October 18th, 2012
Debatest Show on Earth
After the near 3-ring circus performance of the Presidential debate combatants, the Official Debate Commission is burning the midnight oil to determine how to restructure the format and ground rules to make the sessions moderately watchable. Some citizens who sat in the studio audience of the recent debate suggested that the organizers start selling peanuts and marshmallows to audience spectators of this zoo, so they could toss them at the barking penguins on stage. Penguin lovers objected to that characterization.
The debate modulators have been criticized for being totally inept nincompoops, applying second-grade level facilitation performance in stumbling their way through the hour and a half. But both have responded that, in their defense, the 2 participants were not listening, were not behaving, were not showing a modicon of respect. The modulators admitted, however, that they had forgotten that these guys were professional politicians, genetically unable to listen, behave, or show respect…and probably could not even read a clock, to boot.
Improvement suggestions for the last debate have included putting up red flags, trap doors, or electro-shocks to stop the mad debaters from running over their prescribed time limits. One person suggested just shutting off their microphones in mid-blabbermouth when the clock read 0:00, and let them just mime the rest. But both teams have objected to anything that quashes the ability for the candidate to finish making his lumbering freight train of thought. One spokesman likened it to stopping a certain bodily function before full completion, an analogy which seemed to turn the stomachs of all reporters in ear range.
Another concern is the need to address the spews of obnoxious lies each candidate has told on each other. TV networks had tried using a reporter to detect lies and point out real facts, but it turned out that these people were lying too. Competing networks then tried to fact-check the reporters’ lies, but it turned out they were lying just as badly. One Nobel prize winning journalist finally suggested that voters should just forget about truth, facts, policy concepts, or promises, and just focus on the quality of their neckties to decide how to vote in the election. “You can’t lie about tie quality,” he said. “It is what it is. All the spinning in the world cannot cover up an ugly tie.”
A growing fear is the chance that there could be physical interaction between contestants as they heat up. The idea of installing a plexiglas wall between them had been considered, but was rejected as being a bit un-cool. A final idea, initially rejected by both camps but later grudgingly accepted, was to have a 3rd grade teacher sit down with them one hour before the match, and teach/scold them on behaving themselves. Mrs. Farkright of Belfwood Elementary agreed to do it, and promised to have a yardstick handy in case it was needed.
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