Top Ten Debate Myths
All right, you tailgaters, let's wash down that last bratwurst and head to the stadium. "The Game," Harvard vs. Yale, comes early this year. Al Gore (Harvard '69) and George W. Bush (Yale '68) are actually going to take a few minutes away from Oprah, Regis, MTV and the other lighthearted softball pitchers they've been impressing to go mano-a-mano in the first televised debate.
To prepare for the kickoff, let's try to brush away some of the legends beclouding the reality of presidential debating. Here are the Top Ten Myths of this great American tradition.
Myth 1: It's a great American tradition.
They're not. No presidential candidates debated until 1960. After 1960, Presidents Johnson and Nixon decided they were better off without debates.
Myth 2: Today's debates are conducted in the spirit of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858.
Lincoln and Douglas were running for an Illinois Senate seat. Their meetings were nothing like today's. They debated for three hours on the single topic of slavery without a break and without a moderator to stir things up. Jim Lehrer had not yet been born.
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The truth is many people heard the debate on radio and thought Nixon cleaned up. And many researchers who study the transcripts today regard this debate as a tie on the merits. Nixon lost on television because he looked bedraggled and vaguely sinister. He had a case of the flu, and foolishly declined to shave or use TV make-up.
Myth 4: Debates are about "The Issues."
Debates are about image. (See Myth 3). Gerald Ford lost the key debate against challenger Jimmy Carter - and maybe the election - because he mistakenly said the Soviet Union did not dominate Eastern Europe. The only issue that remark raised was, "Is Jerry Ford as dumb as they say?"
Myth 5: Debating is the key to finding the best man (or woman) for the White House.
In an interview for PBS anchorman Jim Lehrer's show on the history of debates, George Bush the Elder says it's ridiculous to judge a leader's overall ability on his performance in a televised argument. He's probably right. Thinking about presidents of the past and their opponents, let's imagine the debate match-ups:
FDR could not have debated at all on TV because the stupid prejudices of his time would not have permitted him to be seen in a wheelchair or on crutches.
Truan vs. Dewey: Famous as a prosecutor, the super-confident Dewey likely would have beaten Truman, who had a history of gaffes when he was ad-libbing.
Dwight Eisenhower vs. Adlai Stevenson: The articulate, intellectual Stevenson would have trounced Ike, whose sentences rambled into Never-never-land and who had an easily aroused temper.
Myth 6: The contest is restricted to live TV.
What the professional politicians want their candidate to win is the battle of the sound bites, those 15-second quotes that can be easily cut for TV and radio newscasts and newspaper headlines. Voters who didn't bother to watch the debate are often heavily influenced by the coverage in the 24 hours after the debate.
Myth 7: Debates produce great wit.
Ronald Reagan blew away Jimmy Carter with "There you go again." Lloyd Bentsen demolished Dan Quayle with "You're no Jack Kennedy, senator." More clever put-downs are uttered each week on Friends.
Myth 8:. Voters withhold their decision until seeing the debates.
Most voters, the polls tell us, have already made up their minds. The debates won't sway them. Undecided voters have to make up their minds in October - debates or no debates.
Myth 9: Debates are won with words.
Pictures can also win them. When Bush the Elder looked at his wrist watch in 1992, as though the debate was keeping him from something important, it reinforced the image of a patrician removed from the people. That one glance may have beaten him.
Myth 10: Debates are more important than baseball.
We will defer to NBC for the answer to that one.