and why they think it. That is why I read it.
As an Arizona resident, I am very pleased with Kari Lake. She is a long term TV person who knows how to pull the chain on Soros' candidate Hobbs. I understand the Democrat Mark Kelly did not do well in his debate with Blake Masters. Kelly lied about his record. He is running from Biden but Biden is like a tar baby that Democrats can't escape.
Kari Lake is super smart and very articulate. Team Hobbs(D) - understands this and are doing all they can to avoid a real debate.
Well as an aging hetero cis-male, the telenovela star doesn't do much for me. But I can see how the whole thing--Ms. Lake, the good looking guy, and the drama could rattle a few cages.
And as for the double secret set of written rules--which can't be shown--that's pathetic. Who's in charge of the Hobbs campaign--Dean Wormer?
Apparently, this lady, Kari Lake, has the handsomest man in the world as her "surrogate."
Steady, girl. Try to keep it together.
Thanks, Amadeus!
Here in Washington State Editorial boards interview candidates side-by-side. The Everett Herald arranged such an interview for Sen. Patty Murray and her challenger, Tiffany Smiley. Murray objected to the side-by-side format, so the Herald bent the knee to her, and changed the format to single interviews. Tiffany Smiley told the Everett Herald to take their new format and shove it up where the Sun don't shine. That she would not continue the interview without the cowardly Patty.
I'm sure you deserve a boyfriend who looks like Eduardo Verastegui, but Meade is a reasonable, real world compromise. I'm sure you deserve readers that can catch every feint and inflection and bit of post modern irony that you put out, but, by and large, your readers are appreciative and literate if not exactly ideal.....Some of your followers offer you courtly love. That doesn't occur very much in today's world. Count your blessings. La belle dame sans merci.
"No, you don't understand my writing and you are saying ignorant and insulting things about me. I'm tired of responding to you and I am telling you to raise your game. If you want writing that is more exaggerated and hot-headed, please go somewhere else."
Huh? Saying I like the blog and its evolution is "insulting"?
No, you don't understand my writing. I meant to praise, not trigger an outburst. Recording your being mugged by reality is of course a form of "facing reality." But what you haven't faced, in my humble opinion, as you record case after case, one more over-the-top NYT article, yet another WaPo absurdity, another instance of "neutral" actors not being actually neutral, is the pattern and what it means. It's a political difference between us, not an accusation of ignorance or a snide comment about style.
Nothing in "my writing" expresses any desire for you to be more "hotheaded." Why would I want that, or anyone in the commentariat for that matter? In fact, in "my writing" I have frequently praised your calm fiskings. You may disagree that you engage in less handwringing now than in years past, or find it insulting that anyone might describe any of your older posts that way, but I think the blog has changed and changed for the better. That's praise, not insult.
"He does have a bad case of "good looks". I'm not sure if it would be a burden or a blessing."
He could tone it down. Maybe the hair is a wig. It's clearly done up. Cut it shorter and don't style it. Wear glasses maybe. Give a less smoldering look...
Sebastian, I could be wrong but I don’t recall you being around here much or for very long. How would you know anything about the evolution of this blog or of Ann’s positions and writing? Could it be you don’t recognize intellectual honesty because you don’t do intellectual honesty
Remembering all of the supposedly little "pranks" Dick Tuck used to play on Nixon and how they were smiled upon by the media makes it hard for me to work up much indignation about other political "stunts," if that's what this is.
Alternative headline:
Lake Parks Her Arm Candy in Front Row at Non-Debate, Flustered Hobbs Cries Foul.
Give a less smoldering look...
He calls that one "Acero Azul"
"This blog has had a consistent tone and attitude for nearly 20 years, and I am proud of my work."
You should be! The blog is consistently interesting, often thought-provoking. And you do it every day!
Having said that, I think there has been a bit of a change in tone recently, less "cruel-neutrality" and more "Stop pissing on me and saying it's raining." You seem to have less patience with the bullsh*t that respectable people are supposed to accept.
Hobbs has refused to debate Lake and now refuses to be in the same room as Lake. How childish.
How could someone vote for a candidate that refuses to even debate their opponent and explain to the voters how their plans are better for the constituents? It's the same as with Fetterman and Oz. Oz had made all types of concessions to Fetterman as to a debate format, including allowing the use of a teleprompter, the questions given to the candidates in advance, etc, and still Fetterman refuses.
