Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(November 2004)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
The
So-called Presidential Debates.
There were three debates. That is if you can call these
occasions to be debates.
 There are 32 pages of negotiated rules of engagement
covering and governing everything from the personal conduct
of the contestants to a constantly regulated room temperature
of 70°F with a humidity not to exceed 50% within
the auditorium, and a "memorandum of understanding",
which was required to be was signed, sealed, and delivered
prior to the event.
Unbelievable - but there again what does one expect when a bunch of lawyers
get together to set up a meeting between two political contestants. Long gone
are the blunt, face-to-face, anything goes debates of yesteryear.
I wont try
to stifle your amusement or contain your overwhelming disbelief when I describe
"briefly" the childishness of some of the rules of engagement.
 The rules cover everything from the height of the auditorium
ceiling, (to be at least 35 feet), and the size of each
lectern which has to measure 50 inches from the floor
to the top edge which faces the audience, and 48 inches
from the floor to the top of the inside writing surface,
and of course a main point being as to how the candidates
are to be photographed.
Here is an opening example as to how immature and childish
the rules get - and believe me I’ve only just started.
Prior to taking their seats at the individual podiums the two men are to shake
hands - wow. It gets worse as we go along.
No roaming, crossing over to the
other person’s
position or getting any closer to their rival than ten
feet - my God this is worse than physical combat under
the Marquis of Queensbury rules.
No props of any sort, such as risers, (which I assume to be elevated shoes),
used to create a height advantage. No interrupting or asking questions of their
opponent.
Hey I’m not making this stuff up - this is for real - and these are just
some of the rules.
 After an off-camera coin toss, (monitored by representatives
from both camps), will allow the winner of the coin toss
to field the first question from the moderator and he
then has two minutes to provide his answer to the question.
This is immediately followed by an answer to the same question by his opponent
who has ninety seconds to put forward his views. I understand that each candidate
had been generously provided with sample questions prior to the event!!!
Each candidate will be asked at least sixteen questions during the ninety-minute
encounter, and each will be allowed a two-minute closing statement. To ensure
candidate timing control there is a complex lighting system worthy of the
London Underground signals that control the trains.
These trivialities go on and on - -but enough is enough as surely this is
an insult to anyone’s intelligence, even an American politician would,
or perhaps should, surely agree with that statement.
 Just imagine either of these two contestants facing
up to a loud, boisterous, and on most occasions somewhat
irreverent interchange of words during a "Question
Time" debating session in the House of Commons - I’m sure
that either of the contestants wouldn’t stand a chance under such
conditions. Of course they wouldn’t stand a chance either in a House
of Lords debate, with its genteel and highly educated intelligent repartee
as I’m sure
that they would be lost for words - what I mean is that they, (Mr. Bush
and Mr. Kerry), would be at a loss to understand the words of wisdom that
they were being subjected to.
I won’t go into the detailed contents of the
three debates, (four if you count the Vice-Presidential
debate), as they are mainly concerned with the usual
subject matter such as: The lack of - and the cost of
- healthcare benefits, the lack of technical and other
higher paying jobs brought about by the out-sourcing
of such jobs to foreign countries, the American economic
disaster with its continuously increasing enormous National
Debt, the daily increase of violence and anarchy in Iraq
that followed the winning of the war against Iraq - and
more importantly the lack of finding any solution to
that problem, the worldwide proliferation of nuclear
weapons, the lack of United States manufacturers control
of the generation of pollutants and gases which increase
the global warming greenhouse environmental situation.
(Ie: America’s
refusal to sign the Kyoto environmental agreement).
-
The first debate between President Bush and Senator
Kerry was held at the University of Miami, Coral
Gables, Florida, on Thursday the 30 th of September
2004 with Jim Lehrer of PBS as the moderator.
-
The second debate between President Bush and Senator
Kerry was held at Washington University,
St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday the 8 th of October
2004, with Charles Gibson of ABC News as moderator.
-
The third debate brought up a re-match between President
Bush and Senator Kerry and was held at Arizona State
University, Tempi, Arizona, on Wednesday the 13 th
of October 2004, with Bob Schieffer of CBS News as
moderator.
-
The debate between Vice-President Cheney and contender
John Edwards was held at Case Western University, Cleveland,
Ohio, on Tuesday the 5 th of October 2004, with Gwen
Ifill of PBS as moderator.
Vice President Cheney’s impressive resume and greater political experience
gave him a slight edge over his less experienced contender, but John Edwards
gave as good as he got, and some, so I would record it as a highly contested
draw.
The following pages are my observations, conclusions,
comments, and my estimated results of the three Presidential
debates.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
|
