Listen to the AG debate yourself

Yesterday I mentioned the debate that went crazy between Republican Attorney General candidates Paul Bucher and JB Van Hollen.

That's what I'd read about it anyway. I got to listen to it today. It did get a bit crazy.

If you want to listen to it yourself, here are the links to the audio bits.

Part 1
(During this break JB apparently says, "You suck as a leader...." At least that's the best that I've come up with from what I've read and listened to.)
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 1 is more or less a shouting match. Part 2 is where Bucher brings out the "you suck" card around 1/4 of the way through this part, retorting with the oh-so-effective comeback of, "You know what? I don't suck." It's by far the worst comeback I've ever heard in a political debate, especially considering it was a comeback to something that was said OFF THE AIR. I also thought JB's response when Charlie asks him 3/7 (specific enough?) of the way through it, "Did you by the way say he sucks?" provided a good explanation as to what they were actually talking about when the comment was made and why it was made.

I also found Bucher's closing statements (halfway through part 4) to be very odd. Here's how Bucher began his opening statement:

"Uh, Governor Tommy Thompson is a friend of mine, JB, Governor Tommy Thompson appointed me. Governor Tommy Thompson indicated publicly that I would make an effective and powerful attorney general, so Governor Tommy Thompson is a friend of mine and I'll take his kind comments any day, uh, if we want to compare endorsements that's fine, uh, you know, the closing is, you know, the citizens of this state are going to have a choice, you know, Governor Dreyfus has said that I'm a pitbull and I'm a reformer."

I can't tell what he's trying to say. It's like he's trying to neutralize the fact that Governor Tommy Thompson endorsed JB.

Oh well. Having listened to the whole thing, I thought JB won it hands down. Bucher was extremely disruptive, especially during the first half. Not that JB wasn't ever disruptive either and wasn't at fault for the fact that it was a pretty rough debate. But, my humble opinion is that Bucher is swinging for the fences because it's the bottom of the 9th, he's down by 4 with 2 outs and the bases loaded and that's his only prayer to stay in the game.

But, that's just my humble opinion based on objective observation from the west side of the state.