Debates Don’t Matter

Ted Cruz can’t be the Zodiac Killer because the Zodiac Killer would never get murdered in such an embarrassing fashion https://t.co/X459ERzKCq

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) October 16, 2024

Except:

"Angertainment" describes so much of our media and politics since the rise of talk radio, 24/7 cable news and online influencer culture. And I think we're all tired of it. https://t.co/HGgcKQbRpX

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) October 16, 2024

When the late Guv Miz Anne debated Clayton Williams, a West Texas yahoo remembered mostly for saying rape was like the weather: sometimes you just have to lie back and enjoy it; the debate mattered.

No, that observation didn’t cost him the race. Most observers think he lost it at the debate, when he refused to shake Anne’s hand before the debate started.

Colin Allred is not Anne Richards, but he turned Ted Cruz every which way but loose. If he did himself any good, he persuaded urban Democrats to turn out, by showing Cruz to be the fatuous ass he is. I’m old enough to remember when Cruz was praised for his debate skills supposedly acquired from being the Texas solicitor general and a Yale Law grad (or was it Harvard? No matter.). Not sure where those went, but Allred bullied Cruz into this debate, and then rode him around the rodeo arena like a gelding.

Early voting in Texas starts next week, so, we’ll see if that matters.