Kate, I don't know if it's a coordinated plan but it does seem to be the go-to Democrat excuse this season. Here's the ABC news spin on it.
Again, I don't get it but I'm probably not the target of the tactic. Not wanting to appear with your opponent because they are an 'election denier' seems to indicate that you have nothing with which to refute their claims. As the line on Instapundit goes, the Democrats may not have stolen the election but they sure act like they did.
Ms. Althouse, well, I haven't read you from the beginning but I very much like your objective writing / coverage style and take a lot of pleasure reading it. Thank you!
Someone above said of the Progressive candidates and their adoring press, "this is how they roll...". But I would point out, in candidate Lake's case, this is also how they get rolled, and long may it continue.
It looks like the event was sponsored and organized by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It’s a PAC but they claim to be non-partisan. Hard to tell.
- Krumhorn
Maybe a play for the suburban female vote.
If you want to beat the corrupt Soviet pro-Crime left - you must out-smart them, and do so with much creativity ans snark.
For too long idiot male GOPers let themselves be Lucy's football.
He could tone it down. Maybe the hair is a wig. It's clearly done up. Cut it shorter and don't style it. Wear glasses maybe. Give a less smoldering look...
Knock out a few teeth.
That headshot is very zoolander. Very blue steel. He missed his chance. Had he pulled 'magnum' he'd be the governor.
Meanwhile Barnes debated Johnson. Barnes was shocked to see how different Scott Walker looks these days.
Nothing says “vote for me!” quite like a timid, frightened person.
Take no prisoners!
He could tone it down.
Maybe the Democrat could have Beto as her “surrogate” if that’s to be the new thing. Y’know. Just to keep things fair.
He was allowed to sit there, but they had to turn off the fan directed at his hair.
I think that NBC should be given some credit here. This would win the prize for journalistic mendacity if such a thing existed. Too bad more people aren't exposed to an analysis of all the tricks that are played on them by the media. Once you see it, it can't be unseen.
Politics seems to have so much gimmickry, it's no wonder so many tune it out. I imagine there's been such gimmickry all through our history, but I only know my chunk of this history, and it seems to me the candidates were more sober and serious not all that many decades ago.
Seems to this amateur observer the acid test of a gimmick is whether it does any of the following:
1) Attract more voters to the candidate.
2) Energize existing supporters.
3) Encourage turnout for the candidate.
4) Do the opposite to the opponent(s).
I can't say in this instance, and were I in Arizona, I'd be supporting Lake anyway.
Michael K said, "...Biden is like a tar baby that Democrats can't escape."
Great simile! Remember when Reagan was called the "Teflon president"? No matter what bad stuff happened, nothing stuck to Reagan.
Biden is our Tar Baby president, and oh what an image that is.
He has his own YouTube channel, girls!!!
But be careful, it's kind of Churchy.
"...saying she was unaware of that rule and said Hobbs should come out and debate her."
Did she?
That sentence should include a direct quote.
He could tone it down. Maybe the hair is a wig. It's clearly done up. Cut it shorter and don't style it. Wear glasses maybe. Give a less smoldering look..
I suspect that's a photo from 20 years ago. He's now 48. This recent article in Spanish says he's celibate, incidentally. More recent photos show him definitely "toned down": Shorter hair, a bit pudgier face.
Heartless Aztec said...
Lake is going to be President one day.
THIS is the reason Trump terrified them so. They realized: If (ugly loud)Trump could do it;
WHAT would they do if someone nice and not so abrasive did it?
JFGDC! The dems couldn't even stop Trump! It's just going to get worse for them
(assuming the Stasi (sorry, the FBI) doesn't arrest us all first)
What Amadeus 48 said at 9:11. Including the reaction to that movie star pic: both my spouse and I were instantly stunned by his looks and then laughed out loud at the way Lake won the exchange with the debate “organizers” whose bona fides (and competence) you rightly question.
Along with a very few others (Instapundit being the ur-blog) your blog is part of my daily dose of sanity and amusement. Thanks for all you do, especially the brilliant parsing: clinically even-handed and surgically precise.
"Ann Althouse said...
That guy is so handsome I laughed out loud. Such an absurd situation!"
So did I, Althouse. And I think the guys who keep missing your point are just jealous.
PS And he's a prolifer. I might be able to meet him in the re-education camps someday.
Kari Lake is super smart and very articulate. Team Hobbs(D) - understands this and are doing all they can to avoid a real debate.
