1st presidential debate tonight

[BreakABone]

Well, I'm going to watch it in the school's movie theatre.

I need to for my American Politics class.

But I was looking over some of the facts, and this doesn't seem to be much of a debate.

I mean there are so many friggin rules that it's not but canned responses to pre-approved questions.

[DeathsHand]

I actually wanna watch this for some odd reason (never been big in the politics), but I plan to be at work... Drat... Hopefully I make it home into for the daily show tonight...

[Bond]

The debates are really just a big media event. I hope Kerry does exactly what Al Gore did in 2000.

[GameMaster]

I will watch it. I wish it didn't take the cover story of cnn.com though. I get tired of seeing about it when I already know when it's going to be on.

[Typhoid]

I wonder if Kerry broke his foot.....you know...because he was dropping so many names at the beginning.



And this isnt a debate. Its too organized. In Canadian debates (as far as i know) the other candidates freely interject and ask questions.

Now, i have never watched an American debate, so I ask one question, is there a period (Hopefully, or else it would be lame) where they can question eachother?

[Blackmane]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I wonder if Kerry broke his foot.....you know...because he was dropping so many names at the beginning.



And this isnt a debate. Its too organized. In Canadian debates (as far as i know) the other candidates freely interject and ask questions.

Now, i have never watched an American debate, so I ask one question, is there a period (Hopefully, or else it would be lame) where they can question eachother?

No, I think they setup rules so there wouldn't be arguements breaking out between them.

It is very highly organized indeed, so it is hard to actually call it a debate.

[Xantar]

The terms of the debate are negotiated between the two campaign groups. In my opinion, that's one of the major problems with election procedures in America today. Theoretically, if both sides agreed to it, there could have been just one debate in which the rules were "Do not actually discuss anything and just say nice things about each other." It won't happen because the people would never stand for it, but there's nothing illegal about it either.

That's also why debates look like a set of canned responses. The candidates don't want to be surprised and look like they've been caught in headlights (I suspect that this is a concern more for Bush than for Kerry. Bush has been showing difficulty putting his thoughts into words for this debate).

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

w00t,just watched it. I think its fair to say that Kerry got the upper hand in this debate. It was weird seeing Kerry on the offensive, Bush spent the majority of the time defending himself, and not having enough time to attack Kerry. Bush's comment on "They attacked us" toward Iraq really killed him, and i loved John Kerrys analagy: "Invading Iraq after 9/11 is like Invading Mexico after Pearl Harbour", great stuff.

[Acebot44]

Yeah, I felt that Kerry definetly won this one. He didn't bore me at all and sounded so sure of what he was saying. A smooth orator that man is.