October 6. 2008 - PPM - Debatable Importance

This week's PET PEEVE MONDAY (PPM) is about DEBATES.

I wrote an OP-Ed piece for the local paper that was published last Thursday, the day of the VP Debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

My main point was that debates are over rated and over analyzed. They are an useless tool for measuring the aptitude of a candidate’s ability to be an effective leader.

Additionally, because of Gwen Ifill’s conflict of interest, moderators, newscasters, and pundits should be required to state their political affiliation, past voting record, and to whom they support in the current race, before “reporting” the news.

Because of all the last minute coverage afforded to Ifill’s extracurricular activities, I think Ifill played it straight down the middle. It’s a shame that Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric could not.

Below is my editorial submission. To read the full text of the article, click on this link.

The headline provided by the newspaper, does not reflect the message of the Op-Ed piece. They buried the lead, I did not. (Sounds like a future PEEVE).

At any rate, it’s a shame that a large portion of our short attention span society would weight their vote on a insignificant event like a televised debate.