It was a clash of the titans, not to be missed. And now, DCist presents the ten best and worst moments from last night’s incredibly surreal Ron Moten-Marion Barry debate. It was really difficult to keep it to ten, we assure you.
- Fox 5 misspelled “Peaceaholics” on its opening graphic package, and failed to note that Barry served as Mayor from 1995-99. A good start if we ever saw one!
- Fox 5 anchor and moderator Brian Bolter called Moten one of Fenty’s “friends with benefits.” (Come on, you know you giggled.)
- Moten actually accused Gray of making his grandmother cry with a negative campaign ad.
- Barry stated he couldn’t speak for the Gray campaign. Then why was he there?
- I can’t even describe the crushing disappointment upon seeing that Moten did not wear at least a green tie to this debate. Frankly, I was really pulling for the tracksuit with a bullhorn look he was rocking at one of the the straw polls.
- Moten said that, like him, Gray had been called in front of OCP. He obviously meant OCF — the District’s Office of Campaign Finance. But if Moten thought he could sneak an 80s film reference past us, well, he was sorely mistaken.
- Barry’s insinuation that Fenty “manages by press conference.” (Uh, exactly when were these press conferences to which you refer, Councilmember Barry?)
- What Moten said: “There were two frat brothers…not ten, twenty, thirty. Two frat brothers out of 50,000 contracts that are going in the city.” How Moten Sounded: “you thought two frat brothers was bad?”
- Barry again voiced displeasure with Fenty’s “culture of corruption.” That one never gets old.
- Finally, a rare moment of quasi-clarity from Ron Moten: “Adrian Fenty has made some mistakes, just like Marion Barry has made some mistakes. I am kind of surprised that Marion wouldn’t agree to forgive someone who has changed the city.”