Not only that, but Hobbs is apparently incompetent at extemporaneous speech.
Ann Althouse: That guy is so handsome I laughed out loud.
Aha! I always wondered why so many women laugh when they look at me. Now I know!
What Lake did is nothing short of genius. Highlighting that Hobbs won't debate her was part of it, but that's all over the news already. Getting kicked out (something she had to know was going to happen) and leaving the movie star who has a huge following of young Latinos sitting there alone in her place is an exclamation point that can't be missed. The slight to her is old hat, but the slight to him, her "date", is going to leave a scar. Brilliant.
So you're saying Verástegui needs a Clark Kent makeover? (FWIW, powerful men have been doing this kind of thing forever. I think the term is "arm candy". The citizens of Arizona -- particularly the female subpopulation -- who are "in to" telenovelas just had their buttons pushed in a very visceral way. I applaud Lake for her audacity.)
"Wear glasses maybe. Give a less smoldering look...."
Lake knows who she needs to win and how to get their votes!
Hobbs is ridiculous. Ads say she will reduce taxes for 800,000 Arizonans. We do have people here in Arizona, particularly in Pima County, my old stomping grounds, who are stupid enough to believe her or unprincipled enough to ignore that she is a liar.
Fun post, Professor.
Althouse. Some people like it, some people love it.
I do both, and am old enough to remember when condescension toward one's host/ess was considered bad manners. (Forgive the civility bullshit, but it's a fresh cool morning here.)
I'll ask my wife how the Mexican dreamboat compares to her idol, Heughan. They may look good now, but will they age into even greater beauty, like I did?
[Fuck Blogger]
Ann Althouse said...
"He does have a bad case of "good looks". I'm not sure if it would be a burden or a blessing."
He could tone it down. Maybe the hair is a wig.
It looks like a professional headshot to me. I doubt he looks quite so perfect when he appears in public. If nothing else, the lighting will not be so friendly.
Soviet Democrats need protection. They don't want competition and debate.
Leftist Soviets demand the red carpet treatment, ass-kissing, and total love from the hack press. and they get it.
If Lake and Masters can't win these races in Arizona in November, then the country is truly and well fucked, and we deserve what is coming for all of us.
And I don't think Lake or Masters can win these races with mail-in-vote fraud that the Republican Party in Arizona seems unable or unwilling to stop. I think it may well be the case that the Democrats have installed sleeper agents inside the Republican Party because what other explanation outside of pure stupidity could explain what has happened to the party in Arizona?
LOL “a less smoldering look”!
People with low comprehension skills might miss the neutrality in focusing on language and persuasion instead of partisan positioning and ideology. Other than “I’m for boring” no revelation of the host’s ideology is asserted in her writing. But reacting to public speech and a willingness to call bullshit on any public speaker has the unfortunate effect of triggering partisans. Mostly the responses boil down to “this other speech over here is MORE offensive and YOU should write about that” and today’s oft-used “so you FINALLY noticed!”
For that reason I try to avoid saying either of those, even disguised as praise.
Ha, my scroll pad is getting dizzy...every time someone mentions something about Mr. Verástegui, I go back up to look/study his picture. Kari Lake is running a brilliant campaign. She never seems to get rattled and projects reasonableness and impressive competence.
Bravo Althouse!
That is the funniest thing you've posted here. I'm sitting at a Panera laughing out loud and choking on my iced tea.
I think it may well be the case that the Democrats have installed sleeper agents inside the Republican Party because what other explanation outside of pure stupidity could explain what has happened to the party in Arizona?
Ego and corruption. The party was dominated by McCain and his loyalists, who viewed it as their party, and despised any outsider who might challenge that control. They'd rather sabotage any GOP candidate not selected by, and loyal to, themselves, rather than loosen their grip on the party.
Lake’s going to win the Hispanic female vote.
Blogger Owen said..."Along with a very few others (Instapundit being the ur-blog) your blog is part of my daily dose of sanity and amusement. Thanks for all you do, especially the brilliant parsing: clinically even-handed and surgically precise."
Ditto.
If this move by Lake with the handsome telenovela dude doesn't remind me of that time Trump invited the press into a side room before a debate vs. Hillary and brought them all face to face into a presser with all the women Bill mishandled and whose reputations Hillary's Bimbo Eruption squad thoroughly eviscerated, followed by said ladies being seated in the front row of the debate directly in Hillary's line of sight.
