Cringe-worthy: Republicans debate

Ohmigod. Didn't watch but just read the wire story of the McCarland-Spencer (uh, that's John Spencer and K.T. McFarland, two New Yorkers who apparently want to become U.S. Senator) debate.

Holy cow. This must have been unpleasant. If anyone watched it (not expecting a lot of comments here) please confirm whether it was as awful to watch as it is to read:

Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, a former Ronald Reagan-era Pentagon official, immediately accused Spencer of engaging in adultery and nepotism and said it spoke to his lack of credibility to serve in office.

"That's something that, in 1998, the Republican Party impeached President Clinton for exactly the same behavior," McFarland said to gasps from the audience. "If you'd been in the military, you would have been court-martialed. If you worked in the federal government, you would have been subject to indictment."

Spencer angrily shot back, saying McFarland had unfairly insulted his children and lied about his record.

"You have no way of knowing my private life," he said. "I say to you, Mrs. McFarland, shame on you. Shame on you as a mother of children and a woman yourself for talking about my wife and my family that way."
...
So much time was spent discussing Spencer's private life that Carter finally turned the tables, asking McFarland whether disclosures about her own messy past _ she accused her father in 1992 of sexually abusing her as a child _ were relevant to her fitness to serve.
...
When asked to pose questions to each other, McFarland cited instances when Spencer had threatened to kill Gov. George Pataki and had used ethnic slurs against Italians and Chinese.

"Is this how you plan to conduct yourself?" McFarland asked.

Spencer said he'd apologized for using crude language and for making jokes that fell flat

Uh boy. Fortunately, it's their only debate.

Technorati tags: Working Families Party | 2006 Election | Vote Row E