Cannon-Chaffetz debate becomes heated
In a KUED Ch. 7 debate taped Friday afternoon (broadcast at 8:30 p.m. Friday and to be repeated at 11:30 a.m. Sunday) both men interrupted each other a number of times, with Cannon seemingly losing his cool at various points, leading KUER newsman Doug Frabrizio, the moderator, to ask both men to stop talking over each other.
After the cameras were off they did shake hands, but then Cannon, who seeks a seventh term in the June 24 GOP primary, charged that Chaffetz continually, and knowingly, does not tell the truth about the congressman's record.
Chaffetz asked Cannon to "tell me specifically how I misstate your record."
"You do it every time you speak," Cannon countered. "Tell me specifically and I'll stop saying it," Chaffetz replied.
But Cannon just strode from the set, saying maybe they can deal with it in another debate.
The discussion got most heated when Chaffetz said that Cannon's introduction of an oil-shale production bill "just 15 days from the primary" is just like the games that incumbents are playing in Congress these days.
Cannon countered that if America had pushed the oil-shale production he has fought for since being elected to Congress, that oil would now be coming on the market and oil prices "would plummet" because of the price competition. "You clearly don't know my record on oil shale" or anything else, Cannon chided Chaffetz.
"I'm looking at results. And we're not getting them," Chaffetz countered.
Wrong, Cannon said. He has been a leader in pushing for oil shale production since the day he went to Washington. And Chaffetz is purposely misrepresenting that record, he said.
Cannon asked Chaffetz to give one example where he would have voted differently. Chaffetz said Cannon missed a vote on Dec. 15, 2005, on an "important" immigration matter, when Cannon had voted on the bill just before and the bill just after.
"You're complaining about a vote I missed, when I was out (in the hallway) working for constituents, not a bill I voted on," Cannon said. "Why is one vote I missed relevant?"
"You tell the voters of Utah that you have a 100 percent record on voting for enforcement on immigration." When in fact Cannon missed that vote and voted "the wrong way" on a few other immigration issues, Chaffetz said. "It's just not true" that Cannon is right on the immigration issue, Chaffetz said.
Recent comments
We just need to flush D.C.
Anonymous | June 17, 2008 at 4:45 p.m.
I also wanted to say that Benion Spencer would never get my vote....
UTmom | June 17, 2008 at 11:49 a.m.
I believe that EVERY person in congress should be thrown out. They...
UTmom | June 17, 2008 at 11:41 a.m.
