Tuesday, October 07, 2008
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Why the Debate Was Boring
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
11:34 PM
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Yep, I said it. B-O-R-I-N-G.
Why? I attribute it to this stupid rule about "no follow up" questions from the moderators. Jim Lehrer barely did it, Gwen Ifill didn't and neither did Tom Brokaw.
I understand this was part of the pre-agreed upon rules, but if there are no follow-up questions WHAT IS THE POINT OF HAVING A JOURNALIST ON STAGE? Why not ask the candidates to answer predetermined essay questions and replay their stump speeches? That's basically all we're getting anyway. Gah.
We could basically assign a robot named JimGwenTom to spit out randomly generated questions from the Internet. And that would probably be more productive.
Bless his soul, where is Tim Russert when you need him?
To this date, the Saddleback Forum was the best of the McCain-Obama faceoffs. It's a credit to Rick Warren, but should be an embarrassment to the media establishment running these debates.
Update: Someone just pointed out to me Drudge's main headline is "BORING." I swear I didn't see it. The feeling is universal.
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I tried paying attention through the whole thing, but my son kept me more well entertained. So we played with his toys while I kinda listened after the first 45 minutes ended up being the same rhetoric we have heard over and over.
That and Obama in my mind and in my brother's (he was watching with me) isn't a charasmatic speaker at all. He talks so freaking slowly (worse than Ross Geller on Friends) and never makes a damn point. And if I hear him say "Now understand this" one more time I'm going to gauge my eyes out. |
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I agree absolutely. It was a crashing bore. It accomplished little to nothing. It was primarily bromides and boilerplate - which can never be believed.
Obama got to be vague/general and charismatic as usual. McCain did his split personality routine: offering limited government boilerplate and a $350B bailout for people who made really bad decisions and don't want to take responsiblity. I grade Obama the winner because at least he didn't look unbalanced by making philosophically contradictory policy statements.
Like Michelle Malkin says, we are so screwed in '08! |
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The "no follow-ups" rule has been one played by the McCain camp. They've painted the press as "hostile" and want to control the sound bites. We've seen it played out in the Palin stumps where journalists aren't even allowed to mix in with the crowd. What are your candidates afraid of, anyway? That the "wrong" questions will get asked and someone MIGHT have to answer to what is REALLY on American's minds? YES. McCain's healthcare is a loser. His plan to cut MediCare is a LOSER. Asking Winkie ANYthing of substance is a LOSER.
So this one's a B-O-R-E specificallly because YOUR guys changed the rules to suit their losing campaign's need to stem the bloodletting. |
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I felt that everything was moving too rapidly with too many time constraints. The candidates did not have enough time to effectively express their views. The entire program needed to slow down. Brokaw and company attempted to cram too much into the 90 minutes. There was not nearly enough thoughtful discussion. |
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McCain telling Brokaw he wasn't on his list to be Sec. of the Treasury
But why can't we get any real questions like this
If you had to choose one topic which would you place your emphasis on global warming or the economy?
If we found out Iran had nuclear missles ready to launch would you athorize a preemptive response or wait until they attcked?
Would you implement the fair tax if your advisors told you it could stabilize our economic structure?
Would you bailout the border partol and deport ALL illegal aliens because they are wrecking our economy?
At least they would be on record and the people could choose who is the lessor of evil.
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No salient conversation that would have made Sen. Obama reach into social issues, (prisons, crime, abortion, gays, traditional marriage, states rights, bio-ethics, call the roll)
The economy and war are the great issues to be sure but in order to feel out these men we must inquire and seek answers that compel them to take a stand away from the stump.
I agree with you Ms. Carpenter, Boring and trite. It was intended that way by Mr. Brokaw to protect Sen. Obama. |
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My four year old said she liked “the white one.” Cringing inside I asked her why. She said, “He looks like a white cow, and I like cows. Look how white his hair is.” Then she looked at Barack and said, “He looks like a brown cow, I like him too.”
Then about five minutes later she decided she liked Brokaw best. She went up and pointed to him and said, I like him.
Those were our debate highlights
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I have to agree. I think another reason it is boring also is because this campaign has gone on way too long.
About the only thing I found interesting was Obama acting petulant.
No game changer tonight. |
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