That Trump move was one of the most brutally brilliant political stunts ever, and Lake clearly hasn't forgotten it, either.
As for this blog, it's been a favorite since the 90s when Instapundit used to reference it all the time, and I still remember what may have been the first time Limbaugh mentioned the blog and you were pretty thrilled about that (rightly so).
It's been consistent but what's funny is how in the past few years those reference sources that everyone assumes to be the closest thing to "neutrality" (or "of record", as one likes to call itself) have gone increasingly conspicuously off the rails with their slant and bias. Without an actual Trump to point to and "other", their writers/editorial have gone crazy. People are reacting to your reaction to it, which manifests in quantitatively greater levels of well-deserved exasperation and ridicule, whereas in past decades you've played closer to the chest (probably because the bias wasn't presented as flagrantly by the papers/sites/networks from which the blog sources the material on which to comment).
People may be reacting more to the overall shift in reality but thinking it's the blog that's changed.
I think Hobbs' refusal to debate is part fear and part confidence. She knows she can't handle Lake 1-1, but figures what with all the CA and WA people that moved down here in the last few years, plus vote corruption, she's got it made anyway.
I live in Mesa, BTW.
Taste the Biscuit, Hobbs! Lake bringin’ dat honey sauce and puttin’ it all over me!
Another one.
Veteran politician U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) has backed out of a scheduled debate with her Republican challenger and political newcomer Don Bolduc.
Wendy Hunt, president of the Nashua Chamber of Commerce, told The Epoch Times that Hassan has asked to appear separately on stage for the Oct. 12 debate.
Hunt, who would only communicate with The Epoch Times by email about the change, would not comment further, only saying that Hassan would appear first, followed by Bolduc.
Hunt was quoted by the NH Journal as saying that the Hassan campaign contacted her on Thursday indicating that the U.S. senator would only participate if it were “a stand-alone forum, not a debate.”
Kate Constantini, a com strategist for Bolduc, told The Epoch Times, that Hassan has also insisted that Bolduc not be in the present when she speaks. “He can’t even be in the audience,” said Constantini, “he has to stay in the green room.”
Intoxicating masculinity? Men in shorts, or should be.
On a slightly different tangent, but still political - the political hero of many of us had a political rally yesterday in Minden, where I lived from 15-10 years ago. It is a beautiful place. If we didn’t have the houses in AZ and MT, that’s where I would want to live. But then he flew to Las Vegas, where his family owns a small hotel. Ok, only small by Las Vegas standards. It’s tall - maybe 70 stories, including lobby, maybe 3-4 parking, pool, 64 residence floor, and I think a private floor or two.only 1,000 rooms, where there are 5,000 room hotels close by. Supposedly 7the fastest elevator in Las Vegas. Turns out we got a smoking deal there over Valentine’s Day last year, and so when we had to spend a bunch of time there this last summer for her to see her back surgeon, we stayed there. And just kept staying there because of the beds, and the sq feet. Now, it’s not that cheap, and the last two nights got really expensive, as we had to move up to a penthouse suite, with all of the 1 bedrooms selling out within minutes of the announcement of the Minden rally. Because, that small hotel of theirs was where PDJT stayed last night.
My partner had gotten somewhat estranged from her family in Las Vegas. My trip this weekend to CO Spgs for my 50th college reunion kinda forced her to reach out to them. Her sister helped move her to the penthouse suite Friday, and drove her to the pharmacy for meds. But Friday her daughter and son-in-law flew in from Phoenix, and Saturday she reconnected with her step son from her first marriage, his daughter, and step son. Which sets the scene. She is tight with hotel security, so knew when Trump was going to show at the hotel. They all traipsed down to see him arrive. A lot of people there. Some in security, maybe Secret Service, seeing her with a walker, and brought her up front. Which allowed her to say “thank you, Mr President” to him. Exciting night, that I missed by being out of town. I got a call from her about 6 this morning, for her to tell me everything, despite my jet lag from starting in C Springs that morning at 4:30 am (3:30 am Pacific), and going to bed in N ID that night.
" You seem to have less patience with the bullsh*t that respectable people are supposed to accept."
