You might remember the chorus of boos that soldier Stephen Hill received on September 22 during the Fox News/Google debate. You might also remember Skeeter, the lovably quirky sidekick of Doug who was the main character of the very popular 90's cartoon of the same name. Only one of these two things will be the topic of my blog post.
Although the debate happened over a week ago, developments regarding the incident have surfaced over the weekend. President Obama, during a Human Rights Campaign dinner this weekend, criticized the conduct of the candidates stating that if they want to be president, they, "can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient." Sen. John McCain also spoke out against the responses the candidates gave to the question and the fact that none of them defended the soldier.
This criticism led candidate Herman Cain to tell ABC News that he should have asked the audience to respect the soldier when the boos happened saying that action, "...would have been appropriate." Although Cain has apologized for his lack of action, most of the other candidates have made no attempt to do so.
From watching the past debates and the controversy around some of the incidents during them, I'm beginning to realize that the relationship between the audience and the candidates is an awkward one to say the least. As the audience boos an openly gay member of the armed service, cheers for the murder of 234 death row inmates, or screams to let a person without healthcare die, none of the debaters call the crowd out for their outrageous behavior. It's like watching a babysitter giving into the demands of a child just because they're afraid the kid will whine and they won't get paid. I can understand that the nominees are afraid of biting the hand that's feeding them, but in cases such as Stephen Hill's, snapping back is more than justified. I hope that in future debates these incidents caused by the audience will not happen, but judging by past events there will most likely be a fair share of crazy during the upcoming debates. What I EXPECT, however, is the candidates to speak out against these events during rather than after the debate.
If you didn't have a chance to catch the debate, please watch a clip of the incident talked about HERE.
NPR also wrote an article regarding this event and Fox News also did a piece on Cain's comments.
Also, if you were disappointed on the lack of a Mr. Doug Funny, please enjoy his Theme Song as a proper ending to this post.
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