3 ms·

There was only one candidate in the first Democratic debate that had the courage to say that Snowden should be brought home a hero, because the government was b

There was only one candidate in the first Democratic debate that had the courage to say that Snowden should be brought home a hero, because the government was breaking the law, and that was Lincoln Chafee. He didn't equivocate. And he gave one very stupid, but very honest answer to a question on Glass-Steagall. And he is being mocked for it. Wolf Blitzer took the opportunity to kick him when he was down [1] . If you look at Lincon's Twitter feed he was so excited to be on Wolf Blitzer's show, because he thought he was going to be able to talk about his ideas. He was naive, and that makes him a bad politician. But he had interesting ideas he wanted to talk about even if he knew he couldn't win, namely pardoning Snowden, ending drone strikes and the benefits of switching to the metric system. The only legitimate criticism I can level against him is that he didn't assemble the proper campaign staff that would have prepared him for the debate properly. His answer to the Glass-Steagall question was unfortunate, because we did have one candidate that could have brought attention to Snowden, and the cruelty and futility of drone strike warfare. He hasn't tweeted since the Wolf Blitzer bullying episode. An article has been written that he has disgraced the legacy of his father. [2] I think he deserves thanks for bringing some attention [3] to the response a democratic nation should have to heroes like Snowden. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SExMtNDS5hk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SExMtNDS5hk [2] http://wpri.com/2015/10/15/john-chafee-loyalists-anguished-over-lincoln-chafees-white-house-run/ http://wpri.com/2015/10/15/john-chafee-loyalists-anguished-o... [3] https://www.thenation.com/article/lincoln-chafee-adds-a-proposal-to-the-2016-debate-lets-bring-edward-snowden-home/ https://www.thenation.com/article/lincoln-chafee-adds-a-prop...

ScottBurson 11y ago
I was not familiar with Chafee prior to the debate and I liked some of the things he said, but he really did blow the Glass-Steagall question very badly. You don't get to be President by making excuses. He should simply have said "It was a mistake. I did not educate myself properly on the issue before voting, and I regret it." I think everyone would have been fine with that.
zerooneinfinity 11y ago
He needs to watch more West Wing -- "If you don't like what they're asking you don't accept the premise of the question." In regards to his interview with Wolf.
scintill76 11y ago
A better politician could have withstood Blitzer better (or never have been in that position to begin with), but I thought that was a deplorable, overly-sharp public attack thinly-veiled as journalism. As the YouTube commentors point out, it fails most of the purposes of journalism. It's almost like Blitzer personally despises Chafee, or wants his "journalism" to take part in ousting Chafee. It was very unprofessional and abusive of his position. There were other ways he could have phrased it to actually produce something journalistically useful and appropriate.

ScottBurson 11y ago

I was not familiar with Chafee prior to the debate and I liked some of the things he said, but he really did blow the Glass-Steagall question very badly. You don't get to be President by making excuses. He should simply have said "It was a mistake. I did not educate myself properly on the issue before voting, and I regret it." I think everyone would have been fine with that.

zerooneinfinity 11y ago

He needs to watch more West Wing -- "If you don't like what they're asking you don't accept the premise of the question." In regards to his interview with Wolf.

scintill76 11y ago

A better politician could have withstood Blitzer better (or never have been in that position to begin with), but I thought that was a deplorable, overly-sharp public attack thinly-veiled as journalism. As the YouTube commentors point out, it fails most of the purposes of journalism. It's almost like Blitzer personally despises Chafee, or wants his "journalism" to take part in ousting Chafee. It was very unprofessional and abusive of his position. There were other ways he could have phrased it to actually produce something journalistically useful and appropriate.