I don't think so. I think the tone is amazingly consistent. When I look back randomly, I'm surprised to see how much the same it has been all along. You can go back to the first month of the blog and see that I was the same. I started writing this blog when I was 53 years old. I'm not really maturing anymore or developing who I am. My personal circumstances have changed. I've retired from teaching law school. I've gotten recognition for blogging. I've got more distance from my time as a single parent, and I've become a married person. But I'm basically the same person, and I've always felt comfortable with the writing style I developed in the first few weeks of blogging. It's natural for me. It's not a fake style. So there's nothing to change.
I will admit to one thing: I don't bother with really intense live-blogging (of debates, awards shows, etc.). But that's consistent with the practice of only talking about what interests me.
"Ha, my scroll pad is getting dizzy...every time someone mentions something about Mr. Verástegui, I go back up to look/study his picture."
LOL
Me too. I keep having to remind myself just how good looking he is.
My comment has disappeared. I don't know whether it was swallowed whole by Google or severed editorially by la belle dame sans merci.....The comment was somewhat personal, but not hostile. I prefer to put the blame on Google, but I guess I'll never really know. Ambiguous words and ambiguous actions...... None of us ever truly find our ideal reader. Take Jesus Christ for example. Quite a few arguments and misunderstandings about the import of his words and which words are meant to be taken literally and which figuratively. The words of Christ have inspired a fair number of massacres and religious wars. I'm pretty sure that's not what he had in mind, but that's how it worked out....Well, keep plugging away.
Remember this about Hobbs. She is Secretary of State, and thus greatly helped engineer Biden’s’ and Kelly/Giffords’ fraudulent wins in 2020. Too much of that this time would be the extreme of brazenness. Very unseeming. I fully expect the Republicans to be watching her like a hawk, for any hint of her illegal acts furthering election fraud two years ago. And have sympathetic judges on speed dial, if they try the same things in Maricopa County that they did in 2020. We shall see.
The organizers were the "U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce" which means Democrats.
The words of Christ have inspired a fair number of massacres and religious wars.
What words?! Quote him!
You can ask Althouse, but to me that's some lazy fucking journalism. If you are blaming the words of Christ for massacres and wars you need to quote the words that caused all these killings.
It's absurd as a free speech principle, of course. Speakers are not actually responsible for bad shit done by others. My favorite Supreme Court free speech case, Brandenburg v. Ohio, unanimous (Hugo Black, take a victory lap) is the last word on that. And that was a Klansman! My assumption is that his words were pretty fucking bad.
Christ's words, on the other hand, are amazing. You know, stuff like turn the other cheek and give all your money to the poor. You want to blame him for murder, atrocities, massacres? While the Klansman gets off? Seriously?
If you're going to attack his words, attack his words. But you actually have to read him and quote him if you're doing that.
“Kari Lake brought along a Mexican telenovela star and she brought the drama."
That's actually a smart way to defend herself from any charge that she's a racist.
I'm not following this election, but since the hive mind is so predictable, I imagine that her opponent has implied or said that Lake is a racist. So she hires(?) the hottest Mexican man she can find and the two of them sit in the audience.
It was like a telenovela,” said Joe Garcia, an independent voter and the executive director of voter outreach for the group Chicanos Por La Causa Action Fund, which was a co-sponsor of the event along with the state and national Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.
I would have expected "Chicanos Por La Causa" to be leftist and militant. But unless I'm greatly mistaken, their executive director is impressed with Lake's humor and her knowledge of Mexican culture. I think she might have won some fans with that stunt.
“Kari Lake is super smart and very articulate. Team Hobbs(D) - understands this and are doing all they can to avoid a real debate. “
Not only that, Kari Lake is super hot. I want to be ruled by her and that Italian woman.
“Not only that, but Hobbs is apparently incompetent at extemporaneous speech.”
As opposed to Kari’s ability to flamethrow extemporaneously as seen here. Brutal.
https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1540383604991266819?s=20&t=xgkDCpRElMx6LNwIq3n5gA
"Some people like it."
I do, and this thread is cracking me up. Smoldering!
Today one of the local TV stations had some tidbit about Lake stumbling over a Spanish statement she made. Sounds like damage control to me.
@ Ann Althouse -"" You seem to have less patience with the bullsh*t that respectable people are supposed to accept.""
"I don't think so. I think the tone is amazingly consistent."
It's not a big change, just here and there. For example, you end the 10:26 AM post on high speed rail, "The clunky, repeated transportation of your physical body not a worthy demand on public money. And the lies [italicized] about the amount of money it would take are ongoing and horrifying." Two years ago, I don't think you would have written that last sentence.
