A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

How important are the debates?

Posted: Oct 1, 2012

I plan on watching, but my vote is already decided. I don't expect, however, to hear any real ideas or specifics from either side - it seems that it's usually a live campaign commercial. Every once in a while someone gets in a good one-liner, but it's just usually attacks, rebuttels, and questionable facts and figures.

How do you feel about the debates? Do you think they could change your mind on a candidate or if you're undecided, will they help you decide? Do you plan to watch any of them (including the VP debate)?

;

Good for watercooler talk - RC

[ In Reply To ..]
Not that we have watercoolers at home. Or co-workers. :)

I agree with you. Most people have made up their minds, and the debates are really just there for us all to go "See! That other guy's an idiot!"

Probably won't watch.... - SK1

[ In Reply To ..]
It'll just be blah, blah, blah talking points from both sides.

I would very much like to see the presidential debate like the one Rick Warrens did (although I suppose that wasn't a debate). I thought it was much more valuable for each candidate to be given the same question, independent of one another, without benefit of knowledge of what the other candidate had said. I got a lot more out of that than blah, blah, blah, smirk, snort, blah, blah, blah, head throw, mad pen scribbling, blah, blah, blah....

I'm not watching either. - I'll wait for spoon feeding with snippets.

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Actually, prediction is for largest % viewership ever - this time. Romney's 47% cost him

[ In Reply To ..]
dreadfully, and he will be trying to reverse that image. Successful, and he will pull way up in the polls at least.

What they're fighting for at this point isn't to change minds but rather to persuade their own supporters to vote and opponents to be discouraged or repelled enough to not vote. Discouraging citizens who might support someone else from voting is actually more important right now than encouraging supporters, disgusting as that seems. But it works.

For instance, Romney would benefit greatly if young people stayed home in large numbers. Or old people. Or, in fact, all groups except white males and the far right "base." If young people come out in large numbers, Obama will win.

Voting matters.

I plan on watching them - fencingmother

[ In Reply To ..]
but mainly for entertainment purposes as I already know who I am voting for. Frankly, I am not sure I would believe much of what I heard during the debates anyway.

Oh, me too--mostly. I don't expect Romney to fail, but if he did - it would be his death knell. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Oh, you bet... - Cassie (sm)

[ In Reply To ..]
...I do plan to watch them, even though my mind is already made up.

I agree that the debates will (maybe) only make a difference among undecided voters, especially since many will already have done early voting by the time the three debates are done. I think they should do them earlier in the process. To spend so much money to conduct them at this point, only to help make up the minds of Undecideds, seems like such a waste.

If I didn't watch the debates, I wouldn't feel I could comment intelligently in political discussion afterward. :-) To rely only on the talking heads' spin after the fact is very misleading, IMO.

And, yes, I'm looking forward to the VP debate, too, as I always am!

My typically disengaged immigrant husband acts like - he's getting ready for the Super Bowl

[ In Reply To ..]
and he actually hates sports as well. He's all about making money, has a small business, usually works long hours to this end and NEVER lets his personal interests interfere with that endeavor. Still he is pretty excited over the shellacking he thinks Romney and Ryan are going to suffer at the hands the POTUS and VPOTUS.

He typically has a short attention span with political discussions but has completely CLEARED HIS CALENDAR for all debates....even has reminders and alarms set on his cell so he can get home in plenty of time to shower and eat before settling in to enjoy the "festivities." He's particularly interested in the VP showdown.

This is really bizarrely out of character for him, so I plan to get a few snapshots of my political junkie couch potato to use later on as reminders that all things are possible.

LOL! Super Bowl - I love it :) (nm) - Zville MT

[ In Reply To ..]
*

I haven't paid much attention to the campaigning - this time, so I'm hoping the

[ In Reply To ..]
debates will help me see what ideas the two of them have. I'm sure I'll go to the computer and do some fact checking afterwards, but I expect the debates to be very helpful. I always enjoy watching them, even in years when I have a clear idea of who I want to vote for.

Good for a few chuckles, I guess. I might watch - (if theres nothing better to do).

[ In Reply To ..]
XYZ

Similar Messages:

Sep 28, 2012
It looks as if the Romney campaign is already trying to make excuses for Romney's debate performance. They sent a memo out basically lowering expectations for Romney. LOL. See link. ...

Oct 12, 2012
I have not been happy with O's performance the last 4 years. However, I am not sure he is totally to blame for the state of our economy, debt, and job situation. The R fully admit that what was dumped in his lap was tremendous. Much of the debt technically does not even belong to O. The rest, I believe he had no choice, as we were actually looking at a depression. As Clinton stated, NO president, R or D, could fix these problems in 4 years. Even though I just ...

Oct 31, 2015
Each candidate will give a statement. No debate. And fewer of them. .....this gets stranger and stranger The GOP candidates need to stop whining, put on their big-boy/girl clothes, and put their best ideas forward in the debate format that has worked well for my whole life. Just because they have no understanding of the issues and have no commendable ideas to put forth, it's still not okay to just do away with the debates. They need to just deal with it and if it's too hot for them ...

Apr 27, 2011
to make 1 comment about the certificate. It wasn't the birthers that started this. They just ran with it all these years. It was Hillary's camp during the 2008 campaign that started all this, or did you all forget about that? That's all I have to say about that. Now, some facts about why I will not vote for Obama: 1. President Obama promised to close Gitmo. Did he? 2. President Obama promised in March that the Libyan War would be short term? Is it? 3. President Obama promised ...

Aug 24, 2017
Poor Hillary. Big, bad Donald Trump got so close to her during the presidential debate last fall, she says, that he “made her skin crawl.” “Morning Joe” broadcast a recording of Mrs. Clinton reading that revealing snippet aloud yesterday, her plain, hard intonations trying to excite interest in “What Happened?” her new book purporting to explain why she lost the election. The passage, which recounts her musing about how she should react to his looming presence, evokes several r ...

Sep 07, 2012
So this is what some *** think is important ...

Apr 28, 2011
Oprah and fund raisers. Who wants to start? ...

Aug 23, 2012
From Communist Party USA, a llong but VERY interesting article here: http://www.cpusa.org/fighting-for-our-future/ For the people's side of the struggle, the 2012 elections are of paramount importance too. No other struggle now or in the foreseeable future has the same possibility to effect a change in the political balance of forces in a progressive direction. Or to put it differently, the elections are the key link to decisively move the whole chain of class and democratic pol ...

Aug 05, 2013
. ...

Jun 26, 2016
True to its title, this is an important watch for, as stated in the video, "Most people don't have a clue!" Understanding this concept is CRITICAL to understanding our immigration problem, which is why I'm posting it here in Politics. ...

Aug 06, 2017
Communism, by the way, is not really a type of government — communism describes a future classless society which results from socialism. There has never been a communist human society… yet… Because the word “socialism” is often abused by the major media-outlets, it is hard to explain the idea behind socialism without clearing the table by emphasizing what socialism is not: Socialism is not a type of government Socialism is not sh ...

Apr 08, 2010
I just found out about this Very Scary website. Go to spokeo.com and enter your name and see what it says about you. You can delete yourself by clicking on privacy and following the directions. ...

Jul 29, 2012
Are you withholding support for Mitt Romney until you see who he chooses as the person who will be "a heartbeat away..."? I'm reading a book right now about the assassination of James Garfield. His VP was Chester Arthur. Arthur was pushed into the VP spot by a certain powerful NY politician and a pretty all-round awful guy named Roscoe Conkling. The book says that during the course of the campaign, there was some discussion about the fact that Arthur would be presi ...

Jan 28, 2017
This article was written by someone who lived what happened to his country and has a unique perspective on what he sees happening in America. Whether you are a Trump supporter or not. Whether you like Washington Post or not, it still deserves to be read by all of us. We should read it with an open mind and see if there is anything in the article that rings true about anything in our own country. I see it as a lesson for all of us. ...

Dec 09, 2010
Build America Bonds backed by the rejected Democrat proposal, left out of the deal with the Republicans. I'm reading that the oversight of this program will be devastating to the states. The bloggers are going wild over this. ...

Jan 31, 2017
Ladies, As you read this, you need to put all emotion (fear, angst, revulsion, etc.) aside. This message may very well save your life. If you live in a major city, get out. If you don't own a gun, buy one. Follow all the laws. Learn how to shoot it. PRACTICE. Remember that a gun is only a TOOL. It shouldn't scare you any more than a pair of scissors or a steak knife. If you have small children, take necessary steps to ensure that the g ...

Jul 19, 2017
I am so disappointed no one answered my post on the gab board. We here in Indiana are so anxious to find the man who murdered the two young teens in Delphi, Indiana. I simply wanted people to e-mail the link or put it on their Facebook page in as many states as possible since by now five months later, he probably is not in Indiana. We are praying for some end to this awful tragedy for the families. ...

Sep 22, 2012
Is this staged or for real? Only time will tell. At least four people were killed and dozens of others were injured when militiamen opened fire as they defended one of the bases. Looters carried weapons out of the vacated Ansar al-Sharia military base compound, which has been linked to the attack on the US consulate last week. The US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died in the attack. Ansar al-Sharia has denied any involvement. The action against the group appeared to be part ...

Aug 19, 2013
War on the Core By BILL KELLER Published: August 18, 2013 9 Comments FACEBOOK TWITTER GOOGLE+ SAVE E-MAIL SHARE PRINT SINGLE PAGE REPRINTS I respect, really I do, the efforts by political scientists and pundits to make sense of the current Republican Party. There is intellectual virtue in the search for historical antecedents and philosophical underpinnings. Enlarge This Image Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Bill Keller Go to Colum ...

Oct 13, 2014
200 rounds of golf!! -- his 200th game being played after announcing the diagnosis of Ebola in a healthcare worker in Dallas. You go, Skippy! Show 'em how it's done. ...

Jan 06, 2017
www.youtube.com/watch?v=95HMg1l13EM ...

Jan 05, 2010
This is a wake-up call to anyone currently in the Medical Transcription profession and to anyone who is thinking about going to school to become a Medical Transcriptionist. If you do not at least read this and consider it, you will have no one but yourself to blame when in 2011 you are in a worse situation than you are in today. Do you have your head in the sand, or are you making wise choices regarding your profession? Read the following and you can then make an informed concl ...

Nov 18, 2016
Perhaps the most startling discovery of the WikiLeaks dumps so far didn't come from the most recent emails surrounding the various Hillary scandals, though there are many great ones, but from 2008 when John Podesta served as co-chair of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The email came from Michael Froman, a former Citibank executive, who single-handedly built the entire cabinet of what was supposed to be the "main street" President. Just remember this when the MSM ...

Jun 25, 2010
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/colbert-rips-glenn-beck-f_n_623906.html ...