President Obama woke up. In last night's debate, he was feisty and factual, conveying that he actually wants another four years and that he is engaged enough to do the job. Mitt Romney, stylistically, didn't give an inch. He was aggressive, bordering on rude and offensive (to the President and the moderator) but, on most issues, …
Controlling the quality of dying
When it comes down to the last weeks and days of an excruciating dying process, it's all about options. If I am terminally ill, determined by my physician to be within six months of dying from an incurable and irreversible disease, then I want my physician to be able to prescribe medication that will allow …
Biden, Ryan debate reassuring to bases
Last night's vice presidential debate, expertly moderated by ABC's Martha Raddatz (a former Channel 5 colleague), was engaging, high energy, substantively revealing, stylistically contrasting, and reassuring to partisans on both sides. (David Brooks' piece in today's NY Times see this as a generational divide.) Vice President Joe Biden had facts, passion, authenticity, and an often …
Warren, Brown face-off best debate yet
Elizabeth Warren turned in her best performance yet in last night's debate against Senator Scott Brown, and he, in turn, also largely focused on the issues, with just half the snarky "professor" labels as in the last debate and, thankfully, no return to the tired Cherokee attacks of past encounters. The result was a distillation …
Tilting yes on medical marijuana referendum
For years, as an editorialist, I supported the medical use of marijuana. I anguished when a cancer-stricken friend, deathly ill from the side effects of chemotherapy, was afraid to smoke pot because it was illegal, notwithstanding reports that doing so could significantly alleviate her symptoms. That's just not fair. Access to marijuana for medical purposes …
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Romney’s back in the game
Someone shook the Etch-a-Sketch, and Mitt Romney 1.0 showed up at last night's debate. After years of running away from his time as Massachusetts governor, he re-embraced his home state. He bragged about its #1 ranking in education and said Romneycare (though he didn't name it as such) would be a good model for the …
Corrected post: Brown, Warren debate; Gregory the loser
After last night's Brown-Warren debate at UMass Lowell, co-sponsored by the Boston Herald, supporters of the two spilled into parking lots outside Tsongas Arena, arguing over which candidate won, but they were agreed that the clear loser was moderator David Gregory. As Dan Kennedy observed, it was "a miserable performance." Gregory spent a third of the time …
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Kennedy versus Bielat in only televised debate
Fourth congressional district candidates Sean Bielat (R) and Joe Kennedy III (D) finally met in their only televised debate, on Channel 5's On the Record. It's hard to know how many viewers they had, but it's easy to see how foolish Joe Kennedy has been in avoiding face-to-face televised debates. While Kennedy initially came across as young and …
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Warren, Brown face to face for first time
She listened, she learned, and took a big step forward. For weeks, many sympathetic to Elizabeth Warren’s US Senate candidacy have expressed exasperation at her campaign and her candidate skills. In this, the important first debate against her often affable opponent, incumbent Scott Brown, she more than held her own. Brown, in an overbearing (television …
“Innocence of Muslims” film tests First Amendment beliefs
Set aside such unacceptable (and criminal) "clear and present" dangers such as shouting Fire in a crowded theater, as a journalist I have always thought of myself as something of a First Amendment absolutist. That's being tested these days. The cornerstone of democracy is having a vigorous marketplace of ideas, where all ideas, regardless of merit, are tested, …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 