The Year Of The Presidential Debates
I must confess I have liked the GOP presidential debates, and watched all of them except for one that fell on a really nice evening last year that demanded I be outside. I have laughed at the quality of the candidates, and was repulsed by the rude cat-calls and boorish behavior from some of the selected audiences. But I kept coming back to the debates over and over to see how the candidates evolved, (and Lord know this group needed to) and to gauge how they were doing with their respective campaigns.
Many will analyze and ponder the wisdom of so many debates, and if it helped the Republican Party. In the end it may not have helped the GOP, but I think it aided the rest of us to better understand about the partisan politics that are being waged in this election cycle.
There’s a lot about the debates that’s problematic. They privilege certain abilities—eloquence, aggressiveness, quickness of wit, an ability to convey emotions that “resonate”—that are not always distinguishable from glibness or demagoguery. Nor are today’s debates all that distinguishable from other kinds of “reality” television—the elaborate red-white-and-blue sets, the swooping cameras, the “new media” flourishes (questions from Twitter and YouTube), the howling studio audiences. The accepted format, somewhere between a joint press conference and an unfriendly, overcaffeinated panel discussion, is choppy and awkward. Even so, especially against the background of the increasing ghastliness of other aspects of twenty-first-century campaigning, the debates are of inestimable value. They enable voters to see and hear the candidates in a sustained manner, outside the protective cocoons of their handlers, packagers, stage managers, consultants, PACs, and Super PACs. They oblige the candidates to speak for themselves. As Minow has written, “The debates are the only time during presidential campaigns when the major candidates appear together side by side under conditions that they do not control.” In TiVo veritas.
40%, 45% and 50% Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
The heart of America. Not the East coast, not the West coast but closer to Centralia, Illinois. The one time center of America’s population.
“Rick will just be a stain on the bed sheet of American politics AFTER Super Tuesday” we’ll see. Long way to go still.
skip.
Rick will just be a stain on the bedsheet of American politics after Super Tuesday is over and Mitt regains the edge in a mighty way.
Looks like the “Frothy mix” had a good night.
Danre,
I think Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama show that we do not have a mold for our candidates, or the type of campaigns they run,
I also might add that the GOP places as the nominee (9 out of 10 times) the ‘next in line”. Reagan, Bush, Dole, McCain, and now Romney. If there is a mold to be followed it takes place in the GOP nominating process.
As for rich……….you are kidding me, right?
Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting, and have a nice day.
Obama media is redundant… There is no other media.
There have been no debates…just mindless series of question by, in many cases, moderators who should stick with spelling bees. What a waste of air time. I would like to see Lincoln-Douglas type debates with no moderators or party wonks allowed within 15 miles. You are right deekrivers with your sentence that a lot about the debates being problematic. However, any person wanting to hold the Office of the President of the US should be able to stand and deliver… or not be allowed on a real debate stage. Ha, nothing to worry about there …. And Minow is wrong…the candidates totally control the conditions there as they are responsible for what they say… Now, if we could just control that idiot asking his grandstanding questions……..
Absolutely true–The “A-Team” type candidates on the GOP side sat out this election. That is your [the GOP] problem.<–
An unbeatable ticket to defeat President Obama for the GOP would have been, in no particular order, Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio. Both would render a fine president and vice president.
But for some strange reason we have this collection of misfits.
One of these guys on the stage and in the lime light is going to win the presidential election by the skin-on-his-teeth. So no 'mandate to govern'. Grid lock!
Deke I understand as a democrat you need to have a certain mold for your candidates but America is tired of these type of people and that is why people like Palin, Bachman, Cain are so popular with the people. The politicians you support are professional, rich and only care about the party line NOT the people they represent.
The “A-Team” type candidates on the GOP side sat out this election. That is your problem. The Cain and Bachmann types have only undermined your party’s stature, and made for national jokes on late-night TV. The media did not do the damage, it was all self-inflicted.
The problem with these debates is that they have allowed the Obama media to control to many of them. They have provided talking points for Obama and have done their best to destroy every worth while candidate while leaving America with choices that will not move us in the direction it needs to go away from the horrible Obama administration and they people who support this fool