i remember posting that there might be ONE debate, if any.

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/381249 |top|03-13-2004::10:06|reuters.html

The debates always Suck!

Some of debate I use stinks as well. X

X do you use rubber worms with that debate or just the trebble hook and glob it on???

Hog

Debate for catfish. Need I say more. X

yea I know but the Channels go for the rubber worm and the Yellow cats or Mudds go for the trebble hook with the hard debates LOL

Hog

xibbumbero

there you go again.

what do they call it on the board when you change the subject?

oh, i remember, jacking off

Debates are seldom debates. I think about a debate where one guy starts off talking about an issue, and if the other guy disagrees, he expresses his disagreement, asks questions, backs him argument with facts and opinions, and there's point and counter point. The "debates" I've seen are really speachletts where the candidate stands up and pontificates about their platform. They're typically shallow on substance and long on self-promotion. If they would loose the format and the moderator, and actually put them up there and let them slug it out (verbally) it would be worth watching. But no one would agree to that, so therefore, it's an almost worthless endeavor.

There's a fabulous book called "Amusing Ourselves To Death" - Neil Postman that chronicles the shift in society from a reading/typeset society to a commercial/snippet form of absorbing information.

Our grandfather's grandfather took information seriously. They didn't read for pure enjoyment, it was to learn or be nurtured. Some would seek solace in quiet meditation reading, but the bulk of it was for some type of meaningful learning.

Postman gives an example of the Lincoln-Douglas debates as just how passionate Americans were about learning all of the issues of the day. They would meet in town centers and hear the candidates debate each other for 5 hours at a time. This was real debate. Both parties knew their subjects and differentiated themselve and had to back themselves with a counterpoint.

Now we have commercialized 2 minute blasts of "Where's The Beef?" and namecalling. Our ancestors wouldn't even think of putting up canditates on a platform if this is the way they were going to perform, they probably would've thrown spoiled vegetables at them!

ROBBY,

Perfectly stated.

There is nothing worse than cheap political self-promotion. I can smell the Bulls*** through the TV screen.

I agree, but it's an unfortunate reality that even if one of the candidates were able to rise above this level, we wouldn't know it, because to be elected, they have to have the "mass appeal" to attract the votes of the masses. If a candidate were to talk to the electorate on an intelligent level, they would lose about 80% of the electorate (I know, I'm being generous) so they have to talk down to the "lowest common denominator" that being someone with the attention span equivalent to a 5 year old.