Friday, August 28, 2009
The Debate: Ten Preliminary Statements in Advance of a Think Piece
Posted by Jackson Baker on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 2:30 AM
2. Carol Chumney and Kenneth Whalum Jr., both of whom can be quite engaging, each, when asked about difficulties with colleagues, gave the game away with downright scratchy, even snarly answers.
3. This contest, insofar as there is one, is going toward a face-off between A C Wharton and Myron Lowery — the highly diverting Chumney-A C scrap notwithstanding.
4. Wanda Halbert sounded a bit canned, but at least she was prepared — unlike poor sweet Sharon Webb.
5. Charles Carpenter proved serious but unexciting, not a bad combination for someone already in office but difficult for a candidate having to make up a lot of ground just to get there.
6. A little bit of Mongo goes a very long way. He lawyered up with Leslie Ballin to force his way in; A C was tempted to drop out because of it but stayed in.
7. The WMC-TV folks worked hard; they and the League of Women Voters designed a format with enough variance to crack any walnut.
8. Channel 5's brass promised that Mongo’s “turd” remark would stay in the replays, unbleeped. Good for them.
9. All the candidates revealed something important about themselves, for better and for worse.
10. Twitter got a workout and proved itself again, but, for all the tweeted hoots and howls, there was a good deal of intelligence buried in the crevices of the questions and answers, requiring a second or even a third hearing to fully grasp — one reason why your visitor (a panelist for the evening) will deliver a more elaborate judgment a little later. (Not that much later.)
10a. (Ignore everything you've just read. It could all be overhauled upon further review).
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I can't wait to watch this thing. It sounds like it was an absolute riot.
You won't be disappointed, autoegocrat.
If we are stuck with AC or Myron or Carol or Carpenter, the city will continue to go down Mongo's turd bowl.
Whalum is too divisive, Halbert too anti-white, Webb in over her heard. That leaves us with only two choices. As much as I support a citizen's right to bear arms, think that comic-book means to entice children to the library is a good idea, and support a program to get the homeless off the street, Mongo is not the man for the job.
Lawler for Mayor.
at the risk of sounding humorless- There Is No Hope.
also, Chumney might want to consider some lubricating eye drops.
also also, where was our own younger, demonstrably stupider version of Rush Limbaugh Ben Ferguson??? I was under the impression he had thrown his hat in the ring. did the intellectual heavyweights participating in last night's debate scare him off?
I actually thought Lawler was just as ridiculous as Mongo with his tedious naive repetitions about "not being a politician" and "running the city like a business".
They all add up to ZERO.
We don't need a politician. We need a businessman who will hire competent individuals and hold them accountable.
What I took away from Mongo's comments was a restating of Nicholson's Batman's "What this town needs is an enema!"
How true, how very true. Memphis will get the mayor it deserves. After this performance, I wouldn't be surprised to see WW throw his hat back in the ring.
Lawler has good intentions, but he is absolutely clueless. The city is not a business. There is no competition to make money. I'm sorry but Lawler is not experienced enough in this realm. He should run for council, though.
sup jackson? let me remind you of something you and other REAL politicos know very well. the next mayor of memphis will be elected by the majority of the citizens of MEMPHIS. check the demographics, and get ready to deal with it. the next mayor of memphis will be elected by an overwhelming margin by people who don't twitter or do facebook, because they have no computers, and they probably don't know the meaning of "snarly" ;-)
Thank you.
DR. KENNETH TWIGG WHALUM, JR.
Join me in asking WMCtv news director Tracey Rogers to put online a 20 to 30 minute edited version of the show. Folks won't watch 90 minutes with slow questions etc., but will watch a tightly edited version that leaves in all the good (& bad) responses.
HOLY CRAP, I think Mr. Whalum just made a very telling statement. "The majority of Memphis, by demographics, dont know the meaning of 'snarly'" Did anyone else catch that????
Whalum makes an excellent point. Why he would so happily point it out? "I ain't worried about it, My peeps don't have internet."
You really can't run a debate on 1 minute answers and yes/no questions.
Have you stopped beating your spouse/lover/yourself? Yes or No? Time's up.
Just when I think it can't get any more comical...any more surreal......
sup?
Is Whalum actually arguing that he's a shoe-in because the people of Memphis are ignorant and backwards?
If an ignorant, backwards constituency elects Dr. Whalum, he will make certain they remain ignorant and backwards, lest they vote for someone else.
PLEASE tell me that is NOT really Mr. Whalum's comment, and someone is trying to be ugly. If it's not really him it ought to be deleted. He has been blasting all over the CA today too.... I suppose if it IS him - wow, he is pretty sore over the debate last night. Calm down Mr. Whalum, you are speaking before you are thinking... And remember, NOTHING goes away on the internet. So let the media get ahold of THIS comment, and SIR, your campaign will be over....
you guys are making my point. my statement is what it is. many of my peeps DON'T have internet, and if all of yours do, you may just have a very small set of peeps, which is cool. and if not having internet makes one "ignorant" and "backwards" in your eyes, jeff, i'm almost certain YOU don't have many peeps either. and "sleepingcity", what about my comments is ugly? now, let me stop this answering to anonymous.
This is not Kenneth Whalum. I ain't buyin' in. Someone is having a good time.
Pretty sure that is indeed Rev. Whalum. He's posted comments here before.
Rev. Whalum, if you are truly so confident that 'your peeps' don't have internet access, what exactly was the point of saying "bustamovemonday.com" over and over again during the debate? I think you're being too clever by half.
I would also like to remind you and all other "REAL politicos" that the overwhelming majority of political activists do indeed make use of the internet, and those activists are the very same people who volunteer to turn out the vote among those who do not have internet access. But I think you already know that, honestly.
Agree with many observation, the forum was not a debate,(impossible with 9 individuals presenting their points of view on different topics) however it was very revealing! Lawler indicated that he would not resign his 2hr/wk wrestling gig -- that disqualifies him for me! Mongo evidently has the money to lawyer up with the best, can't fault him for that - but he absolutely has no business in this race -- the fault for that lies with those 25 registered voters who signed his qualifying petition. His participation in the race or "debate" does not contribute anything positive in anyway. Those signers should be ashamed of themselves and be assigned the task of persuading him to drop out by noon September 10. Those Memphians need to man up now and in the future refuse to sign such petitions.
Read to me as if Whalum was slamming his supporters. Either that or Herenton rolled out of his narcistic coma and wrote them for him. And oh SO glad Ballin's argumentum ad crumenam got that coconut Mongo into the debate. Chumney could be a contender if she would shave about an inch off her pit bull attitude. She needs a dose of suave in those eye drops!
wvfii - Ben Ferguson is not going to run for mayor; he was just trying to drum up some publicity for himself. If he ran he would have to give up both his local and national radio shows, which would be stupid, considering that he would undoubtedly lose.
I am listening to Ben right now and I have to say I would rather keep Herenton.
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