Alessandra Stanley writes in today’s New York Times about last night’s CNN debate, calling it, “a stiff, somewhat clinical debate.”
But she also writes of the moment when tensions rose between the two Democratic candidates, as CNN moderator Campbell Brown asked about the alleged plagiarism of a couple of Sen. Barack Obama‘s speeches.
Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici calls out Stanley for misrepresenting how that exchange took place. First, Obama answers Brown’s question, using the phrase “silly season” to describe what he thought of the issue. Then it is Sen. Hillary Clinton who answers with, “Well, I think if your candidacy is going to be about words, then they should be your own words.”
Clinton then brought in the failed “Xerox” joke. Stanley had the exchange out of order.
Although there weren’t many fireworks in Texas last night, Stanley ends her article looking forward to the next debate. “The showdown was anticlimatic, leaving them hungry to find out if Mrs. Clinton is saving a more fearsome gambit for Cleveland,” she writes, referring to the upcoming MSNBC debate on Tuesday.