Possible Debate Loophole for Kerry?

[indyjones1938]

To the best of my knowledge, neither candidate can ask the other questions. Kerry can't come right out and hammer Bush with questions about Iraq, Bin Laden, No Child Left Behind, whatever.


But...couldn't he indirectly set up questions and put Bush on defense with phrases like:

"I would ask the president why..."

"My question for the president would be..."

"The American people would ask the president why..."

Get my drift? Is there anything in the debate regulations prohibiting these types of questions? Knowing Rove I probably answered my own question.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Yes, there is.

From what I understand, they can only ask rhetorical questions.

[rock]

2. If I were to ask the president .... what would he say?

Kerry could then provide his own answer, and watch bushsucks* stew.

[The_Counsel]

3. Those ARE Rhetorical Questions, Aren't They?

It wouldn't matter whether they'd get answered. In fact, knowing Bush, they WON'T get answered. What'll happen is Bush would (unnecessarily) whine about Kerry asking questions (which, in fact, he woudn't be). Or Jim Lehrer would simply ignore the question and move on -- like he did with Al Gore in 2000.

There may even be a scenario in which Lehrer would scold Kerry for asking questions; to which Kerry should answer "that was a rhetorical question, Jim. It's not like I expect a straight answer from the President, anyway..."

BAM!

Both Bush AND LEHRER look like asses, AND the viewers are given something to think about.

Win/win. :evilgrin:

[KansDem]

6. Pardon my ignorance, but has Jim Lehrer been selected...

...to moderate one (or all) of the debates?

Man, I wish professors from the political/social sciences or philosophy departments of the local universities would be the moderators, instead of some corporate media hack...

[The_Counsel]

10. Debate Moderators

According to this this, Lehrer will be moderating Thursday's Debate.

Charlie Gibson will moderate next Friday's town hall debate and Bob Schieffer will moderate the final debate.

Gwen Ifill will moderate next week's Veep debate.

ON EDIT: No, I don't think you're ignorant for asking that question. As far as I know, this information hasn't been publicized all that much -- though it should be...

[CarolynEC]

13. Those are rhetorical questions (eom)

[ClassWarrior]

4. Screw it. Kerry should walk right up to the Chimp-Shrimp...

...and DEMAND answers on behalf of the American people.

Any RW complaints about this will sound like wimpy whining.

(The CONs are counting on us being civil. So Kerry should ambush Bush*.)

23.

[Pirate Smile]

5. If Kerry breaks a debate rule, I'd like to hear Georgie tell him he can't

do that, it's against the rules, wahh.

[Toucano]

7. Like he did to Gore in 2000?

I forget the exact quote, but it was something like "Don't we have rules".

[The_Counsel]

8. Oh, He Will...

...he ALWAYS does that. I call it the "hall monitor gambit." He'll point out whatever rule his opponent is seen as breaking, with the rationale being viewers would see him as a rule-breaker who can't be trusted.

In 2000, Bush actually accused Gore -- on the air -- of using "petty high school debate tricks" because he didn't have any ideas. What Gore SHOULD have done was point out that Bush was using a smoke screen because HE HIMSELF didn't have any ideas. Instead, Gore let him slide on it and lost...

[ClassWarrior]

9. Except Gore didn't lose.

The debate OR the election.

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[The_Counsel]

14. RE: Gore Didn't Lose

You know what? I watched the first debate on C-SPAN this weekend. Gore lost -- and for a couple of reasons.

First, Gore was all over the place trying to wipe the floor with Bush the way we all expected him to -- which means he'd already lost the "pre-debate."

Second, he let Bush stay on message. Never mind that Bush's message was a bad one, Gore let him stay on it and repeat it ad nauseum.

Third, he let Bush define him; or rather, he let Bush define his proposals. Bush went on and on about what Gore's plans did or didn't do, and Gore never once said anything along the lines of "how the hell would YOU know what my plan does? You didn't write it! Hell, you probably didn't even READ it!" At least that was what I was screaming as I watched this disaster. Then, Bush had the nerve to correct Gore when he called the Bush Tax Cut a "$1.9 billion tax cut for the rich." Bush said "it's a $1.3 billion tax cut for everyone." Bush actually managed to make Gore look ill-informed while telling a SECOND lie about his proposed tax cut. Of course, Gore failed to call him on it...

Fourth, he let Jim Lehrer limit his effectiveness, while extending Bush's. It seemed Bush ALWAYS had a chance to rebut anything Gore said, but when Gore wanted the same privledge Lehrer seemed hell-bent to move on. Now, it was my understanding that a question is asked, Candidate A gives a response, Candidate B gives a response, Candidate A gets a rebuttal, moderator moves on. It seemed that Gore would get a question, Bush would get a rebuttal, and Lehrer would move on. Or Bush would get the question, Gore would respond, and Lehrer would prompt Bush for a rebuttal before moving on. It seemed Bush ALWAYS had the last word. Check the transcript of the first debate. You'll find that the number of times Lehrer yelled "new question" right after Bush made a point astounding. Gore almost never got the same privledge; and not only that, he never forcefully called Lehrer on it. It was, after all Lehrer's JOB to enforce the debate rules -- for BOTH candidates.

And no, I'm not even going to get into the sighs. True, they didn't help, but they didn't sink Gore. He was already sunk.

For years I'd been saying that Gore won the first and third debates. But now I think he only won the third one...

[ItsMyParty]

11. I said a couple weeks ago that Kerry should use this style because

he needs to get across to the people BOTH his plans on issues and information of what Bush has done/not done on the issues that have hurt this nation. Otherwise, the latter will never be heard. It's a must to point out Bush's failures and this debate technique can work. I was just thinking what happens if there was a perceived 'violation'---republicans do this kind of shit all the time and they do a "so sue me" pose. Can't put the worm back in the can once it's opened and if Georgie whines about it afterwards and wants not to debate he just looks like a whimp (and you know he can't stand the image of a whimp).

[ClassWarrior]

12. His Daddy was a wimp, y'know...

Serious Oedipal problems there.

23.