Thursday, October 01, 2020

The Point, It Eludes

      Hey, look, when I linked to the Kennedy - Nixon debate, I was talking about the deportment of the men involved and how they treated one another.  My point had nothing to do with partisanship, or if either or both of the candidates were being strictly honest, or even if the moderator and questioners were biased.

     No, ignore all that, or better yet, assume Nixon and Kennedy were dissembling and hated their opponent, assume the moderator loathed the Vice-President and that the reporters asking questions favored one or the other and that everyone had bad breath.  Assume the worst -- and then look at how they behave: they're polite.  They don't talk over one another.   They generally use titles and last names to refer to each other.  Questions get pretty direct replies.  Participants mostly speak in complete sentences.

     As the debate proceeds, you get a fair idea of each candidate's platforms and positions, and what they think about the other candidate's plans and proposals.  Whatever you might think about the participants, candidates and media alike, that debate provided useful, solid information to the voting public, in an orderly, understandable way.

     Last Tuesday's debate did not.

3 comments:

Paul said...

civility seems to have gone the way of the dodo

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. I think it's the only debate I've ever watched in its entirety. Interesting how "bland" the whole thing was. A couple of chairs and a stage, everyone was calm. And they actually talked about issues. Imagine that. I'd never heard Kennedy or Nixon speak that much. Strange to watch knowing how things turned out for both of them.

Brian N. said...

Fun bit of trivia, those who listened to Kennnedy/Nixon on the radio thought Nixon won because his speaking style was generally more polished and didn't contain stammers or placeholder words to the extent Kennedy's did, while those watching on TV generally thought Kennedy won because those same bits of grit in his speech combined with his visible presence in a way that showed confidence, poise, and relaxation. Nixon was sweating and looked nervous so his speech pattern betrayed someone who was overly self-conscious. The classic technician versus performer problem...