Last night’s “user generated” Democratic debate was incredible. It proved to me that we don’t need a mainstream media to “mediate” all of our political discussions. Many times I was shocked into applause or laughter or just deeper levels of shock by the directness and depth of the questions asked. Only two struck me as approaching the silly or trite: one, which used a snowman character to ask about global warming and another, in which a man-on-the-street asked Democrats if they would raise taxes like they always do.

Otherwise there were heartfelt questions about healthcare which dramatized the point with personal tails,

There were several dealing with issues of race, both directly and indirectly including how the response to Katrina might have been different if it happened in an “affluent white city” and more. I don’t have time to link to all of them now, but I wanted to focus on the biggest shocker for me. A brotha out of Boston asked about reparations for slavery. Seeing the post-debate analysis, it turns out that this moment in the debate marked the absolute lowest in viewer satisfaction (surprise surprise). You can se the mood drop on CNN charts as soon as the man starts to speak, but here it is for those who’ve missed it.

The question. Oh, and Dennis Kucinich is for reparations, btw.

(cross-posted to goodCRIMETHINK)

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