General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'm curious as to what makes a good debater?
Will you be consider a good debater if you respond to questions with facts?
Are you consider a good debater if you deviate from facts?
Are you also a good debater if you fill your answers with lies?
Is composure part of being a good debater?
What is it that makes a good debater DU?
jorno67
(1,986 posts)Sorry...I couldn't help myself.
demwing
(16,916 posts)mass debating each other.
I hear it's very popular on some college campuses...
renie408
(9,854 posts)mahina
(17,697 posts)Just got it. Master Debater. Silly but funny. Thanks for the giggle.
TheManInTheMac
(985 posts)democrat_patriot
(2,774 posts)For the MSM: Whomever has the best 'zinger' - that will be played ad nauseum.
CrispyQ
(36,509 posts)Appropriate humor doesn't hurt either.
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)ignore the $10,000 bet and view that as something people will say during an election debate where facts are
non existence.
mahina
(17,697 posts)understand your opponent's likely arguments and refute them before they get them out, and don't leave any point unanswered.
It helps if you aren't paralyzed by your own bullshit.
Establish credibility using objectively verifiable resources. Understand different logical fallacies and call them out every time.
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)that is what I got from watching the republican debate, that all the candidate were paralyzed by their own bullshit
that the media accepted it as facts.
I hope we don't get that bullshit from the debate next week.
former9thward
(32,077 posts)So in a debate that can be a difficult standard. The Presidential debates are not debates in any real sense. They are not allowed to ask each other questions. They are two press conferences going on side by side.
ksoze
(2,068 posts)renie408
(9,854 posts)The goal of debate is to sway the audience to your argument. A good debater is one who can quickly identify the weakness in their opponent's argument and exploit it for their own benefit.
but watching all the noise being created by the hyping of Romney and watching his debate performance during the
republican primary, I can't help but think what were they watching?
I'm I the only one that saw something else.
auburngrad82
(5,029 posts)Without an imagination, what's the point.
Oh wait. I misunderstood the debater part. Nevermind.
ksoze
(2,068 posts)Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)that should be the idea, from what I'm seeing I'm thinking that, firm grasp of the subject does not matter when it
comes to the republicans. Truth is, they DO NOT have facts going for them, so they use every trick in the book
to ensure distortion, they saturate convoluted correspondence backed up by disingenuous pundits to ensure
confusion.
It's another way of lowering the bar so much that the electorate is left thinking that a mediocre performance can
be seen as a masterpiece.
siligut
(12,272 posts). . . of when he's being persecuted." Only true for Willard, at least according to munchybotaz on the Recovery From Mormonism board.
Read a few more insights into Willard's magic debating powers here:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,653693
If you ask me, I think Romney can clinch a debate win if he simply shouts out, "Now is the great day of my power!"
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2012 10:52AM by steve benson.
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Posted by: rise ( )
Date: September 27, 2012 11:16PM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
If you mean lie incessantly, then yes, it shall
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Posted by: Leah ( )
Date: September 27, 2012 11:19PM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
I'm not the first one to bring this up -
But how can Romney swear to serve our country as president when he has already sworn in the temple to build up the Mormon kingdom?
This would be a crazy situation because of the secret temple oaths and the cult's demands for OBEDIENCE to morg leaders.
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Posted by: ozpoof ( )
Date: September 27, 2012 11:27PM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
No. Mormons lie too much to be able to stay consistent.
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Posted by: munchybotaz ( )
Date: September 27, 2012 11:29PM
Yes
Being Mormon, MITT has the ability to hear Satan telling his opponent what to say and a finely tuned sense of when he's being persecuted (i.e., most of the time). These attributes will help him look ridiculous.
And, because his belief in his latter-day-born American Mormon eliteness is so deeply ingrained, he'll appear confident while doing it.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2012 11:38PM by munchybotaz.
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Posted by: dk ( )
Date: September 27, 2012 11:37PM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
It would only help if everything he says is scripted and he doesn't have to think on his feet.
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Posted by: archytas ( )
Date: September 27, 2012 11:38PM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
No!
As one who has debated with mormon missionaries, I can tell you that going off script can shut down their discussions fairly easily.
If mittens does well, it will be thanks to his Ivy League education with no thanks to the morg.
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Posted by: blueorchid ( )
Date: September 28, 2012 12:18AM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
Mitt has that special Apostle ability to 'know' that if it comes out of his own mouth it is true.
It starts young. You give your testimony with mom whispering in your ear. You are rewarded for saying what she said. You did it. You spoke the truth!
You stand for the first time as a youth and fervently bear the testimony that you have been taught. You believe that you believe it. You see that everyone is thrilled that you know the truth.
You go on your mission and you believe what you are saying. Not because it makes sense. Not because it has fact. You believe it because you are a member of the one true church and it is coming out of your mouth.
That is where I was up until close to the end.
Now consider Mitt in that same circumstance. Add to that the rich golden boy status that was his. Handsome son of the rich and the elite.
Anyone listening to him wanted to be part of that. Whatever he did, whatever he said, people wanted some. It didn't have to have substance. It just had to come out of his mouth. He came to believe his own publicity, the brainwashing was complete. He has achieved the highest degree of glory, he is God' elite.
That surety is attractive in an apostle with a rapt mormon audience. That surety was attractive for Mitt with a rapt mormon audience. It has given him the confidence to look presidential, but has it given him anything besides the look?
In the debate, the audience will not be rapt. They will be looking for fact. They will be looking for substance. Even the republicans are not rapt anymore.
This time when he speaks he may be the only person in the hall who believes what comes out of his mouth.
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Posted by: breatheagain ( )
Date: September 28, 2012 11:02AM
Re: Will Mitt Romney's training as a Mormon help him in the upcoming debates--and, if so, how? (Keep it churchy, folks).
I agree, the I know this is true, even if it's only true somewhere in that imaginary universe that they've made up. It's a powerful statement, even if it premises a lie.
I can just hear him. 'I know Heavenly Father has called me as a bishop, stake president and now president to raise up a nation to him.' 'I know everything I've ever done or said has prepared me for this calling as president of the united states', 'I know I will win this election because Joseph Smith said so.'
Scary thing is I know he thinks all that is reality
I also understand that many sister Mormons are fasting for Mitt, to help him combat and prevail over President Obama's many lies.
deaniac21
(6,747 posts)master debater?
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 28, 2012, 03:28 PM - Edit history (1)
it doesn't matter, the question is what qualify someone as an excellent debater?
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)SDjack
(1,448 posts)if he is just an empty suit.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)and their corporate media puppets are trying to push the meme of "low expectations" in regards to Romney's participation in the upcoming debates.
They know they're on the wrong side of too many issues and thus are are trying to put focus on anything but the substance of the debates.
They hope and probably with good reason that much of the corporate media will give Romney credit or a passing grade if he doesn't drool on the podium or expel a loud fart.
Thanks for the thread, Hutzpa.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I would imagine a thorough knowledge of the relevant material, staying within the relevant parameters of the topic, and a rigorous avoidance of logical fallacies. Everything else is fluff.
(and an ability to avoid allowing oneself to get angry or frustrated with others when they themselves fail to achieve the above).
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)one of the characteristics imo that makes a good/master debater is the ability to stay calm and to the point even when your opponent is trying to throw off or get under your skin. I can see Romney trying that with the president.