Heath Shuler won.
In the first televised debate in 16 years between candidates vying for the 11th Congressional District’s U.S. House seat representing Western North Carolina, incumbent Shuler beat challenger Jeff Miller on both style and substance points.
It’s not quite fair to call Thursday night’s affair televised on WLOS a debate. It was more like a conversation between the candidates – Democrat Shuler and Republican Miller – and reporter Russ Bowen. The discussion was built into WLOS’ news casts, which go from 5 to 5:30, 5:30 to 6 and 6 to 6:30, so there was regular interruption and some odd juxtapositions against breaking news. The biggest story of the day – the return of a guilty verdict in the trial of a man accused of gunning down a State Highway Patrol trooper in WNC – also took some time and gravity away from the debate.
But there were pointed questions and exchanges. And the candidates really had a chance to compare and contrast their stances.
Shuler looked comfortable on television and spoke well. Miller appeared a little nervous and in a couple of instances sounded like he was tossing out practiced soundbytes. In terms of the issues, Shuler was strong on health care – he wants to rework parts of the bill, while Miller said he would throw the whole thing out and start over. Shuler pounced on that, saying he felt it would be morally wrong to yank coverage of children. Miller back-pedaled to say he would never do anything to harm the little children, but didn’t recover well. Shuler then pointedly asked Miller if he’d read the bill – a favorite tactic of many of Congress’ current critics – and Miller admitted he had not. Shuler said he had read the entire bill, all 2,500 pages of it, and noted that it took him 12 hours. Miller’s only comeback – no bill should be 2,500 pages long.
On money and politics, on gays in the military, on the environment and all other issues discussed, Shuler knew his stuff, stating that he’d either taken a vote to stake out a position or clearly articulating his stance. Miller appeared to talk around some of the issues, as if he wasn’t fully up to speed on all the ins and outs.
Shuler’s a conservative Democrat in a conservative district, and on Thursday, he explained his positions well. For former professional football player Shuler, the old sports analogy goes that the best defense is a good offense, and Shuler scored repeatedly Thursday night, keeping Miller off-balance and on the defensive. Chalk this victory up to Shuler.
This is the opinion of Jason Sandford
10 Comments
Sounds like this article is skewed in favor of Shuler. Who cares if someone was a little nervous? Jeffrey Dahlmer looked relaxed and comfortable when pulled over by a cop with a trash bag full of human remains clearly visible in the back seat of his car.
What ever happened to objective reporting? Is it any wonder people do not trust so called "news" agencies anymore.
I will take substance over style (and glaring lies about reading 2500 pages in 12 hrs) anyday.
Give me a break.
It's interesting that Heath Shuler said that he read the 2500 page Health Care Bill in 12 hours. That works out to about 3.5 pages per minute. Unless Congressman Shuler has special speed reading powers, that was a lie. I'll take Jeff Miller saying no bill should be that long over a blatant lie from a politician.
Did you take into account Congressman Heath Shuler’s claim to have read 2500 pages in 12 hours?
That works out to 208 pages an hour, or 3 1/2 pages a second.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW2K4rlSGEI
"I'm going to Graceland – uh, Cow Town" – Mike "Paul" Simon "Cuevas":
http://www.volunteertv.com/ettm/headlines/102765479.html
Simon Says:
http://www.connect.facebook.com/people/Wvlt-Mike-Simon/100001602541816
I always knew he was an arrogant phony – but to have different names? What a freaking joke!
Thought you might like to know – former WLOSer Mike Cuevas has picked up a gig in Knoxville on the morning/noon shift – and he has changed his name to Mike Simon – go figure!
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesimoncuevas
Heath wanted it both ways. Didn't want to vote for health care reform, but now he won't vote to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. It's as if Heath could pick and choose which sentences of a legislative package he approves and disapproves. No member of Congress gets to do that. Heath will get the votes of Democrats only because there's no (R) next to his name.
Jeff Miller was completely out of his league. Jeff might want to think about running for a smaller office first and study current issues more closely.
Reading a 2,500 page bill in 12 hours is impressive. Thats like 3.5 pages of legislation a minute straight through without even taking a break to go to the bathroom!
Shuler could not read a defense in the NFL he certainly did not read the healthcare bill in 12 hrs.