Are television debates in Presidential campaigns informative or just entertaining?

entertainment

More entertainment than information. As someone once said, politics is show business for the untalented and unattractive.

For me, it’s informative. Informative of how ridiculous politicians are. And it’s by no means entertainment.

At most you can say entertaining. They are so heavily scripted and choreographed that very little of substance is ever derived from them.

It is a TV show. That’s all.

Televised political debates have degenerated into a reality show, much like “American Ninja Warrior”, “America’s Got Talent”, or “The Apprentice”, only the prize is much more serious. It’s “info-tainment, with a considerable shortage of the “info”. To be sure, like the many other “reality” contests, there is a certain amount of talent or skill involved, but in the end it’s no more than a popularity contest, with the scripts written by the contestants, or their support staff.

The unfortunate aspect of it, IMHO, is the fact that the ultimate prize is the Presidency of the United States.

@Yetanotheruser That was my reaction after hearing the clip. Sure it’s fun to watch someone being a bully or a drama queen but is that what you want for President.

@janbb True or do you really want your country run like a business where the bottom line is all that matters and the workers (in this analogy, the people) are only a means of increasing the take for the stockholders.
If we go this route, how long before all the assets are transferred to private accounts in the Cayman Island and all government workers are laid off and their jobs transferred overseas where they can be done for less money?

Mostly entertainment, however they give a glimpse into the minds of the participants. How they handle conflict. Their ability to think on their feet. Skill at deception. I still would prefer an overview of all the selections and what they stand for. Like a standard survey so we can see the actual man we are voting for, rather than against another.

Neither. At this point, they’re an utter waste of time. I plan to watch a baseball game tonight.

I’m with @Yetanotheruser on the ‘info-tainment’.

NPR should host a debate, broadcast on radio only.
It would also be fun to have a written exam, where the candidates have to personally explain their positions on paper given a limited amount of time. Like a college exam.

A presidential “Family Feud” pitting the Republican candidates against the Democratic candidates would be informative. Is there a candidate on either side that can play well with others?

I like watching the debates and find them more informative than entertaining. For the most part they are pretty boring but there are times you see and hear things from a candidate not heard or seen before.

Take the first debate between Romney and Obama. Romeny came out strong and articulate…something I had not seen of him out on the campaign trail. Obama was like a deer in headlights and stumbled and fumbled again something I had not seen on the campaign trail probably because Obama did not have the aid of a teleprompter. The next debate was just the opposite and Romney clearly lost a lot of ground with his sub par performance.

Tonight I will be watching to see if any one of the establishment pols can step up and show me something that I have not seen as all of them are reciting party line rhetoric I am pretty tired of. Then I am really looking forward to seeing Carly speaking up on the big stage and I expect a stand out performance from her.

And if Trump screws up an answer or says something truly idiotic and shrugs his shoulders again and says “so what….I am just an entertainer” I will change the channel.

When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I became interested in politics for the first time during a federal election. I watched the televised leadership debate intensely, making notes and carefully examining who had best answered the questions. At the end, I knew that one of the candidates had clearly blown all the other candidates out of the water by answering succinctly and logically, countering every counter-point, and addressing every issue without obfuscation.

Imagine my surprise when the media declared universally that this person, Ed Broadbent, had clearly lost the debate. All they talked about was how boring he was and had no charisma. The media praised the way the other candidates moved their arms excitingly and made stirring speeches which did not in any way address the questions being asked. It was then I started to realize that politics was just another ugly popularity contest, just like happened in the school locker room, and that no one gave a flying fuck about the actual content and accuracy of what people said.

It’s very clear that political debates are nothing but circuses.

Well, for me, being able to hear their voices, hear their comments, hear their inflections and hear passion or lack of passion helps round out the one dimensional stuff you hear on Facebook and other places. However, I pretty much avoid them, until it gets down to the wire.

Neither, in my opinion. They’re a waste of time and proof of how sad and useless our political system is.

They are neither informative nor entertaining.

@majorrich ” I still would prefer an overview of all the selections and what they stand for. Like a standard survey so we can see the actual man we are voting for, rather than against another.”

Project Vote Smart actually has a standard survey to send to pretty much all politicians. They call it (if I recall correctly) the “Political Courage Test”. It’s quite detailed and doesn’t softball the questions. Not surprisingly very few candidates actually have the balls to answer and return it. (If I recall the only presidential candidate to complete it in full and return it to Vote Smart was Jill Stein.)

^^^That should say “the only presidential candidate in 2012”.

Last nights debates started out kind of entertaining, but went on too long and became tiresome.

I think last night’s debate was informative in the sense that I think I have a better idea on who is the stronger candidate. Only one stood out for me and it was Marco Rubio. I like Ben Carson but I believe he lacks the experience he would need to be successful. Fiorino, seems very weak in international policy, along with Trump, and Cruz. Even though I am a Democrat I was hoping the Republican party would have one strong candidate because I would still want a decent President for our country if the Democrats should lose the election.

For me Rubio wasn’t strong enough but I think he is the best the Republican party has to offer. I didn’t hear enough from him to convince me he would do well in foreign policy but I think he is not a hot head that will jump in without thinking before involving us in a war and he gave me the impression of being the most sincere when it came to building our nation for all and not just the privileged few.

Trump was his usual only a little more controlled this time, but his insults fell on deaf ears. And he was extremely vague as usual. I will make the world obey because I am the almight God Money Bags and it will rain money for 40 years, was pretty much the sum of, it with a touch of I will tax the rich heavier, plus I believe everyone is uglier than me.

Huckabee was actually much better composed and may be one of the strongests in foreign affairs. Or at least the smart enough not to come off as his usual hot headed self along with Rand Paul.
I wouldn’t call last night entertaining. It was way to long to find out nothing new really. But I think it at least gave me an idea of who is best prepared. And the questions at least let me believe that the republican party is paying attention to more things than just the past. But that they are realizing that the american people are actually interested in more things than just planned parenthood. They touched on the subject and on immigration but they actually went further and didn’t spend all their time on Trump this time.

Oh, I forgot to add that I didn’t get to finish it because it ran to late and I feel asleep on the couch. So it’s possible there was more and many stupid things were said at closing. But I think none were either ready to share actual ideas and either want to hold onto it until the numbers are narrowed down, or they really don’t have any idea of what they will do and have no strategy. Oh, I forgot Christy, obnoxious and is equal to Trump. As or Bush, I, forgot he was there.

IT’s really just entertaining to see Trump smack down everyone else.. :)