Dukakis beat Reagan in debates.
Perot destroyed both Clinton and Bush in debates
Alan Keys destroyed W in the 2000 primary debates
I could go on and on.
Being good at debates has almost nothing to do with winning and especially nothing to do with governing. Giving a good speech is important, your presence in important, your ability to debate someone is insignificant in the election and has zero to do with the actual job.
“Dukakis beat Reagan in debates”
That’s even more impressive when you realize that the two never debated.
“Dukakis beat Reagan in debates”
That’s even more impressive when you realize that the two never debated.
???
Dukakis ran for President in 1988.
Uh, Tex...?
Dukakis never faced Reagan in a debate. Dukakis ran in 1988 against George H W Bush. Reagan ran in 1980 and 1984. For the record, he destroyed Jimmuh in the last-minute debate, turning a razer’s edge race in to a blowout, becoming instantly known as “the Great Communicator.”
Dukakis debated Bush. Although SNL’s line (”I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy”) was legendary, it was recorded before the debate. While Bush was mediocre at best, Dukakis completely imploded. Asked an outrageous question (by Bernard Shaw, of all people!) about whether he would seek the death penalty if someone raped and murdered Kitty, Dukakis gave a flat, dull answer that in no way suggested any emotional response to the question. It was the end of his presidential campaign, for all intents and purposes.
Perot was a crony capitalist who swindled the government out of billions of dollars, although this was due to the government’s stupidity, not anything criminal on Perot’s part. He had no electoral experience, and nothing to suggest he was at all qualified to be president, except he was very, very rich. And he did win the debates. But he dropped out. And then came back, claiming space aliens had conspired with the CIA and President Bush to ruin his daughter’s wedding. He got 19%. If he had had Rick Perry’s debate skills, he would have gotten 16 votes nationwide, and never been asked to another debate.
There are 9 more debates. The next one is on Oct 11th at Dartmouth in NH. After after that a debate scheduled for Las Vegas.
I agree with you. We are electing a president (GOP nominee) and not the captain of the debate team. Problem is, Perry made three major stumbles last night and showed he is unprepared for debating his fellow candidates.
Perry needs to do well on Oct 11th., Anything less is unacceptable.