Am I the only one who watched the VP debate the other night who felt that my time was totally wasted for ninety minutes? If you count the pre-debate shows make it three hours.
I skipped the post-debate shows fingering that sleep would be more interesting.
It became clear in the pre-debate shows that the two main questions of the night were: Does Governor Palin have a memory since in a recent interview she could remember only one Supreme Court ruling and could not remember any newspapers she had read? And can Senator Biden be on stage for ninety minutes without nibbling on his toes? At least that was what the pundits were talking about.
The problem is that we already knew the answers to both of those questions.
Clips from Alaska of Mrs.
Palin during her campaign for Governor had already demonstrated that she was indeed capable of reciting her rotes during a debate.
And previous televised debates with Mr.
Biden had already proven his ability to say just 'yes' when it was to his benefit.
As the debate drummed on I began to wonder why they even called this monstrosity a debate.
In my mind it was nothing more than two people making campaign speeches interrupted by the moderator with questions that the campaigns had easily anticipated and prepared for.
And even so, Mrs.
Palin was allowed to venture off on her own path with answers that did not match the questions saying, "I may not answer the question the way you want to hear, but I'll talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record.
" The moderator never once seriously tried to drill down to get specifics from either candidate.
Interaction between the candidates was sparse since they were not allowed to question each other.
These candidates could have hired actors as stand-ins and we would have learned as much.
Maybe Tina Fey for Mrs.
Palin and perhaps Chevy Chase for Mr.
Biden? It was obvious that both candidates were highly scripted right down to the localisms that were sprinkled throughout the night, especially by Mrs.
Palin.
Who won this debate? It certainly was not the American people who have a right to know who they are voting for.
I did notice that both the CNN and CBS spot poles gave Mr.
Biden the edge.
I would bet that many of the participants in those poles saw it somewhat like I did.
They probably subtracted points away from Mrs.
Palin for her role in adding even more absurdity to this turkey; as she chose several times not to answer the posted questions but instead inserted her canned quips prepared for questions that she had hoped for.
I hope that the media and politicians either find a way to conduct true debates in the future or in the very least not advertise an event like this as a debate.
Wayne Nolen
I skipped the post-debate shows fingering that sleep would be more interesting.
It became clear in the pre-debate shows that the two main questions of the night were: Does Governor Palin have a memory since in a recent interview she could remember only one Supreme Court ruling and could not remember any newspapers she had read? And can Senator Biden be on stage for ninety minutes without nibbling on his toes? At least that was what the pundits were talking about.
The problem is that we already knew the answers to both of those questions.
Clips from Alaska of Mrs.
Palin during her campaign for Governor had already demonstrated that she was indeed capable of reciting her rotes during a debate.
And previous televised debates with Mr.
Biden had already proven his ability to say just 'yes' when it was to his benefit.
As the debate drummed on I began to wonder why they even called this monstrosity a debate.
In my mind it was nothing more than two people making campaign speeches interrupted by the moderator with questions that the campaigns had easily anticipated and prepared for.
And even so, Mrs.
Palin was allowed to venture off on her own path with answers that did not match the questions saying, "I may not answer the question the way you want to hear, but I'll talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record.
" The moderator never once seriously tried to drill down to get specifics from either candidate.
Interaction between the candidates was sparse since they were not allowed to question each other.
These candidates could have hired actors as stand-ins and we would have learned as much.
Maybe Tina Fey for Mrs.
Palin and perhaps Chevy Chase for Mr.
Biden? It was obvious that both candidates were highly scripted right down to the localisms that were sprinkled throughout the night, especially by Mrs.
Palin.
Who won this debate? It certainly was not the American people who have a right to know who they are voting for.
I did notice that both the CNN and CBS spot poles gave Mr.
Biden the edge.
I would bet that many of the participants in those poles saw it somewhat like I did.
They probably subtracted points away from Mrs.
Palin for her role in adding even more absurdity to this turkey; as she chose several times not to answer the posted questions but instead inserted her canned quips prepared for questions that she had hoped for.
I hope that the media and politicians either find a way to conduct true debates in the future or in the very least not advertise an event like this as a debate.
Wayne Nolen
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