Dean Barnett has some thoughts on tonight's GOP YouTube debate. If you haven't already heard it yet, make sure you follow the link and listen to the interview that Dean refers to:

Last night, [Hugh Hewitt] had YouTube's “director of news and politics,” Young Steve Grove, on his radio program. It's an interview that has to be heard to be believed. Young Steve showed an unusual mastery of the new left’s rhetorical tics; he mindlessly repeated his talking points, while evading such simple questions like where he went to school and how old he was.

In a way, it's sad that this most important of Republican debates will descend into demagogic idiocy. Expect the same kind of purportedly heart-tugging rubbish the left faced, e.g. hospital patients asking about health care reform and school teachers inquiring about No Child Left Behind with a brood of smiling tykes in the background. Of course, it will probably be worse than that. Let your mind run wild, picturing wounded vets and grieving widows.

The good news for the candidates is with all this stupidity running amuck and wildcards being dealt, there's a golden chance for some candidate to have a real “I paid for this microphone” moment. Tonight's format will likely reward the bold.

And hopefully tonight will serve as a teachable moment for Republicans regarding technological flash vs. political substance.

We'll be rebroadcasting the audio from Pajamas' recent video interview with Fred Thompson in tomorrow's PJM Political on XM. Near the end of the 16-minute long interview, Thompson thanks Roger Simon for giving him so much more time to discuss the issues (in this case, the GWOT) than the typical ten second soundbite on the evening news. That's the sort of way that technology can benefit the candidates, not video clips of sock puppets asking inane questions.

Besides, doesn't the MSM do that already?

Update: On the other hand, this guy's pretty good--run some of his questions, CNN!