Debate Lessons Learned

this is good news (4.00 / 4)

perhaps we'll see the first REAL debate of this interminable process.  

Netroots Outreach Director for the Carol Shea-Porter campaign

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by: susanthe @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 08:00:37 AM CDT

After the flag pin debacle (during which neither Obama nor Clinton, nor Gibson, nor Stephanopoulos was wearing a flag pin) (0.00 / 0)

ABC should not be allowed to moderate another debate for a very long time.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 08:11:35 AM CDT

A Good First Step, But... (0.00 / 0)

Remember that the debates sponsored by the debate commission are not sponsored by any specific network and open to any who wish to broadcast them, so sponsorship is only part of the problem. If the campaigns are truly committed - as they appear to be - to break out of the structured Q&A format and allow the candidates to discuss positions and issues, that's good news.

My fantasy when watching the fall debates is that, one night, Jim Lehrer or who ever the  moderator is, instead of reading the rules about 90 second answers and 30 second responses, simply says, "Why don't you two talk about things for the next hour and a half" and get up and walk off the stage.

Hasn't happened yet, but one can always hope!

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by: Tim Ashwell @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 10:22:05 AM CDT

I think the moderators can serve a useful, albeit restrained purpose, in keeping the candidates from talking over each other. (0.00 / 0)

But that's about it.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 13:53:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No more "journalists" (4.00 / 5)

in debates. They were terrible. Just terrible.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 13:33:40 PM CDT

NPR (4.00 / 4)

On December 4th, NPR had the only "debate" that approached what such things are supposed to be: an exposition and contrast, by the candidates, of their views on different foreign policy topics.  No yelling.  No crosstalk.  No peawit network flunky telling a young black female audience member that the nuclear waste disposal question she wanted to ask wasn't quite hip enough, and how about asking that joke question about diamonds and pearls instead?

From National Journal:

As we had hoped, this afternoon's Democratic debate in Des Moines sponsored by NPR and Iowa Public Radio left little room for petty politics and applause lines (largely because there was no live audience) and brought the conversation back to the issues. Three main issues, to be exact: Iran, China and immigration.

Debate moderators Steve Inskeep, Michele Norris and Robert Siegel said they chose to narrow their questions to those three broad topic areas in order to dig deeper into the candidates' positions and allow more time for follow-up. The heavy focus on foreign policy and immigration largely left out the talking points that Democrats have focused on throughout this year of campaigning: Iraq, climate change, health care and economic burdens on the middle class (although at the end they candidates were given time to discuss what they'd do to improve the economy over the four years of their first term).

Instead of standing at podiums, the seven candidates were seated at a V-shaped table. (Bill Richardson was attending the funeral for a Korean War soldier whose remains he helped repatriate back to the U.S. earlier this year.)

The format largely had the intended effect: The candidates were civil, the discussions were substantive (for the most part) and the moderators did their best to coax straightforward answers from the candidates.

A series of Obama/McCain joint appearances could prove just as historic as the Lincoln/Douglas debates.  (Though my bet's on the long lean up-and-comer from Illinois to defeat the diminutive defender of the status quo in the election as well as in the debates this time.)  But no shallow, bloviating, and/or preening talking heads allowed.

And, uh, Wolf, Ted, George?  Forget what you're thinking right now.  Because that does too mean you.

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by: Tim C. @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 14:34:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

League of Women Voters (Flashback) (0.00 / 0)

The Fs go to Russert (4.00 / 1)
and NECN, which managed to be even worse.
The debate format needs to be thrown out. Leaders in both parties need to undo the selfish and stupid move they made when they drove the League of Women Voters out of the picture.
by: elwood @ Tue Oct 02, 2007 at 20:03:58 PM EDT  

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 14:41:24 PM CDT

Blue Hampshire Presidential Debate? (0.00 / 0)

My personal fave was Yearly Kos:

PoliticsTV @ Yearly Kos '07: Debate Part I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

PoliticsTV @ Yearly Kos '07: Debate Part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

PoliticsTV @ Yearly Kos '07: Debate Part III http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 14:56:00 PM CDT

Third party candidates (0.00 / 0)

Since we're talking about propriety and authenticity in the presidential debates I feel it's necessary to bring up third party candidates.  There really needs to at least be criteria for third party candidates to be included in the presidential debates.

I concur with everything being said here about shoddy journalism resulting in poor debates that end up focusing on tripe rather than real issues.  But in the interest of having real and legitimate debates I think an even more serious problem is the fact that third-party candidates can be excluded on a whim.

I did not support Ralph Nader in either 2000 or 2004 but I have been absolutely amazed at what I've read and watched about how forcefully and shamelessly he was prevented from even physically attending the debates as an audience member, much less participating in them as a presidential candidate.  Wacko nutjob or not, it was a miscarriage of democracy as equally severe as any of the vote-rigging schemes for a candidate with almost 3% of the popular vote, as Nader had in 2000, to be excluded from the debates.  Far better than bipartisanship is nonpartisanship.

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by: Vis Unita Fortior @ Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 00:44:21 AM CDT