Blogger Roger Sweeny said... "I think there has been a bit of a change in tone recently, less "cruel-neutrality" and more "Stop pissing on me and saying it's raining." You seem to have less patience with the bullsh*t that respectable people are supposed to accept."
Exactly. Which is a good thing. Althouse's sensibility may be consistent, but she is adapting to new realities. As in this post, for example, she no longer chides journalists for not doing their job. Her open-eyed treatment of Trump I also took as evidence of change.
'That guy is so handsome I laughed out loud. Such an absurd situation!'
In Spanish, his name means 'Giga Chad' : )
'Me too. I keep having to remind myself just how good looking he is.'
That's not even a good picture of him : )
@Saint Croix: You're not my ideal reader. I did not say that Christ's words were pernicious but that arguments about the meaning of his words gave rise to misunderstandings and massacres. Here's one example. "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Apparently this is in reference to one of the gates in the walls at the city of Jerusalem. It was a narrow passage. It was called The Eye of the Needle. It was not literally the eye of a needle. A camel with a wide load had to be divested of some of its baggage before it could pass through. But it could pass through. His immediate listeners could discern what Jesus was talking about, but not so much Lutheran peasants. I don't mean to second guess God, but the statement is ripe for misinterpretation....This is Old Testament stuff, but here's another example. The Bible at one point enjoins a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother and at another point prohibits such a practice. Confusion about these words had real world consequences and ultimately led to the Irish being forced off their arable lands and starving......As previously noted, Jesus never meant his words to inspire wars and massacres, but it's a historical fact that there have been a great many wars and massacres based on disagreements regarding his words.
"That guy is so handsome I laughed out loud. Such an absurd situation!"
I also laughed out loud when I got to that point in the post.
A friend has a similar story about a doctor walking in looking like some Adonis. She couldn't stop laughing.
Slightly off topic but it appears that all Mexican telenovelas have Spaniard looking men and women in the leading roles with Verástegui being the rule and not the exception. Mestizos on the other hand are always the maids and the lessers.
Back to politics all the Democrats at every level are offering is more of the same we have now ( aside from abortion) at best and expanding on what we have at worst. Other than grift, if I were an Arizona voter I can't understand why anyone at this time vote for a Democrat. I can only assume a lot of people have larceny in their hearts. That or I'm missing something.
Ducking debates may be due, in part because of our President and his failing policies.
Questions like, why have you votes along party lines 96% of the time when you claim to be independent of Biden?
Is there ANY limits to abortion you would support?
Are you confident the POTUS is up to the job?
Over 2,000,000 people have crossed the border illegally...
Were school closures carried on too long?
The inflation reduction Act doesn't....
BLM/Riots/Defund the police.
Tough spot.
These dem candidates are probably thinking, 'You know, Joe Biden hid in his basement and became president. Maybe it will work for me too'.
This is an extension of the meme a few years ago, of the college kid snowflakes demanding their safe spaces so they'd never encounter an opposing thought.
I can't imagine how they intend to govern in a world full of domestic and international opponents, many of whom can be quite ruthless.
Another Katie Hobbs starring role.
She is asked if she supports abortion to birth. As an answer, she provides a short campaign speech. No answer.
if debate is defined as 'opponents' on stage 'responding' to 'moderator' how is sitting in audience during townhall to ask question of candidate being called debate?
only proper response by organizers is a quid for the quo
Kate Constantini, a com strategist for Bolduc, told The Epoch Times, that Hassan has also insisted that Bolduc not be in the present when she speaks. “He can’t even be in the audience,” said Constantini, “he has to stay in the green room.”
"Somebody who works for my opponent wants me not to sit in the audience? Good luck with that. This is still a free country, lady."
This blog is exactly what it is. Some people like it.
I would have added, "Does that make any sense?". (Sept. 16)
Kari Lake brought along a Mexican telenovela star and she brought the drama...
.................
...That's actually a smart way to defend herself from any charge that she's a racist.
I'm not following this election, but since the hive mind is so predictable, I imagine that her opponent has implied or said that Lake is a racist. - Saint Croix
This is a great example of how frustration with media bias, both real and imagined, lead people to rationalize the act of making up alternative facts that support whatever preconceived narrative appeals to them. The world is complex and we are subjected to an overwhelming amount of conflicting information and it's a lot of work to sort through it. The irony is that people who aren't even trying to be objective smugly dismiss the hive mind as though, through an act of willful ignorance, they find the truth.
