there is no doubt that debates now matter
conservatives hate the years of duplicity, bias and blindness of the main stream media more than just about anything, and newt took full advantage of that....
people want a fighter and newt growled back and there is a bit of the chip on the shoulder mentality in the s.c. vote...plus of course newt is from a neighboring state
romney has to show himself a fighter who will return the nation to its principles to succeed.
newt has resurrected himself from the oblivious place the media pigeon-holed for him by stepping all over that self-same dastardly media.
The main reason that the entire Democrat Election Machine, (of which most of the major news outlets are lackys to), keep pushing Romney is they are scared shitless of Newt and his debating skills.
In a world where political fortunes are won and lost during a few minutes of Television exposure, the thought of President Obama doing his, 'uh, oww, ahh, ehh" thing when he is sans Teleprompter is terrifying. The thought that the Republican Candidate is the smartest man in the room is something they do not want to be conveyed.
But then Newt said that the President could use his Teleprompter. That adds insult to injury.
I actually agree with the article.
do debates matter? I don't think so, not as long as a member of the news media is hosting the events. They should not be that part of the vetting process.
the media is supposed to be observers, not participants in debates. I've had problems with the idea that a member of the journalist media should emcee or host the debate.
to me that is a conflict of interest, given that they are predisposed to favor one candidate over another with softball questions or hardball questions depending on who that's thrown at.
John King's line of questions and hosting behavior in a recent debate exemplifies this issue.
this thing started with the 1st televised debate with Nixon & Kennedy, and the networks grabbed that mantel of influencing the race and never let go.
Dilbert, you will remeber that after the Nixon-Kennedy debate, the majority of those who listenned to it on the Radio believed Nixon won, and the majority of those that watched it on TV believed Kennedy won.