Between 150-200 people showed up, and Vito Fossella, the only Republican Congressman in NYC,
looked like he was going to lose it, or have an aneurism, or that he wanted to hit someone. His face was beet red, you could see him trying to control his temper, staring into space trying to not seem angry as
constituents, one after one, attacked him, question after question.
When Vito tried to dance around the questions, angry constituents shouted 'Answer the question, Vito, answer the question!'. When he stated at the end that Steve wants to 'take away key tools in the fight on terrorism', something happened that never happened before - he got booed soundly by the crowd, even when using the terror schtick.
Steve was hands down the winner of this debate. He was fiery, on top of the issues, and came out as the passionate, principled, smart fighter that he is. BUT WE NEED ANY NYC KOSSACKS WHO CAN TO COME TO BROOKLYN TO HELP MAKE SURE THIS RACE FLIPS - ESPECIALLY TO PHONEBANK AND DISTRIBUTE CAMPAIGN LIT!! Blow by blow account of the debate below . . .
THE DEBATE:
When constituents approach the mic with copies of your voting record and ask you 'why did you lie to us?," or "why did you vote against the 9/11 commission?," how do you answer? He danced, and got called on it. And when they ask you, "did you improperly misuse funds as the Daily News Alleges?," how do you answer? He went to the mic, said 'No', and then sat down. There's a man with a lot to hide.
Harrison didn't get a single question from the audience - because the line of people with questions, which went to the back of the room, was all full of people angry with Vito, wanting to speak their piece. But whenever Steve rebutted Vito's answers, he got rounds of applause.
WANNA SEE HOW MAD PEOPLE ARE AT VITO?"
-1st Ques: "Steve Harrison got the AARP questionaire on Social Security, and he answered all the questions - but Mr. Fossella, why didn't you' answer any of the questions?!" You could hear the anger in his voice. Vito got up and spewed some platitudes about why he supports social security. Steve then got up and tore Vito apart, and how he LIED to the community on changing his stance on Social Security, and how he doesn't think Social Security needs fixing - and at that, Steve got a strong round of whooping applause.
-2nd Ques: "Why did you vote for (list of various votes for Oil Drilling in Alaska, against alternative energy, etc.)." The moderator somewhat cut off the questioner ('you should not make a statement but ask a question), at which time the questioner stormed off, told Vito to answer the question, and gave him the finger! Vito starts spouting plattitudes about energy this and that, but then calls come from the audience loud and clear - Vito, answer the question. This is politics as contact sport. (My favorite part of the evening is when the elderly woman in front of me said, 'This is better than TV?! I agreed, what a spectacle. But then she asked me what they were running for . . .) Steve then gets up and argues passionately for alternative energy - to rounds of applause.
-3rd Question: "You said at last week's debates that you voted for the 9/11 commission. You did not. WHY DID YOU LIE TO US?" And she had the paperwork on the specific votes to prove it. He starts spewing on 9/11, more calls to answer the ques, how much money he got for NYC, Patriot act, interrogate terrorists (applause), but then shouts from the audience - answer the question, why did you vote against the 9/11 commission?. Steve gets up, pokes holes in the money he got for NYC, calls Steve on voting against the commission, even though he voted for the REPORT after it came in, and how this is typical of the distortions in this campaign (more applause).
At this point, the moderator says 'we only have time for one more question.' The room explodes, the line of questioners go out the door, but Vito, who didn't want debates in the first place, limited debates to 1/2 hour, and questions to 12 minutes! The moderator asserted that these were the rules, and, despite being a very unhappy crowd, murmuring things like 'what about the democratic process?,' the debate continued.
-4th Question: "My question concerns the over a dozen newspaper articles that outline the money you stole (gasps in the audience), and your admissions of guilt. My question to you is, are they telling the truth, or are they lying?" Vito's one word answer, a testy - NO. Steve's response: "Its a matter of credibility and trust". And then he listed all the people and affairs that Vito has been shadily been involved in 'Foley. Hastert. Abramoff. Delay. Ney. Elmo (Vito illegally used Elmo's image in an ad as if he'd been 'endorsed by the muppets', and was brought before the House Ethics committee on this), Vail. Las Vegas (two places where Vito used campaign funds to fly his family for a vacations). Make up your own mind"
Closing statements were nice, but minor after all that. Steve spoke about actually representing the whole district, not only Vito's part, and Vito spoke about terrorism (his favorite subject, for which he got applause, as usual), saying he would "take the fight to the enemy so they can't attack us again". But then he said, "my opponent will take away these tools, and allow our law enforcement to fight this war on terror with one hand behind its back".
AND THEN THE MAGIC MOMENT WHEN EVERYONE SAYS AT ONCE, THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES. The room practically erupted, with loud sounds of disgust, 'come on', 'noo,' and you can clearly hear in the video people say, 'is he serious' and 'bullshit'. This is what it sounds like when power loses its sway.
Vito's final lines of the debate, in response to this? "The Bay Ridge Community Council represents the best of civility to me. Clearly there are people who are not from the Bay Ridge Community Council here tonight." Ouch. He just got BURNED. But what was that really about? He thinks that all his attackers are from out of district, from manhattan. Well, Vito, I grew up in your district, as did most of the people there. The time has come for change.
BUT DON'T BELEIVE ME - here's the video, its under "Final Showdown: Harrison/Fossella"
WHAT NOW:
Despite evidence of Vito increasingly going down in flames, despite Steve's appearance on MSBC (with Chris Matthews saying, "well, you certainly sound like you're ready to be a Congressman to me . . . "), despite a recent article in the local paper on Vito 'I support the troops' Fossella getting a C+ from the IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association), despite all the nasty letters to the editor, despite how PISSED people are in the district - very few know much about Harrison.
Of course, anybody who came to the debates saw his fire and passion, and I think a lot left very impressed. But while we're trying to get the debates on public access TV, Vito still has TV ads with NSCC money, and lots of name recognition from 9 years in office. No matter how badly Vito loses these debates, people need to SEE Steve in action, read about his ideas, and see his face if they're gonna connect, and then vote for Spitzer, Clinton, and then Steve. How do we make this happen? We need VOLUNTEERS TO DISTRIBUTE CAMPAIGN LIT IN MAILBOXES AND TO PHONEBANK FOR STEVE!!!!
This race is so ready to tip. But unless we give it that last push, Vito could squeeze in by a handful of votes. And then won't you be kicking yourself. If you're a Kossack in NYC, or anywhere nearby, contact the campaign, and THIS WEEKEND, LET'S GO HIT SOME NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRIBUTE SOME CAMPAIGN LIT!!!! Contact the campaign at either via email at the campaign website or call the office at 718-836-0760.
And if you're outta state, they desperately need cash to make more literature, no DCCC money has come in at all, and barely any from other Dem candidates with big war chests. What will it take to make them realize this race is just about ready to go Dem? So, if you live out of state, call or emaill Kerry, Hilary, DCCC, tell them to give Harrison some money! Or give directly at ActBlue. Every dollar counts.
Or, if you got free long distance (lots of cell phone plans do!), you can phone-bank from Montana. Every call counts as well . . .