He could tone it down. Maybe the hair is a wig.
He did shave it all off once last year, on-air during a telethon to raise money to fight cancer in children.
He has a lovely voice too - singing or speaking.
@Saint Croix: You're not my ideal reader.
That is a high-class insult! Point for you.
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
Apparently this is in reference to one of the gates in the walls at the city of Jerusalem. It was a narrow passage. It was called The Eye of the Needle. It was not literally the eye of a needle. A camel with a wide load had to be divested of some of its baggage before it could pass through. But it could pass through.
Yeah, the modern translation -- some people need modern translations -- might be "You can't take it with you."
When you die, your money does not go with you. Your status does not go with you. All of your stuff is stripped from you. That's how the camel goes through the needle. You have to remove all of its baggage first.
His immediate listeners could discern what Jesus was talking about, but not so much Lutheran peasants.
You think the "Lutheran peasants" were in a Bible study and got confused about the camel? And their confusion turned them into Murdering, Thieving Hordes of Peasants?
Sorry, it's just a weak argument. If you don't like the camel story, fine, but I'm not seeing a call to homicide, atrocities, 100 million dead, etc. etc. Some silly people blame Jesus for Communism, too. I just don't hear that sort of thing in Bible study. I hear it among worldly people who don't know Christ..
I don't mean to second guess God, but the statement is ripe for misinterpretation...
The way Bible study works, you meet for an hour, take one little passage in the Bible, maybe a few paragraphs, and peel that onion for an hour. The Bible is an unusual book and it's not designed for solo readers. Bible study is a very good way to find God, if you want to find him.
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:19-20).
@ William - Jesus did believe that the final battle between good and evil would happen within the lifetime of his listeners, and that this would entail unprecedented suffering. Check out Matthew 24; this is not hippie Jesus. There are also lots of passages that embarrass respectable moderns, e.g., Matthew 10 Verses 34-39: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Democrat Katie Hobbs won’t debate her opponent in Arizona’s race for governor, yet Republican Kari Lake tried to make it happen at a candidate town hall that organizers say she disrupted.
So, Katie Hobbs is a pathetic chickenshit, Republican Kari Lake is awesome, and the "organizers" were in the tank for Democrat Katie Hobbs.
we're told Lake "tried to make [a debate] happen,"
Which is a perfectly reasonable and appropriate thing for her to do. So good for her
But a problem arose before Hobbs even took the stage...
You can't violate the rule against being on stage with the other person if that other person isn't even on the stage. But, more importantly....
You're trying to impose reason and logic on a Democrat propaganda operation
Lake was sitting in the front row, in a direct line of sight at where her opponent would sit.
Was she in direct camera line? Would she show up on camera when Hobbs did?
no?
So who cares that Katie can see her? Is Katie some sort of pathetic snowflake who can't handle just seeing someone who disagrees with her?
As a crowd of more than 200 watched, organizers said Lake was supposed to be in a hold room under the rules, a copy of which they refused to provide to NBC News.
So they're lying
Lake protested, saying she was unaware of that rule
So it's very clear they're lying
How pathetic
William, I appreciate your points, by the way, inspired some thoughts in me, always a good thing!
So one, if you think Jesus is "just a man," then you should apply the same rules to him that you apply to other men. For instance, it's kind of silly to blame Jesus for slavery, or the Holocaust, or World War 2, or all the murders of Communism, or the War of the Roses, or the Crusades (which, in my opinion, was a land-grab masquerading as a theological dispute).
Jesus lived and died 2,000 years ago. As Christians we believe that he lives on, and the Holy Spirit is still with us and unites with us in times of trouble. But Jesus the man walked around a long time ago. So to blame him for the Vietnam war, for instance, is just kind of silly. It's like me blaming infanticides on Plato. (And in my defense, the only reason I gave Plato some shit about infanticide in the 21st century -- sorry Plato -- is that fucker Harry Blackmun cited Plato for his theories about viability).
What you really meant to suggest (if I could put words in your mouth) is that it was the ideas of Christ that live on and cause conflicts, hatred, and massive atrocities. You're trying to say that some of his ideas are bad. Okay, but you have to identify the ideas. For instance, I might be mistaken here, I haven't read every book in the universe, but I believe it was Jesus who came up with the idea of Satan (an evil in the universe that we cannot see). The Hebrew word "satan" means "accuser" or "adversary." So Christians got the idea that being anti-Christ is really bad.
