I’ve already seen Nick Popaditch once on the campaign trail. This is the first time I’ve seen him in a debate, and he wipes the floor with Filner. It makes me wonder if Filner has actually had any viable opposition since taking office seventeen years ago.

After Filner tried to defend not extending the Bush tax cuts because Republicans wouldn’t compromise and raise taxes on “the rich”, Popaditch pointed out that “the rich” includes everyone’s small-business employers.

Only somebody who’s never had a job thinks that the worker in our community goes to work everyday and says, “Gee, I hope my employer loses money today.”

And only somebody who doesn’t go buy his own groceries thinks that if you raise the tax on a grocery store he’s going to do anything other than raise the price of milk.

What’s really interesting, especially in phase two, is that Filner isn’t debating Popaditch. He’s debating his constituents. And he’s not even debating them so much as talking down to them. At one point he’s even hoping that they’re not his constituents.

After watching this debate, I think Popaditch really does have a good chance of winning. Filner comes off as a smug fool out of his depth.

At one point Filner goes on and on about how much gore he’s seen as a congressman on some war committee, while debating a man who has to wear an eyepatch because of injuries gained while taking part in that war.

Filner is at least partly honest about social security: it has nothing to do with a savings plan and there is no locked box. Social security is not a promise. It’s just another program paid for by current taxes.

And look at the way Filner messes with his pen when he starts talking about supporting cutting taxes; he recognizes that the estate tax heavily affects farmers in his constituency, but he can’t stand the idea of cutting taxes. His mouth says kill the tax, and his hands are saying “don’t believe me!” He’s looking like Captain Queeg with that pen.

This is a debate format, and debates suck: many of the questions were ones that couldn’t be answered in the time allotted. Many times I wanted to hear more about what Popaditch had to say. I never wanted to hear more of what Filner had to say. Even the moderator, when he wanted the audience to calm down, threatened them with having to listen to more of Filner.