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Debate Format
DEBATE FORMAT....Taegan Goddard summarizes the rules for tonight's "town hall" debate:
The questions will "be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet."...."An audience member will not be allowed to switch questions. Under the deal, the moderator may not ask followups or make comments. The person who asks the question will not be allowed a follow-up either, and his or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read. A camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting."....McCain and Obama are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.
This is ridiculous. Why bother with a human audience or moderator at all? You might as well just select the questions, project them on a screen via PowerPoint, and televise the results. Wire the candidates up to received increasingly intense electrical shocks if they exceed their time limits and you'd be all done. Anybody got a problem with that?
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gee Kevin - you make it sound so simple !! LMAO
This kind of event gives chickenshit a bad name.
I dunno, the political discourse in this country has hit such vapid idiotic lows that I'm just going to have to put on my partisan hat and say that this format means that nothing will change because of this debate and that's good for Obama.
Kevin,
Give some blog-space to Ralph Nader. He's been pointing out problems with the debating set-up for a while. Also, he has an alternative take on the economic bail-out that some folk may be interested in.
Ben Smith is reporting that the original agreement didn't include Brokaw, who hasn't agreed not to ask followups so the campaigns are expecting them.
I have to believe that Obama agreed to this format precisely because he owns the lead. These "debates" are anything but debates: more like infomercials. And I think Brokaw is a terrible moderator generally so allowing him to ask followups is a guarantee that they will be inane and unhelpful. Just hope Obama maintains his cool at all costs.
Forget the questions. Go straight to the shocks. Shock, baby, shock!
Wire the candidates up to received increasingly intense electrical shocks if they exceed their time limits
I'd pay to watch that. Pay-per-view is the next logical step!
Put the questioner's finger on the shock button in case the candidate doesn't answer his question. Then do one more VP debate with the same rules.
Boingboing
I thought these rules were all spelled out a couple months ago, all except having Brokaw.
Why bother with this "debate" at all? It is not a debate if the two candidates cannot ask questions of one another and there are no follow-up questions from moderator, the questioner, or the candidates. They might as well be conducting stump speeches.
This format speaks for itself. But does anyone know about the last debate? Can we at least get one real one? Okay, probably not. But one can dream.
And this is what happens when the political parties, not a non-partisan group like the League of Women Voters, set the formats for the debates.
I'm not saying there's no difference between parties. But politicians and their handlers can be risk adverse to the point of absurdity. It isn't good for the country.
I'm for lots of shocks. Lots.
*Wire the candidates up to received increasingly intense electrical shocks if they exceed their time limits *
You are clearly in the tank for Obama. He's 25 years younger than McCain and didn't spend 5 years sleeping on a floor getting periodic beatings. He can take WAY more shocks than McCain.
I kind of like giving each candidate a shock button, telling them it is for the other and they are to press if the other runs over. But, it is actually wired to the button-presser. See who getts jiggy first.
I'm with the shockers. Give them to the audience to use when the question asked isn't the one being answered.
To prepare for the debate, you can watch these videos of On-Air Personality Tom Brokaw's obsequious fawning over John McCain:
Brokaw Hearts McCain: A Video Diary of Love
The presidential debate formats always seem to favor the Republican candidate. Wish the Dems could for once arrage to have a real give and take which favors the more informed and articulate candidate.
A real cross-ex debate might be instructive.
John McCain is used to force the election of Barack Obama.
Barack Obama forced you to pay for Wall Street's bailout.
Stop the extortion, blackmail, bribery, and division;
Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, and Cynthia McKinney.
"The two parties should be
almost identical, so that
the American people can
'throw the rascals out'
at any election without
leading to any profound or
extensive shifts in policy."
- Carol Quigley
Serious question -
You're right that this is absolutely ridiculous. Neither Presidents nor Presidential candidates has to withstand actual debate and argument.
What can we do about it?