Thursday 27 June 2019

Democratic debates, June 2019

I watched the first of the two Democratic Primary debates last night. The first I have ever seen, because this is the first time it's mattered to me. It was interesting to note how different it was to a British political show. Much less hostility from the hosts, much less control of the situation (why the politicians' microphones were powered when their time was up, is beyond me) and much less fair. John Delaney, for example, barely had a chance to speak.

I strongly suggest that the next debates be held such that each politician has exactly the same amount of time to speak, and as soon as they have spoken for more than their fraction of the show is up, their microphone goes off, permanently. Giving more time to leading candidates is unfair - and maintains the status quo.

I will leave the punditry to others, for now, but there were clear winners, and clear losers: Tim Ryan, Jay Inslee, the Hawaiian woman, and Beto O'Rourke appear to be out of the running, as far as I am concerned. I am sorry not to name the Hawaiian lady, but her unfortunate first salvo and her lack of apparent conviction, personality, or policies made me forget her name every time the little caption slid back out of view.

Debate 2

I have not yet managed to watch the second debate, but the discussion around Andrew Yang's <3 minutes of talk time, and his off microphone, bewilder me. He is polling eighth in a field of 20 - he should have been in the top eight of speakers by time, not in the lower quarter.