Posted on 06/09/2008 5:03:28 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of voters nationwide say John McCain's call for a series of ten Town Hall debates is a good idea. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 11% disagree and 12% are not sure.
McCain has proposed that the candidates meet once a week in ten different cities around the country. The two men would answer questions from private citizens instead of reporters. Obama's home town newspaper has endorsed the concept as well. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote "forget about holding 10. Do 20 -- or more -- and get going." Ninety percent (90%) of Republicans support McCain's debate proposal along with 66% of Democrats and 80% of unaffiliated voters.
The poll also found that 60% believe the "town hall" format is the best approach. Twenty-two percent (22%) said they would prefer direct debates between McCain and Obama with nobody else asking questions. Just 11% believe the traditional format; with reporters asking questions; is the best. That may be due to the fact that voters do not see reporters as neutral observers and moderators. A recent survey found that 68% of voters believe most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win. Just 17% see most reporters as objective.
Fifty-five percent (55%) say it's better to have "a lot" of debates while 36% would prefer "just a couple." Democrats are fairly evenly divided on this question. Republicans and unaffiliated voters favor "a lot" of debates by a two-to-one margin.
Thirty-seven percent (37%) say that Presidential debates are Very Important to their voting decision. Another 40% say they are Somewhat Important. Four years ago, after a debate in which President Bush did poorly, his overall level of support from voters was unchanged.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Now... if we could just get a real candidate to do them...
If Obama tries to run from this too much he will look like a coward. He has to do some of them.
No matter what Obama does, McCain wins.
He either gets the all the debates, or Obama looks like a chump trying to avoid them.
I doubt the voters will actually learn anything from these charades.
It’s a cynical outlook, but the questions will be planted and the answers rehearsed (or rehashed), the nominees will spend their time blathering on and making empty promises, and it will be politics as usual. Or maybe — hopefully — I’ll be surprised.
Obama has to do them, because he is so fun to watch when he makes his gaffes, he is a total dufus! And we want some fun this summer don’t we???
All of the current debates are ridiculous.
I would like to see a hour and a half or 2 hour debate where the time is divided equally and the candidates would have a clock, like a chess clock that stops and starts when pressed. If someone wants to take 5 minutes to answer a question fine, not all issues can be squeezed into 30 second sound bites.
Let them ask EACH OTHER questions instead of the liberally slanted foregone conclusion questions we always see asked.
What do they plan to do about those pesky US citizens that ask illegal immigration questions?
Wil there be a stockade?
How about an actual debate where each side questions the other? That way lame questions reflect on the questioner and neither side can say that his opponent was tossed softballs.
I love how the Dems responsed to the poll. They are split between having “a lot” of debates and only a “few” only Repubs and Inds heavily favor “a lot.” Additionally, only 60% of Dems want to have the town hall meetings versus 90% of Repubs.
You think they are worried about Obama? You bet!
In Obama’s only race for the U.S. Senate, he agreed to have one debate with Alan Keyes.
Now, Keyes ran a terrible campaign, which was a foregone conclusion anyway.
But Keyes destroyed Obama in that debate.
It got so bad, that at one point Obama admitted, “Obviously, Ambassador Keyes is a much better debater than I am.”
My cat is a better debater than he is.
I find it hard to believe that 37% of the country doesn't know Obama is a radical commie masquerading as a democrat. If so, they must be so caught up in Bush bashing and hating that don't listen very well. Or it could be really bad news for Obama, that about half the democrats aren't sure they want to vote for him at this point..
**77% Like McCain Proposal for Ten Town Hall Debates**
I like this too. Does that make a bigger percentage? LOL!
I like the Lincoln-Douglas debate format. One candidate speaks for a half and hour, then the other candidate speaks for a half an hour. They rotate who goes first. No moderator, they say what they want to say on whatever topic. If there are more than two candidates, then the time allocated to each is reduced by five minutes for each additional candidate.
I would add that today there is no need for an audience. The entire debate would be recorded, then broadcast only in its entirety and made available on the Internet.
This would completely change *how* candidates debated. With such a long time to speak, they would have to both talk offense and defense. In the time between debates, their speech writers and advisers would have to work overtime to keep the ideas flowing.
The bottom line is that about the only way to flush out such debates is to describe your philosophy in detail. And this is where the bullet hits the bone. Repetition or mindless blather would ruin a candidate.
If you have read the Lincoln-Douglas debates, they still have impact for this reason. Their speeches were just colored by the issues of the day. What they were really talking about was the future of the United States.
Will I sit down and talk with a murdering lunatic who wants to wipe Israel off the map? Of course. Will I debate John McCain this summer? well, hold on a minute now, we don’t want to rush into anything.
I’d imagine that the Obama people would prefer the Lincoln-Douglas format, as they could do without questions from the audience or moderator or McCain. That way Barry can just recite his canned nonsense about “change” and “hope” without anyone interrupting.
Like swatting a gnat with a sledge hammer.
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