Debate! Debait!

What's All This Then? is an interesting blog entry about the upcoming Presidential Candidate Debates. I won't be going to those, since I won't sign a Bush Loyalty Oath.

While in high school (when pterodactyls roamed the Earth) I was a member of the Debate Team, and I was given a rude awakening as to what REAL debate is all about. In effect, you are given a topic for the year, and then research it until you're blue in the face.

Example topic:
"Resolved: the war in Iraq was a huge mistake, and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks."

You then develop arguments for and against everything related to that topic (bonus points if you develop an issue for which the opponent is unprepared). When time comes for the actual debate, you put your mouth into warp drive and (using 4x6 inch index cards) try to spew as many points as possible in your alloted time, at which point the opponent counters your arguments and adds new ones of their own. You get points for everything. At the end, a winner is declared and you go home for a week. It's intellectually stimulating and highly recommended.

These so-called Presidential Debates (the first is Thursday night) are so watered down as to be nearly useless. All you can hope to do is keep Your Guy from looking like an idiot. Set low expectations with the media, then claim Your Guy won, regardless of what was said. It's pathetic.

I'm gonna try to attend one of the Frost-Sessions debates for the TX-32 Congressional seat. I still find both campaign signs insightful: Frost signs give his name and website address, not much more; the Sessions signs say "Re-Elect / Sessions / Republican" when in fact he has MUCH less experience on Austin's Capital Hill and BOTH are (technically) up for re-election (the GOP gerrymandering of early 2004 resulted in both running for a single patch of turf).

Sorta-kinda related:

Dilbert.com - DNRC: "A strong leader is expected to maintain steadfast resolve in his opinion even if the environment changes or he gets new information. In any other context, that would be considered the first sign of a brain tumor. When presidents do it, it's called leadership, and frankly, we can't get enough of it.

Tip: Place your houseplants in front of the television during the next presidential debate and watch how leafy they get. "

Meanwhile (unrelated), I've been reading about Red Mercury .. hmmm. Where's cold fusion, and black holes, when you need them?