Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart

[ysabetwordsmith]

Wow. This is so true.

In the debate class I took in high school, this behavior would've gotten a D. At best.

In the various classes I teach, not answering the question(s) asked gets either "Redo this" or a failing grade.

Comments

[jazzerat.livejournal.com]

*laugh* My sister sent me an email joke of the Sara Palin Debate Flow Chart. I had a good chuckle.

I think politicians all take a secret course somewhere on how NOT to answer questions. I still recall asking a few questions myself. I have never had one answer a question yet.

I asked Goldstein when running for office in Oregon (Democrat): Where do you stand on abortion rights? He danced for two solid minutes and never said a thing.

Even more fun, I asked a certain peanut farmer how he had done in his home state primary when I got to chat with him for awhile one day (long story on how that came about). He replied by smattering on about how he as doing well in various primaries, etc, and never once actually stated how he did at home. I walked away assuming he'd bombed there and was flabbergasted to look it up later and find he'd won by an absolute landslide, something like 79%!

I really do think they just get so used to dancing they forget how to stop, even when it would be to their own advantage.

heh

[(Anonymous)]

One of the nice things about being an engineer is that we are allowed to say, "I don't know" in presentations and not worry too much about it. For example, I recently had to give a presentation on a group project by myself. The group had had seven people in it besides myself. As a consequence, there was a lot I just didn't and couldn't know about the work that was not mine. So when I gave the presentation, I headed it up with the following disclaimer, "I will answer your questions as best I can, but please keep in mind that I did not do all of this work and cannot tell you everything," and everyone who was listening accepted that. Very useful.

Re: heh

[jazzerat.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* Can you just imagine POTUS starting his state of the union address with that disclaimer?

Re: heh

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

You're lucky to be working in a field that still thinks that way. At least for now. The people-who-like-money-too-much have been taking over one industry after another, changing modestly profitable industries that produce quality goods/products into hugely profitable industries that produce garbage.

[jl-johnson.livejournal.com]

O.k, I dont' get it. If she did so horribe, why are people saying she held her own against Biden?

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Probably because 1) some people want somebody who is like them, and she did about as well as they would've done; or 2) the people who want a smart, competent Vice President expected her to panic and flail as she's done in several previous events, but she faked better than that this time.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

"I might not answer the questions the way you want me to"

Translation: I can't answer them at all.

Yeah, I wasn't that impressed either.

[rhfay.livejournal.com]

I don't think these so-called debates are even true debates. I don't remember debates being extended campaign ads.

What does this say about the state of politics AND our politicians?

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

They aren't real debates; they're staged recitals.

Politics = auction.

Politicians = unwilling and/or unable to hold their own in a real debate to which they may bring reference cards and which will cover a given topic, but in which any on-topic question is fair game and they only have a rigidly enforced amount of time to answer each question, which will count against them if not answered directly.