Saturday, August 25, 2012

Shrinking from the Debate

A recent episode of the HBO program "The Newsroom" featured an expose of the lame presidential debate procedure we have accepted in America. The producer of the series, Aaron Sorkin, set up a confrontation between some Republican flunkies and the noble newsroom folks who wanted to change the debate format. Sorkin, a committed leftist, used the scenario to mock the GOP primary contenders, but the point is valid: The debates are largely a sham.

First of all, the candidates don't have to answer the questions posed and often fly off into rehearsed bloviations that are as boring as they are offensive. The debate moderators rarely interrupt the bilge, leaving the politicians free to say whatever they want basically unchallenged. Any interruption would be considered "rude." Yes, there is a follow-up question, but it is rarely: "Is it me, or did you just completely ignore the question I asked you?"
Instead of saying "you have 60 seconds to answer the question," the moderator should be honest and state: "You have a minute to dodge what was asked and talk about anything you want."
This year, the three presidential debates will be moderated by Jim Lehrer, Bob Schieffer and Candy Crowley. They are all veteran hard-news people who know their stuff. They are also polite establishment journalists who understand that they can ask whatever they want but will rarely get a direct answer. And they all seem fine with that.

Read more: http://townhall.com/columnists/billoreilly/2012/08/25/shrinking_from_the_debate

No comments: