"a disciplined and polite defiance of the rules"?

[dumpster_baby]

another interesting editorial that comes close to suggesting/advocating that Kerry needs to break the rules in this first debate. I really do think that he MUST break the rules in the last debate.

/////////////////////////////////////
....
The precautions the Bush camp has taken suggest that its fears in the first debate center on Kerry's prosecutorial experience and debate techniques. James Baker, Bush's chief negotiator, seeks to protect his client's flanks with rules that prevent the two candidates from asking each other direct questions or addressing each other with proposals. And they may not roam, Clinton-style, from their podiums, when the debates move into a town hall setting.

Baker and Karl Rove clearly feel that the first debate will be decisive and in Bush's favor. They gave in without visible pain to Kerry's demand that there be a closing third debate centered on domestic and economic policy. The challenger paid heavily for that safety-net option. He may be able to correct mistakes from rounds one and two in the closer, which will feature job losses and Roe v. Wade. But the GOP is betting that the smaller number of viewers that a third debate historically attracts will have already settled on a candidate. Opening is everything for Rove.

That leaves Kerry with both a dilemma and an opportunity in the first debate. If he displays a disciplined and polite defiance of the rules -- a defiance that communicates that those rules are being used to keep important information and impressions from the viewing audience -- he could acquire in one night the image of boldness and leadership that has escaped him on the campaign trail.

Kerry has to walk a fine line in judging how the public will view "cheating" in those circumstances. Viewers will see red lights come on in a visual reprimand to the debater who goes beyond the tight time constraints contained in the Bush-Kerry memorandum of understanding.

....

//////////////////
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60973-2004Sep29.html