I wish this year’s televised political debates would spend more time showing the faces of those candidates not answering the questions. Did you catch some of those faces Perry was making when other people were talking? Remember when the cameras caught Bush checking his watch during his debate with Clinton and Perot? Or Gore sighing impatiently while Bush was talking? Often the story is off-camera, although of course if they show it, then it’s not off-camera …
Maybe they need an off-camera camera showing off-camera shots of all the debaters. It would certainly curtain some of the nose picking and crotch scratching.
It’s a good point, and I agree, Pied, but I have to note that we have come a long way since a sweaty Nixon with a 5 o’clock shadow faced a youthful JFK before the cameras, have we not? I think the debates are an outstanding way for the electorate to see who can think on their feet and under pressure, and be articulate at the same time. Perry’s blurt about SS being a Ponzi scheme is a good example.
I love the debates. I’d just like to see more shots of the candidates who aren’t speaking. Some of Perry, for example, have been pretty revealing — indifference, incomprehension, disdain. There’s much more there for us to learn from than just the candidates’ answers (or non-answers, as the case may be).