*sigh*

[c9]

Q. "Mr Layton, what do you think about surpluses?"

A. "Well, I'm glad Mr Martin answered my question, because now blah blah blah blah." (he doesn't answer the question. very poor form.)


I like his ideas, but he is not putting on a good show. He's too much of a bulldog. Last year he kept interrupting. This year he's slowly giving detailed answers, but he keeps talking even when his time runs out and the mic turns off. Looks really bad.

Kinda makes me hope that people really are ignoring the debates, like the media suspects.

Update: Shut UP Jack!

Comments

[zedinbed.livejournal.com]

Paul put up a stunning performance tonight especially against Duceppe. Kudos to him for that!

[c9.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

[c9.livejournal.com]

Ed Broadbent won 44 seats for the NDP in 1988. Jack wants everybody to associate their fond memories of him with the current NDP. But you're right, it was repetitive. They were all pretty repetitive.

I wonder if most viewers of the debates only watched some, as opposed to the whole thing? If so, the repetition would be a good thing.

[ex-halfwitte432.livejournal.com]

I too squeezed my balls on the bar of my bicyle when I was ten

*snorT*

[ex-halfwitte432.livejournal.com]

but yes. I only saw about the first hour, and Jack needs to soften it up a bit and not run the intensity *all* the time.

[mightycodking.livejournal.com]

" (he doesn't answer the question. very poor form.)"

He did this in the French debate as well.

To put this in perspective, I think every party's goal in this set of debates was to not fuck anything up before the next set of debates.

If you found either night something other than boring, mission not accomplished :).

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

I feel so badly for Jack. He really believes in what he says, but he sounds so wooden, and his talking points are so practiced, that he comes across as having learned his passion by rote. A week into the campaign I could lip synch word for word what he would say after the first three words were out of his mouth because he always says the same things in the exact same way. They're the right things, but so boring after you've heard them for the 20th time.

The art of public speaking is really lost on this generation of politicians, both Canadian and American. It's a shame, because it used to be that a politician's ability to speak was all that mattered... so what matters now?

[c9.livejournal.com]

Harper can't speak to save his life, and does not hold power. Layton can speak to save his life, but is a little wooden trying not to be the bulldog he was last year, and does not hold power. Duceppe can speak in French, and holds sway in those ridings. Martin can speak English and French, and holds some sway over most ridings (37% pop vote last year).

On the flipside, Chrétien could hardly speak either language and won three majorities. Hmmm.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Duceppe really has command of rhetoric, even in English. He was a wonder to watch in last year's debates, even in English he could pull beautiful tricks on the others and use their own words against them, even as he stumbled over English phraseology (if anything, that made it even more impressive).

Martin is a pretty good public speaker, certainly much better than Harper, who always has that condescending twang in his voice, especially when he's being asked a difficult question. It's so fun to see him get frustrated in interviews!

[c9.livejournal.com]

Harper and Bush have a lot of surface-level similarities, despite their deep differences.

This year's debate format was interesting I thought. Not as boring as advertised. For instance, because the leaders had no foreknowledge of the questions, they couldn't be as slick as normal. This showed up in Duceppe's claim that questions that have already been decided in free votes should not be revisited over and over... referendums, anyone?

But the negative flipside is that they had to revert to talking points too often to protect themselves. Like Shawn said above, it's primarily an exercise in surviving and being completely forgettable.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Sean. Not Shawn.