Two Guys Trying to Appear Calm (the debates!)

[Pedro Picasso]

So the foreign policy debate was sufficiently content free.  My favorite part was in the very beginning, when the candidates shook hands, Kerry got his face close enough to kiss Bush's.  This shows off his major height advantage which sadly matters in this country.  I'd love to know what they said during that handshake.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say camera guy 1 won although camera guy 3 had some interesting perspectives.

[Bozack]

Yeah, the word on the internet is that the entire reason why the candidates were so far apart is Bush's handlers didn't want the audience to notice that John Kerry is 9 feet tall. Hence, the only screenshot you could get with both people was split and pushed, so Bush appeared as tall as or taller than Kerry.

Of course, the internet also says dogs can't look up.

[CortJstr]

Of course, the internet also says dogs can't look up.

I've been resisting the urge to look that up all week.

[arkabee]

so i caught this thing on cspan this morning, that i think happened yesterday.  some guy from the ne yorker, i think, was having a "discussion" or something with Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and PEter JEnnings.  it was rather interesting.

anyways, i think it was Dan Rather, went on a bit about how the debate isn't a debate.  as in, if you look up "debate" and get the definition, what happened the other night was not a debate.

and, how there is a committee made up of people from the dems and the repubs that determine when and where and how etc these "debates" get held.

i thought that was interesting.

so, rather than get someone to host a debate, they got someone to ask a set of questions that both parties knew about ahead of time in order to give prepped speaches in response to them.

i also like how the networks pretty much didn't agree to the part about no cutaway shots.

the whole process is scary.  there's no foundation in reality anymore.  if there ever was any.  it's all the system merely self-replicating.

[CortJstr]

The committee is crazy. Supposedly the podiums were set so far apart so that you couldn't tell how much taller Kerry is.

And at the "town hall" anybody who deviates from their pre-approved question but more than a word or two is to have their mic cut off.

[Va]

Nor could the candidates address questions to each other, nor specifically rebut points made by the other candidate.

100% content free.

[Gimpson]

Nor could the candidates address questions to each other, nor specifically rebut points made by the other candidate.

100% content free.

Well, those were the ground rules, but I didn't think it really came off quite as dry as everybody expected it to be.  I was out for dinner during the first half of the debate, but I caught the last hour or so, and I remember some fairly pointed back and forth, particularly that bit about how to handle North Korea.  

It made me feel quite a bit better about voting for Kerry in November.

[Carlos del Vaca]

And at the "town hall" anybody who deviates from their pre-approved question but more than a word or two is to have their mic cut off.

Too bad.  There's a bounty for anyone who asks Bush, in a public forum, how many times he's been arrested.

[Choop]

So, someone poses as a "soft" supporter of Kerry, and gets the following question approved:

"Mr. President, how many times have you gone to the U.N. or allied countries to garner support for the war in Iraq?"

The two words of difference there can surely be gotten out before the mic gets cut off.