Would you really talk to your Mom like that?

The Mayoral debates hit the Red River College shores today, and although I must admit I was very entertained, I walked away with a sense of disappointment. 
I do not follow Winnipeg politics too closely, by this I mean very rarely.  I have heard in passing on my drives to school, a few snippets of radio conversation that led me to have a somewhat skewed point of view about the candidates. 

The overall consensus seemed to be that Judy Wasylycia-Leis was just not prepared for the job as Mayor, but it seemed that everyone was resigned to letting Sam Katz keep the reigns.  I had heard a few people say that Sam Katz was somewhat of an untouchable, in that he seemed to be far removed from the regular citizen.  Regardless of  what station I tuned in to the views rarely seemed to differ.

There are supposedly four candidates in the running, but to date I know the faces of two. I am still stumped as to why the other two candidates won't come forward. I want to meet them! I was not expecting to be entertained or even interested in the debate, but it was a hoot.  The show the two candidates put on was well worth their weights' in popcorn.

I was less than impressed, however, with the way Sam Katz behaved.  At first his jabs at Judy came across as funny, even clever.  She certainly did not do much to cement my vote, she refused to acknowledge the time constraints on replies and kept interrupting.  What, are we in grade school? While she had some really good points she just did not seem to be able to communicate her thoughts concisely.  I walked away thinking that Sam Katz definitely seemed like the man for the job but again...it was just because she did not put up much of a fight.  Sam Katz definitely did not resonate with me too deeply as I was less than impressed with the way he treated Judy.

He seemed  very condescending, and at times down right rude when addressing Judy.  It seems to me that if you are sure of your worth that wasting time attacking your oppponent with catty, snide remarks just weakens your argument.  Yes, we the audience will chuckle, applaud even yodel...but in the end we are left to digest  what we may have heard or seen.

While Sam did not outrightly refer to Judy as 'Ms.Palin', he sure alluded to it enough.  Referring to Judy as his mom on more than one account and doing everything short of patting Judy's head, he just struck me as a cocky, chauvanistic---person? 

This seems to be the curse of people that are a bit too confident in thier status.  I would love to endorse Sam Katz, but his utter disregard for etiquette was frustrating.  He seemd not to remember that there were females in the crowd.

All in all I am still undecided as both sides did not really differ much in their platforms, they just refused to admit it.  Timeline seems to be the only place where they diverge in terms of ideas.

I just wish the other two candidates would come out of hiding...we want to make informed decisions...won't you help?

I enjoyed the debate, but Sam calling Judy 'all out her name' was not to my liking.