According to two letter-writers in today's Globe and Mail, the best thing you can do during a debate is be quiet, react as little as possible, and say nothing of substance.
The worst thing you can do is ask questions, point out flaws in your opponent's record and logic, and put forth your own plan. And don't interrupt! That is bad manners, tsk tsk, best not vote for a party with a poorly-mannered leader!
I can only hope these people would be voting Conservative no matter what, and would use whatever they saw in the debates to support their position, which cannot be supported by facts.
As Impudent Strumpet pointed out in comments, this man will "probably" unveil his platform one week before election day, and the day after advance voting ends.
He's a disgrace. If most people's current predictions are right - which I'm not conceding - and we're headed for another Tory minority, then I must hope it's a small, weak minority, a volatile government, the Liberals get themselves a real leader, and Harper II is very short-lived.
4 comments:
So it doesn't actually matter at all what Harper has done (or not done) in the time he has been Prime Minister. What is truly important -- and the sole basis upon which we should cast our votes -- is the image he portrays on national television.
Right. There's also the idea that the opposition leaders are merely "bickering" or "tearing things down". When in reality they are doing their jobs.
Do these people understand or care about democracy at all?
I can only guess that the two letter writers are credit card carrying members of the Conservative Party.
Warren Kinsella made a great reference to Harper being a goalie during the debates. Harper had no chance to score against the other leaders. His only option was to stop all the pucks from coming into the net. By being low-key, he made the debates boring. He made me want to switch the channel to some other shows. Harper was a brilliant tactician during the debates. Chances are that it is unlikely that people will switch their votes to or from the Conservatives because of the debates. There was no "gotcha" moment for or against the Conservatives during the debates.
The other leaders played their roles as required.
I agree that Harper used a good tactic, and probably the only one available to him that would not make him look stupid.
I disagree that the debates were boring. I was riveted. I would have enjoyed another hour of Layton, May, Duceppe and occasionally Dion grilling the Prime Minister.
Re gotcha moments, I think exposing the Conservatives as having no platform except "the Liberals will hurt you" was the overall gotcha.
And finally, re changing votes because of the debate, we'd have to first know how frequently that ever happens. Unless we know that, we can't determine if this debate "scored" for this election more than debates usually do.
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