Belated Marshall v. Burr Debate Notes

A few quick notes from the debate on Monday. We'll see if tonight's debate is more of the same.

• Nobody had anything to say about marriage equality or DADT. That's partly the moderator of the last debate's fault but partly due to Marsahll not bringing it up when asked to discuss the military. With the court injunction yesterday, I imagine that might change for tonight's debate. I'll say it again, Marshall needs to be (1) on the right side of these issues, and (2) make Burr speak his mind. The economy is a mess, the wars are a mess, the GOP is a hot mess of obstructionism: these things are not going to improve as a result of the mid-terms, regardless of what happens. But being passionate about justice for all our citizens is something progressives can get behind, and can motivate them to get out and vote.
• Burr was hilarious on Social Security. Hilariously evil. He trotted out the old "a 30 year old paying in today will not get a single dollar out when retired" canard in service of the not-so-stealth campaign to privatize Social Security. Marshall, on the other hand was clear in her opposition to privatization and rationally pointed out that Social Security solvency looks lots rosier when people have jobs. This is an area she should be hammering Burr, and the GOP at large, on. Hard.
• Nobody really likes the HCR bill that passed. But, it's got to be a halting, labored first step towards something better. Burr made it very clear he wants to let insurers go back to denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and make it harder for kids to stay on their parents insurance longer. All Marshall can really do here is emphasize the positive and pledge to keep trying, which she did.
• Then came the dysfunctional Washington question. Burr again had to stand their like a hypocritical sack of dung and pretend he could be bipartisan. I laughed out loud when he said he had experience working with Ted Kennedy and literally choked on the words. Seriously, check the tape. Burr is the poster boy for spiteful Republican sabotage of the process. This is another area Marshall was strong, but could be even stronger in calling Burr out on the carpet.
• On the question of NC off-shore drilling Burr again was deceptive and transparently acting as the bought and paid for mouthpiece for the oil companies. Marshall was clear in her opposition. Burr turned the question about NC into a chance to blame regulators for the Deep Water Horizon disaster. The gall of that man is ... well, unmitigated. More drilling, less regulation. For real. He also worked in a completely misleading factoid about Alaskan oil clearly meant to trick people into thinking Alaska could produce as much oil as the Middle East.