Election Town Hall: Tom Tangney, John Curley (and a goat) weigh in on ‘ridiculous’ presidential debate
Oct 2, 2020, 9:37 AM | Updated: Oct 7, 2024, 9:19 am
As we approach Nov. 3, we’re holding a series of virtual election town halls to help you prepare for the upcoming general election.
For the second edition of this ongoing series hosted by Gee and Ursula Show co-host Ursula Reutin, KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney and John Curley share their thoughts on the first presidential debate on Cleveland.
This town hall also featured a special guest…
“Tom was insisting on a goat, and my friend who has a goat said the goat doesn’t sit in front of the camera,” John said. “I called another friend, and she said ‘I have an old dog that’s got bad hips, and I can just put the camera in front of the old dog.’ So we’re waiting for the dog to show up, but in the meantime, Tom has found a picture of a goat.”
“The cutting edge new thing is to get a live action goat to join your Zoom meeting,” Tom joked. “Whenever you get bored, you can look at the dang goat.”
Turning their attention to what was a chaotic first debate between President Trump and Joe Biden, both John and Tom had some strong feelings.
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“It was like a really bad theater class, where it’s theater 101, and it’s an elective you have to take in college, and two people are in there, and their only instruction is ‘argue with one another, and you get the play the part of the bully that doesn’t listen, and you get to play the part of the guy trying to make a point but also decide you’re going to be mean too,'” John described.
“You didn’t learn anything, Donald Trump’s strategy didn’t work, and I just think it was Joe Biden’s to lose, and Joe did not lose because he didn’t fall apart — I was disappointed,” he added.
That’s largely a sentiment Tom agreed with as well, likening it to a botched coin toss at the beginning of a football game.
“It’s like they came out to flip the coin to start off the football game, and instead of calling ‘heads,’ Trump basically kicked Biden in the shins and then ended up hitting the ref in the face,” he said.
But even with a debate he admits was difficult to watch, Tom also saw a silver lining.
“It was out of control from the get-go, it was ridiculous, and it was insulting, but here’s my defense of the debate,” he said. “What we witnessed last night was historic. People will be referencing this debate for the rest of our lives. Second, if you take it out of context and just look at it as a theatrical piece, it was incredibly intense.”
You can watch the full discussion with Tom and John above, and make sure to like KIRO Radio’s Facebook page. Stay tuned for the next edition in our series of weekly election town halls.
