Why Do They All Pillory Hillary?

Dems "Debate" in Las Vegas

The world of presidential "debates" came to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Ever since Dan Tanna drove his sports car up and down the Strip and James Bond had an episode in the Valley of the Dollars, Las Vegas has been the setting for movies, TV shows, and docudramas. CSI Las Vegas is a great show and I chuckle at the inaccuracies, such as the CSI team working for the "Las Vegas Police," an entity that does not exist. If you watch the reality show "Cops" you'll know that the police force is the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, aka Metro. But I guess the producers and writers, when they are not on strike, must take poetic license and be sure the names have been changed to protect the innocent. The events, people and places in the shows are all staged for maximum bang for the buck and in an effort to remain absent libel.

Such was the case when CNN brought the Broadway production "The Democratic Presidential Debate" starring Wolf Blitzer to the Cox Pavilion at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I put "debate" in parentheses because any self-respecting debater would have had a good laugh over the format. It should have been called "The Discussion Among Democratic Presidential Candidates. And while we can't say that the participants had foreknowledge of the questions being asked, the "debates were summed up in a most interesting manner.

A 22-year old Political Science major and honor student at UNLV was given the opportunity to provide the culminating question for the "debate." Her question, directed at Senator Clinton of the "Sex Between the Bushes" Clintons, was as follows, "Do you prefer diamonds or pearls?" Hillary answered with an equally lighthearted response that she preferred both.

It did not add up. Why would an Honors Poli Sci student spew out a question that could be considered lighthearted at best and sexist at worst? Her answer to that question was almost Flip Wilsonish, "The Devil made me do it." The devil in the form of CNN. Potential interrogators were required to presubmit and get approval of all questions. The student had proposed a question about children's health care. CNN rejected it. She proposed another about Iraq. Rejected. She was told to submit two more, a serious and a fun question. She submitted one about Yucca Mountain. Rejected. And was told to ask the fun question which had been preapproved. That's her story and she's sticking to it. A little blogging music maestro... how about, "It Ain't Necessarily So?"

Dr. Forgot.