CNN Townhall: An O'Malley infomercial with no critiques of his answers by Cuomo
The genius of O'Malley? With the help of the Corporate Media no genius is required.
This is not Democracy. This is stagecraft.
CUOMO: How you feeling a week out?
CUOMO: "The Des Moines Register." they gave the nomination - their endorsement to Secretary Clinton, OK. They gave their endorsement to her. In it, they talk about you. And they say that you are, quote, "better suited as one of her cabinet secretaries than as president." What do you want to tell Iowans right now to prove that their state's biggest paper is wrong?
CUOMO: You mentioned President Obama. He was speaking this morning about the election a little bit more deeply than he has in the past. And he was doing an analysis of Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders. And he referred to the senator as kind of this bright shiny new object and that has a fascination for people. I thought you were supposed to be the bright, shiny new object in this.
CUOMO: Are you ready to make a case to the people?
CUOMO: - let's take a question. We have Joy Lassen (ph), a student at Iowa State University. She's originally from St. Louis. Her parents work in Ferguson. She says she's undecided. What's your question for the governor?
Your history as mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland show that you pushed for zero tolerance policing and felony punishments for low level drug offenders, which usually affects the black population. How are you planning to ensure racial equality when your history in office contradicts your current platform to fight structural racism?
CUOMO: Next question, Dan Conick (ph). He owns small two businesses in Des Moines. He says he's leaning toward Bernie Sanders, but he's here to give you a shot. And he has a question.
What is it?
QUESTION: Daniel Conick (ph). And I - you know you run the numbers and you try and figure out OK. Well at the end of the day when you're spending as much on your health care every month as you do your mortgage. What ways would you choose to try to lessen that burden on the middle class and just you know small business owners like myself?
Another question for you, Gov. Jenna Bishop, she's from Drake University. She says she's undecided on which candidate she's supporting. And she has a question about young voters for you.
O'MALLEY: Well, it's still early, there are six days
JENNA BISHOP, DRAKE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL STUDENT: Hi, Governor. I'm 23 years old. And I care about a lot of issues, other than just the cost of college. So I'd like to know what issue you think should be most important to young voters and why.
All right. Arnold Woods, he is the president of the Des Moines NAACP. He is an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam. And he says he is still undecided.
ARNOLD WOODS, PRESIDENT, DES MOINES NAACP: Yes, I am undecided. And the question I have is, because of the extreme number of our military personnel returning from war zones, combat zones with PTSD, what is your feeling towards reestablishing a military draft?
And for those who are not deemed worthy to go to military draft or to be drafted into the military, do you have any options for them where they can serve our country for a couple years prior to going to college?
CUOMO: We've got another question for you, Governor.
Deborah Plummer is from Drake University, undecided, has a question about the economy for you.
My question is, do you have any specific plans to grow the economy at a rate that will increase job growth for those - so that those who are long-term unemployed or have fallen out of the workforce will have an opportunity to get back in?
CUOMO: Governor, talk to the audience about points of contrast between you and Senator Sanders when it comes to the economic plan. So much is made of him being a self-described Democratic socialist. Do you see yourselves as that different from him when it comes to the economy?
CUOMO: The gentleman standing up on your right is Brian Carlson, he's a student at Drake University. He says he's leaning toward supporting Hillary Clinton. He says he wants to talk about discrimination in the workplace, and he has a question about it. What do you have?
CUOMO: Governor, you were talking about farming earlier, and the status of it here in Iowa. We have a question for you about that. This is Jana Linderman, she's President of the Iowa Farmers Union, she says she's leaning toward Clinton, but she's a fourth generation farmer and she has a question about the industry for you.
QUESTION: First, I just want to say that I love that you mention the problem of market concentration in the egg sector. Thank you so much for bringing up that point...
QUESTION: My question is about beginning farmers. I'm a beginning farmer. The average age of farmers in the United States right now is about 57 years old, and that number goes up a little bit each year. For beginning farmers, a group that includes a growing number of veterans, women farmers like me and other groups. We do have some opportunities with innovative business models that include more diversified farms, or sustainable farming practice, but there aren't nearly enough of us. We know that a lot of farmers are going to be retiring in the next decade, and there aren't enough people to replace them, so my question is after decades of rural outmigration, and farm consolidation, what can we do? What would you do to provide opportunities and invest in a new generation of family farms for the country?
CUOMO: All right. I have a question for you. We know that you are working this whole state and you're going for the goal. You're in it to win it. I understand that. But you can make an argument that you are the most important person that we're going to have in this room tonight, whether or not you win or not. Here's why.
As you know, there is a 15 percent rule in a lot of these caucuses. So if you don't have 15 percent of the caucuses in that room, those men and women have to go to a different candidate. So if you don't have that and your followers now have to go to somewhere else, the people that support you, what is y our suggestion to them?
CUOMO: All right. Let's bring in Benjamin Foladore (ph). He grew up in Iowa, is now a law student.. He says he's leaning toward supporting you on Monday. And he has an important question for you.
CUOMO: This is going to give you a chance to wrap up your main pitch. This is Benjamin Foladore (ph). We'll give you 30 seconds, the same thing we gave to Sen. Sanders. But go ahead.
QUESTION: So, yes. Right on cue with that, you're aware that national polls continue to show you trailing Sec. Clinton and Sen. Sanders.
So to those that are still you know undecided like me, or maybe just less informed about politics, on top of what you've already talked about, what's the last thing that you would try to tell them to convince them that you are in fact the best candidate for the Democratic Party?
Compare to the treatment afforded Sanders:
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/01/26/cnn-iowa-democratic-presidential-town-hall-rush-transcript/
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