It was the hottest political debate of the season. People lining up outside and flowing into the street early in the morning for a chance at a seat. Friends calling friends and asking, “Do you have an extra reservation?” State Legislators forced to stand in line with everyone else if they wanted to get in – no special treatment for anyone. That’s right, I’m talking about the debate between Congresswoman Heather Wilson and Attorney General Madrid.
By all accounts, it was a must see event, and everyone has a different view on what went down. However, when we all look back, the biggest loser of the whole day will be Joe Monahan’s credibility. No longer can he claim to be a straight talking, unbiased New Mexico political analyst. Consider this:
1) The day after the event, Monahan “reports” on the event as though he had been there. He gave no indication that the information was coming to him from his often referenced “alligators.”
2) He gives kudos to Patricia Madrid for a supposed “zinger” which he conveniently takes from her effort to dodge her past drug use and repositions to lighten the fact that she refuses to distance herself from the anti-Semitic Rev. Al Sharpton.
3) He silently and without acknowledging it yesterday, edits his blog to hide the misinformation he had previously disseminated.
4) Today he posts:
Veteran ABQ writer Gene Grant blogs in with a correction on our coverage of the Madrid-Wilson Sunday face-off. He notes that Madrid’s statement: (paraphrased) “Is that supposed to be the line that kills my campaign?” did not come, as we blogged and our early morning readers saw, in response to Wilson’s question about the Rev. Al Sharpton, but to a question about drug use. TV coverage we heard seemed to indicate otherwise…
That’s right, the man with the “inside line” to everything political in New Mexico came up with his indepth political analysis by watching the evening news. He didn’t even have enough decency in the process to check out the whole debate which is streaming on this site before making his “political analysis.”
If he had, Monahan would have realized how ridiculous it was to put the pictures he chose to represent Heather and Patsy on his site. Watch the first few minutes of the candidates on stage, and you’ll see:
- Patsy licking her fingers
- Doing weird things with her tongue (cotton mouth?)
- Looking down to see if her stool is showing
- Primping her hair
All the while, you’ll see Heather Wilson standing poised and relaxed next to her. I point this out, not to make fun of Mrs. Madrid’s numerous tics, but to illustrate that Monahan had to go to extreme measures to choose pictures from the event that were complimentary of Patsy and not of Heather.
But hey, I guess whatever makes the boss happy.