Tag: 2020
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What the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Teach Us about Political Debating
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates have captured the American imagination on what debate should look like, and I’m really at a loss as to why. They were for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. Most people think they were Presidential debates. Although Stephen Douglas had presidential ambitions, they were never realized. The Senators at that time were…
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What is Real Debate?
The Vice Presidential Debate yesterday was cold, calm, and “civil.” It seemed to include everything we thought was lacking in the First Presidential debate (with the exception of a good moderator). Yet it seemed so profoundly disappointing. Did we learn anything? Did we move forward in our understanding of the candidates? I think most of…
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What Chris Wallace Should Have Done as Moderator of That Horrible Debate
Nobody wanted to be in Chris Wallace’s shoes last week at that terrible debate. Not even sure it was a debate. Lots of shouting. For most people, it was a preview of Thanksgiving dinner, maybe even before drinks. In this video I suggest three options Wallace had that would have been a bit better than…
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What Chris Wallace Should Have Done as Moderator of That Horrible Debate
Nobody wanted to be in Chris Wallace’s shoes last week at that terrible debate. Not even sure it was a debate. Lots of shouting. For most people, it was a preview of Thanksgiving dinner, maybe even before drinks. In this video I suggest three options Wallace had that would have been a bit better than…
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How to Watch National Political Debates, such as the U.S. Presidential Debates
Here’s a video I made as a first attempt at teaching the rubric I’ve designed for evaluating and making Presidential (or national party leader) debates tolerable and perhaps useful. The goal of these debates, and the Commission on Presidential Debates, is to create a forum to inform voters on the issues. What they leave out…
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The Presidential Debates in the Context of How Bad We Are at having Debates at Any Kind
Monday night I gave a talk to Cornell Law School’s American Constitution Society about the history and development of Presidential Debates. I thought I had shared this already, but it looks like I forgot to post the thing I was originally writing about it. It’s a good thing too – these debates are well beyond…
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The Best Structural Change Would be to Stop Debating
The Commission on Presidential Debates released a statement about yesterday’s Presidential debate, seemingly unaware that they are the reason the debate was so poor. Here’s the text: The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors televised debates for the benefit of the American electorate. Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the…
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Is It Time To Abandon The Presidential Debates?
After last night’s performance, many of us are wondering about the state of our politics and our leaders. We are worried about the state of political discourse in the United States. We are experiencing, or have experienced alienation from close friends and dear family members over acerbic speech. And the debate, the Nationally televised, globally…
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