Same Crap, Different Debate

Well, this site is called Allergic to BS, and I typically write with a “church” slant, but after tuning in for 15 minutes of the presidential debate last night (and then shut it off) I am going to go political on a post because the 15 minutes I watched was complete bullshit.

(church and politics are pretty much the same thing (man-made institutions), so I am not getting off on too much of a tangent with a post like this one)

I could spend the next 800 words or so being belligerent about how unintelligent, or just plain stupid these candidates act.  They repeat the same focus group-tested keywords, and they do not get outside of the talking points they must say.  However, these dudes are politicians, so I would not expect anything less.

When I tuned in last night, the gist of the question on the table was … should the government be involved in lowering gas prices?  In other words is it the government’s job to run the gas market?

Well, they each talked for a few minutes and never answered the audience members question.  So after 15 minutes of bullshit, and dodging answers I turned it off.

I think the blame for the blandness of these so-called debates rests solely on the shoulders of the ridiculous moderators.  People deserve so much more than these public disgraces that are aired on almost every channel.  These goofy moderators are so invested in trying to please both sides, they are entirely incapable of doing their jobs, and again the people deserve much, much more.

I think people really want to tune into a real debate, but we are so far from one of these.

To me a real debate would look something like this…

These terrible moderators must direct the discussion, and one thing includes holding candidates to their allotted speaking times.  If one candidate speaks outside of his time, he is not only being rude, but he is also preventing the moderator from asking all of the questions that are planned out for the evening.

The moderator should just say.  Shut the hell up!!!

I think the moderators need the capability to turn each of the debaters mics off when they keep babbling on with the same bullshit.

Why are these dudes rewarded for ignoring questions, for breaking the rules, and for generally acting like complete assholes?  The moderators need to make these people shut the hell up.

Please no more arguing and trying to talk over the moderator.  Just shut off their freaking mics, and then turn their mic back on when it is their turn to speak again.

Now that we have that under control, now the moderator needs to ask the right freaking questions … ask them a question that they have not prepared hours and hours for.  Knock them up the side of the head so they will stop regurgitating the same bullshit over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.  I am not being sarcastic here with the “over and overs”, we have been hearing the same crap for over a year and a half now.

Here are a couple of questions I would ask them to knock them back on their ass.

Here is one for Romney that I would ask…  Governor Romney, you have said probably 10 billion times that you know how to create jobs.  How does one create a job?  Then I would also ask as a follow-up … do you really think it is the government’s responsibility to create a job?

Here is one for Obama that I would ask.

President Obama, you and your administration have increased the frequency of raids on dispensers of marijuana in states where medical marijuana is legal.  As a candidate back in 2008, you promised voters that this would not happen.  How do you justify this intrusion upon state’s rights?

Do you have any questions?

Now we come back to the moderator.  Moderators are worthless unless they push each candidate to answer the specific question with a specific answer.  No wishy-washy BS.  Just answer the question already.

In the 15 minutes I watched last night I about puked on the screen on how the moderator handled the amount of dodging the actual question at hand.  I love the question that was asked when I tuned in, and I would have loved to hear an answer.  Again, the audience member wanted an answer to something along the lines of … should the government be involved in lowering gas prices?  In other words is it the government’s job to run the gas market?

The moderator should have hammered on each of them to answer the question directly.

Moderators should narrow the scope of the question and again ask the candidate to answer… and keep pushing and pushing until they answer.

If the candidate does not answer the specific questions, moderators should say, “So you are refusing to answer the question that has been ask?” and then give the candidate another chance.  Even if the candidate still does not answer, it will at least be made clearer to the public that the candidate will not or cannot answer the question.

I feel sorry for the people who sat through the full two hours of BS … I could not even handle 15 minutes before my BS allergies kicked in.

What are your thoughts?