DroppinScience
09-27-2008, 06:31 PM
Perhaps this should have been posted before yesterday's debates, but I think this is advice you all can take home for the the next McCain-Obama debate and the Biden-Palin debates, too.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09262008/profile5.html
Debate-Watching Tips from Campaign Analyst Kathleen Hall Jamieson
1) I recommend not watching the coverage immediately before the debate and, when the debate is finished, turn the television off and talk with others about what you saw and what was important to you. And think about what you saw.
2) Candidates make different assumptions about government's role, about economic policy, about the value of government regulation, about the role of the US in the world, about appropriate use of military power, about US relationships with other countries... and the like. Try to glean from the debate what are the governing philosophies of the candidates?
3) Come to a debate with a list of the issues that matter to you and ask what you learned about each candidate's record and promises on those issues. Where are they similar and how do they differ?
4) When a candidate promises a new program or any move that will reduce government revenue -- how will the candidate pay for it? Increase the deficit? Cut spending elsewhere and if so where? Raise taxes? On whom?
5) How accurate are candidates' descriptions of opponents' programs? And how accurate are a candidate's descriptions of his or her own record?
6) Is the candidate willing to tell voters things they don't want to hear about the challenges facing the country and what is required to address them?
7) If the country were faced with a crisis, what can you know from the candidates' past performance, character, and dispositions about whether the country would be in good hands?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09262008/profile5.html
Debate-Watching Tips from Campaign Analyst Kathleen Hall Jamieson
1) I recommend not watching the coverage immediately before the debate and, when the debate is finished, turn the television off and talk with others about what you saw and what was important to you. And think about what you saw.
2) Candidates make different assumptions about government's role, about economic policy, about the value of government regulation, about the role of the US in the world, about appropriate use of military power, about US relationships with other countries... and the like. Try to glean from the debate what are the governing philosophies of the candidates?
3) Come to a debate with a list of the issues that matter to you and ask what you learned about each candidate's record and promises on those issues. Where are they similar and how do they differ?
4) When a candidate promises a new program or any move that will reduce government revenue -- how will the candidate pay for it? Increase the deficit? Cut spending elsewhere and if so where? Raise taxes? On whom?
5) How accurate are candidates' descriptions of opponents' programs? And how accurate are a candidate's descriptions of his or her own record?
6) Is the candidate willing to tell voters things they don't want to hear about the challenges facing the country and what is required to address them?
7) If the country were faced with a crisis, what can you know from the candidates' past performance, character, and dispositions about whether the country would be in good hands?