Presidential Debates are an Insult to Our Collective Intelligence
Belief:
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Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Don't Fear the Deficit Bogeyman
John Miller
DrugReporter:
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Environment:
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Food:
Don't Be Scared of Food: Are We Being Needlessly Hysterical About Food Safety?
David E. Gumpert
Health and Wellness:
47,000 Women Could Die As a Result of the New Mammogram Guidelines
George Lakoff
Immigration:
Republican Playbook on Immigration Debate Long on Emotions, Short on Facts
Mary Giovagnoli
Media and Technology:
The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives
Mark Ames
Movie Mix:
Disney Apocalypse: Why 2012 Sucks
Alexander Zaitchik
Politics:
White House's Ties to Health Care Industry Deeper Than Visitor Records Show
Daniela Perdomo
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why Can't We Look Away From Sarah Palin?
Vanessa Richmond
Rights and Liberties:
Whatever Happened to the CIA Black Sites?
David Corn
Sex and Relationships:
Hot Mormon Muffins and Models for Jesus: What's With All the Sexy Christians?
Liz Langley
Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
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Water:
Poseidon's Financial Shell Game: Why Is a Private Desalination Plant Asking for Public Money?
Peter Gleick
World:
Is Obama Following in the Footsteps of Bill Clinton?
Jeff Cohen
Presidential debates aren't really debates. These faux debates are bad for democracy. Debates should inform voters about the issues and challenge the candidates to move beyond their talking points and think on their feet. Under the current rules, these events have degenerated into non sequitur public speaking contests.
According to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the non-profit that sponsors these events, "the public deserves to hear and see the candidates offer and defend their positions on the critical issues facing our country in the most thoughtful and in-depth manner that television time constraints will allow. Loosening the constraints within the ninety minutes debate will allow for more serious examination of complicated questions."
Epic fail.
After three debates and the pattern is clear. Loosening the constraints just made the problem worse than last season. The candidates don't argue about anything; they take turns rattling off talking points. They don't have to engage with each other, or even answer the questions. Since Sarah Palin blew off Gwen Ifill last week, the candidates know that they don't have to respect to the moderator, either. Last night we saw McCain insulting Tom Brokaw. Both candidates felt entitled to ignore the time limits. As Brokaw put it, "I'm just the hired help."
See more stories tagged with: debate, obama, mccain
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