Maybe Barack Obama will provide more tax relief to the middle class than will John McCain. Or maybe the vice versa will be true.
Of course, McCain was first to warn about the dangers of Freddie, Fannie and the subprime time bomb. Or was it Obama?
Each seems to make the same claim, so when it comes to debate time I guess it depends who has the last word. It’s who can provide the last counter-punch to say, “Really, it was me.”
My solution is a late-1990s pop culture staple.
Pop-Up Video was a sometimes-insightful, sometimes annoying VH1 program that broadcast music videos along with pop-up bubbles that provided information on the song, artist and lyrics, as well as some odd factoids that could be tied to the song, artist or lyrics. One of my favorites was Alanis Morrisette’s “Ironic”, during which Pop-Up Video pointed out that Morrisette’s lyrics didn’t really point out true irony, but rather simply a series of “bummers.”
I think this is clearly the solution to clearing up the ambiguity in political debates. Yes, we learn a little bit about how the candidates can react under pressure, attempting to handle direct questions and refute the charges from their on-stage rivals. However, too often the audience is — as usual — left to wonder who is in fact telling the truth.
So the answer is Pop-Up Video. Of course, the debates would have to be pre-recorded to allow time for the fact-checkers to get their bubbles ready, but I think I’d be willing to sacrifice live television for the sake of accuracy.
Obama voted to raise taxes how many times?
McCain said what about deregulation?
No more stretching the truth. No more taking things out of context. Let the bubble decide.
2 Comments
October 9, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I love the idea. CNN has been wiring people up and showing what looks like EKG’s across the screen during the debates, which quickly became one of the most annoying things I have ever seen. However, your proposal is much more relevant to the issue at hand. I could care less what alleged uncommitted voters think, but I do care who is stretching or disregarding the truth. The “fact-checking” occurs as fast as possible once the debates are over. I just heard someone in a local race somewhere wants to have themselves and the other candidates all wired to lie-detectors for their debate. Word is the two challengers are all for it but the incumbent is not. That’s a shocker, huh?
October 12, 2008 at 9:32 am
The entire process is flawed; campaign funding, debates, etc. all included. We’ve had Obama pulling in about $1M a day in contributions since the meat of the primary season, and word this week was that McCain and the RNC were set to spend $160M during the final weeks before the election. I bet I’m not the only one who thinks that kind of money could be better spent during times like these.