By Dan Turner
October 22, 2012, 4:30 a.m.
About the best thing that can be said about Monday's presidential debate in Boca Raton, Fla., is that it's the last one. In theory, debates should represent a terrific opportunity for voters to assess the competing arguments and policies of presidential candidates. It's a nice theory, but that's not what we were presented with Tuesday night, nor in the first debate.
What I heard, over and over again, was a lot of barking: One candidate barks out statistics or obscure references to his opponent's record or statements, followed by return barking to the effect that it's all a pack of lies. Sometimes they even bark over each other, such as the embarrassing exchange Tuesday between President Obama and Mitt Romney over whether oil drilling on public lands had increased or decreased during Obama's tenure.
Was anyone edified by this? I doubt it. Republicans came away sure that Romney was telling the truth, Democrats equally certain that Obama was the honest one, and undecided voters were most likely pondering a move to Canada.
Source
About the best thing that can be said about Monday's presidential debate in Boca Raton, Fla., is that it's the last one. In theory, debates should represent a terrific opportunity for voters to assess the competing arguments and policies of presidential candidates. It's a nice theory, but that's not what we were presented with Tuesday night, nor in the first debate.
What I heard, over and over again, was a lot of barking: One candidate barks out statistics or obscure references to his opponent's record or statements, followed by return barking to the effect that it's all a pack of lies. Sometimes they even bark over each other, such as the embarrassing exchange Tuesday between President Obama and Mitt Romney over whether oil drilling on public lands had increased or decreased during Obama's tenure.
Was anyone edified by this? I doubt it. Republicans came away sure that Romney was telling the truth, Democrats equally certain that Obama was the honest one, and undecided voters were most likely pondering a move to Canada.
Source
