My McCain, Hayworth, Deakin debate anaylsis

The Camptown Races
An Analogy of the Republican Senate debate
By Hal Mitchell – 7/17/10

I watched intently as the long awaited debate between John McCain, J D Hayworth, and Jim Deakin unfolded last night in Phoenix. I will compare it to an old Camptown horse race.

My analysis: JD won this race by 10 lengths. McCain was slow getting out of the gate and struggled in the back stretch while, “Jimmy come lately” Deakin was clearly not in the race.

Deakin is obviously a nice man but was a little taken by emotions during the debate. He stumbled over his words, was nervous, and spoke haltingly most of the time. He seemed unsure of his facts and I actually felt sorry for him because of the difficulty he had trying to make his points. Leo Durocher once said about baseball, “Nice guys don’t win ball games”. Sorry for the mixed metaphor, but I couldn’t resist. If you were betting on Deakin you picked the wrong horse.

McCain showed the wear and tear of his age and too many years in the Beltway. He was about as “impressive” as he was in his presidential debates when he seemed fearful of offending Obama. He gave pat answers to questions by the moderator that added nothing new to the debate. He even attempted to use an old Reagan ploy by saying to JD, “There you go again”, but “I know Ronald Reagan, and McCain is no Ronald Reagan”.

JD was definitely the swifter horse in this race. He was energized, quick and concise with his answers, and spoke directly to McCain often while pointing out his failures. JD also looked straight into the camera while making his points and was very knowledgeable about the issues. My tip: This is a horse you can win with.

So if you want to send someone to Washington, don’t bet on an old horse or a slow horse, but instead bet on fast horse, like JD, who will be quick out of the gate to stand up for the concerns of Arizonans. He will run a strong race for the full six furlongs that are required to win.

That’s my analogy. Somebody bet on the bay. Doo-da, Doo-da, Doo-da day!