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What's a good debate, anyway?

Posted 41 weeks 6 days ago by Ben

Earlier tonight, I wrote: "Well, it was a good debate. Better than the last debate. Not a great finish, though." I still think it was better than the last Republican debate, but on reflection, I'm not sure it was "good." The comments under our live blog post are certainly proving to be more interesting.

Jim Geraghty at NRO pronounces tonight's match at the Reagan Library a disastrous debate all around. But the night was especially bad for Romney. "I think he was too genteel, too refined, too lightly pleasant. If McCain is the disaster for the party that his detractors claim, we needed to hear why tonight. I can’t see how somebody can watch this and say, ‘Romney really took it to McCain tonight.’" Tough to disagree. I think Geraghty is too hard on Ron Paul, however. "A guy getting three percent who can bring back every question to 'printing money out of thin air' is on stage only to give the other candidates a break." Ouch.

Daniel Casse over at Commentary's Contentions is about as harsh as Geraghty on the former Massachusetts governor. "Tonight was Mitt Romney’s last stand. He blew it. The conservative antipathy towards McCain involves real issues: his indefensible support of campaign finance reform, his opposition to Bush tax cuts, his throwaway lines attacking corporations, and so on. Romney should have been on attack mode from the first moment, stirring up every conservative trepidation about McCain, stressing his unreliability as a consistent voice for the cause."

My best guess is we'll be hearing exactly those things over the next five days. I think Romney did better than Casse and Geraghty think. McCain looked tired and smug and sounded smug and tired. But watching Romney at these debates is almost always a disappointing exercise. He's clearly brilliant, he has a terrific analytic mind, he understands the threats facing the United States. Yet he comes off sounding like a business-school professor. As Rich Lowry put it in National Review, "Right words, wrong tune."

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Thoughts

Carlos

Submitted on October 2nd, 2008 by Anonymous

If the media and political analysts think that Palin did fair and ok. Man, the standard s of debating have dramatically gone down in quality. You guys are forgetting that she's running for the second highest and powerful office in the world after that of the President of the United States. An idiot could of told you that she was going to use phrases, not answer the question on hand, go back to Iraq and Afghanistan because that’s what they had her memorize and emphasize on to go back if she had difficulty answering a question, after the issues was already drop. But where was the substance, the facts, the knowledge of the issues and subject at hand, what the Republican party stand on the issues and defend them with specifics and insight, at least feed me the basics, Palin. As for Biden well, he seem qualified, he answered the questions. Did she study Bidens record? Probably not, she did not attacked his record. McCain this and that, and more of McCain, but for what was she there for, to repeat the platform. Please watch the debate and count how many questions she did not answer and brought the war in Iraq and Afghasnistan until she got tire of it and had nothing else to say, in order to avoid answering the question. Same tactic as Bush, repetition, she repeated maverick, I don't know how many time without giving examples, Biden was very nice to her out of respect. The most boring debate and pathetic debater Palin. Boring because Biden was nice to her and the moderator was nice to hear to both. Never I heard to explain themselves or to be more specifics or detail. Biden at least had details. Man, I thought to defend this country you need to be beyond prepared we can see the result of Bush eight years. I pray to God, good luck to this country if McCain-Palin win the elections. And If you think she was coherent, that is orderly, logical in expressing herself, she was just throwing phrases that stick.
I thought a person in public office should be capable to think and express themselves in a clear and consistent manner and be able to deliver a message.