Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Taking it to the people?


USA Today is praising Sen. John McCain's proposal that he and the Democratic presidential nominee, presumably Sen. Barack Obama, take part in joint town-hall meetings or debates with no moderators. The editorial said Obama has called it "a great idea," and I'm inclined to agree. No one who saw the seemingly endless string of debates featuring the Democratic presidential candidates was moved to recall the great Lincoln-Douglas debates of the 1850s, and it just seems more Democratic for the two major-party nominees to take their cases straight to the American people, on the same stages, without media middlemen and women. Some of the moderators of the primary season debates seemed to think they were the stars of the show, and rather than get into substantive discussions, they seemed to delight in hitting the candidates with "gotcha" questions. It's hard to imagine that John Q. and Jane Q. Public could do a worse job.

Labels:

4 Comments:

Blogger Ellipses said...

Not only do I think that "civilian" moderators should be the norm... but each person that asks a question should be given the opportunity, after the "answer" is given, to indicate whether or not they are "satisfied" with the answer... It sounds kinda like "gotcha" debating... but I would LOVE to hear someone flat out say "You didn't answer the question..."
And I think it would mean more if it were some random Joe giving them the business instead of George Stepontopofus or whomever they have moderating.

-Ellipses

May 27, 2008 at 2:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agre that this is a good idea, although we inevitably will get "boxers or briefs" questions occasionally.

May 28, 2008 at 9:33 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

I don't know... i don't think anyone cares what kind of drawers Hillary is wearing any more...

-Ellipses

May 28, 2008 at 9:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WELL, WE KNOW THAT SHE WEARS ONE SET OF PANTS IN HER FAMILY, WHILE BILL SEEMS TO HAVE TROUBLE KEEPING BOTH OF HIS ON...

May 28, 2008 at 7:45 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home