Edwards fails to take the Foreign Leaders Quiz
The VP debates were last night.
Speaking of fair questions, here’s a highlight from MSNBC last October.
MSNBC’s CHRIS MATHEWS: “And back in the last presidential election, a Boston TV reporter, Andy Hill, asked the president — presidential candidate George W Bush if he could name the four world leaders of four hot spots around the world. They were Chechnya, Taiwan, Pakistan, India. Do you think that was a fair set of questions to put to a guy running for president?”
SEN. EDWARDS: “No.”
MATTHEWS: “Do you think it would be a fair question to put to you right now?”
EDWARDS: “No. Absolutely not.”
MATTHEWS: “So you don’t want to go that route? That was the option you have. I have the answers here, if you wanted to try, but since you don’t want to try, we’ll move on. If you — Are you sure? You don’t want to answer these questions? I know you know at least one of them. You know who’s head of…”
EDWARDS: “Let’s don’t go there.”
(MSNBC’s “Hardball,” 10/13/03)
But wait, there’s more.
Bill Clinton Advises Need For Big Message, The American Prospect Notes Lack Of Substance. “As Clinton said, according to a transcript on the Atlantic Web site, ‘I told him: John, you’re great on TV. You make a great talk. You can talk an owl out of a tree. But my opinion is, presidential elections are won by the strength of the candidate, and having a network of support, and then by the mega message, having the big message.’ In other words, Edwards looked and sounded good — but there wasn’t much substance behind his words and image.” (Mary Lynn F. Jones, “Is John Kerry Peaking Too Early?” The American Prospect, 3/5/03)
