Legal Commentary

Who Won The Debate?

These staged political debates would be so much more interesting if the airwaves weren?t clogged afterwards with legions of self-important pundits telling us what to think about what we just saw. They all remind me of stewardesses who welcome me to wherever after the plane lands ? who are they to welcome me, since they arrived the same time I did?

Moreover, most of what passes for post-debate analysis is worse than malarkey; it?s useless nonsense.

Since it?s not clear what the question is, it can?t be clear what the answer is. For starters, the pervasive ?who won?? question masks, at a bare minimum, two questions: who do you think won? and who do you think most people think won?

But it?s even worse than that, since no one even agrees on what ?won? means. Scored the most debaters? points? Had the most commanding stage presence? Exceeded expectations? Knew the most? Made the fewest errors? Changed the most minds? Made the fewest really, really dumb comments? (Yes, Joe, I?m talking about you, former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who said that Article I of the Constitution deals with the executive branch, and you, current chairman of the foreign relations committee, who said the U.S. and France kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon. After all, you?re the one who insisted that ?facts matter.?)

And whatever ?won? means, all the above questions have the ?for starters? permutation: do you think that?s what ?won? means, or do you think that?s what most people think it means?

And finally, do you (and/or do most people) really think it makes any difference who ?won?? That is, forget your opinion of most people?s opinions; is it really any more likely than not that you yourself will vote for the person you think ?won.? Will most people?

I could go on, but I won?t. As I said all the endless commentary about who ?won? is useless nonsense. Especially because it?s clear to all sentient observers that Palin won.

Full post as published by Discriminations on October 03, 2008 (boomark / email).