Last night's debate
Watching the presidential debates last night was only made tolerable by participating in The Uptake's
live blog. I also tried to follow on Twitter, but the constant stream of messages just gave me vertigo. I don't think I'm up to that kind of multitasking. I love the live microblogging, though, especially as I read comments over at the Uptake that were thoughtful, sharp, funny. I was also interested in reports of audience reactions from people who were blogging from bars and coffee houses.
For me the defining moment came at the very end, with everybody trying to get in front of the camera and Tom Brokaw annoyed because the candidates were blocking the teleprompter:
Having taught rhetoric and debate for many years, I have very low expectations of what they call "debate" in a presidential election. Brokaw kept scolding both Obama and McCain for not staying within time limits, but it just reminded me he could've scolded them for so many other reasons. Not really answering a lot of the questions, for one. Repeating the same old talking points. All in all, I wasn't very impressed with Brokaw as moderator for the non-debate.