I would agree with you that ignorant people who pick up their Christianity on street corners (and even some learned people who ought to know better) have murdered people thinking they are anti-Christ. More than a couple, no question about it. So you might blame Jesus for the idea of Satan. But I would respond that trying to spot evil is important for improving humanity. And Jesus warns us multiple times of Satan tempting us and leading us astray! So Satan is not just some evil spirit tempting foreigners and people speaking different languages with different skin colors. Satan also tempts me, and you, and every human being on the earth.
You can't blame Jesus for inventing religion, or God, by the way, because lots of people believed in religion, and God, before Jesus was born.
Do you see my point? If you're going to dismiss Jesus as just a man, then the least you can do is treat him as we treat other men.
And if you're trying to dismiss him as the Son of God, and say, "hey, Jesus meant well, but I could do a lot better," that's a dangerous sin. The ancient Greeks might call that "hubris." Atheists are always telling us (I cite the great thinker Woody Allen for this) that they wouldn't invent cancer and shit like that. I think this thought process is something like "the world ain't perfect" = "must not be a God."
Consider that this life is just a practice run for our next life. I've already mentioned that we can't bring money into the afterlife. So to focus all your thinking and time on money acquisition is a waste of time!
@Saint Croix: Thanks for a courteous response. As noted above, disagreements about religion frequently inspire murderous rage....Whether you call it original sin or the id or the reptilian brain, we're all endowed by our creator with it, and there's evidence to show that religion just as often enhances as diminishes our base nature.....I'm not a believer. The only compelling argument I can make for the existence of God is that I don't believe in Him, and that's just the kind of thing I'm usually wrong about.....Anyway, good luck in this world and the next. I enjoyed reading your observations about Hitchcock and other movies. Funny how people can disagree about the ultimate meaning of Rosebud without breaking limbs but disagreements about the Biblical sanction or disapproval of marrying your deceased brother's wife can lead to genocide.
I focus on the word disruptive. It reminds me of Uber disrupting the taxi cab business. The new Trumpian republicans are disruptive; they are not following the old campaign-style; the high tone debates; the patrician elite. The stuffy, snooty Republican caricature. Democrats need a new campaign handbook. Very disruptive indeed.
disagreements about religion frequently inspire murderous rage...
I've been in plenty of Bible studies where there are disagreements.
I've never (ever!) seen this "murderous rage" that you talk about, in a Bible study.
You say it's frequent? Are you sure?
I could see why you might avoid Bible study, if you think you might get murdered there by one of those out-of-control, homicidal Christians driven to kill, kill, kill by whatever Biblical passage is instructing us to kill, kill, kill.
I've just never run into that problem myself.
(I kinda thought people avoided Bible study because they're afraid it is boring!)
Of course, Christ does not promise us that Christians will never be killed. For instance, Dylann Roof went into a Bible study and murdered the innocent people there.
He was inspired by racism, not a fight over religion.
Did you notice that the Christians in that church said very Christian things after the murders, even though they were hurting bad? And there were no race riots after those murders. (Even though that's what Roof wanted to inspire, kind of like Charlie Manson).
I would suggest that race and racial division are a primary driver of atrocities and mass murders in the modern era. It's a mistake (a secular mistake) to think that if you drive out spiritual thinking from the public square, that nothing malign or evil will rush in.
Think of a little white baby. If you make her skin relevant, and say that it will determine her life, then you have done an evil thing. She cannot escape from her own skin. She will be white her entire life.
You'd have to be an evil, secular, worldly person to think this person is bad because they've been biologically marked with the wrong skin color.
Who is more likely to be infected with this poisonous thought? The secularist who believes there is no God and we have no spirits? Or the Christian who believes that we are all children of God, and our spiritual lives matter?
Note the Christianity of Kanye West. He is taught by the world to think racially, to think tribally, and he refuses to do so. Christianity frees him from the racist people who want to put him in a box.
It does not surprise me that prison is racist as shit and a scary place to be. What frees you from that hellhole? Bible study.
It’s easy to understand Hobbs’s thinking. If Lake is in the audience, cameras will cut from Hobbs’s points to Lake’s facial reactions. If Lake’s not there, cameras will focus on Hobbs (mostly).
By leaving the telenovela star, Lake gives them a new reason to pan away from Hobbs occasionally, and to talk about the opposition. This is indeed brilliant.
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