Debates and Bugs Bunny

I couldn’t watch the debate last night because cable and Internet were still out. So, instead of giving you my take, I give you this guide to who won:

Bugs Bunny always beats Daffy Duck, and the most comfortable person in the room always wins the debate.

This rule originated with Jeff Greenfield, the ex-RFK aide turned commentator. He explained that, while Daffy Duck was always spitting, spluttering and flying off the handle, Bugs strolled along, cool, calm and collected: “Eh, what’s up, Doc?”

The same applies to debates. The candidate who is cool, confident, commanding and in control always wins. See: John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

In Sunday’s Presidential debate, neither candidate was Bugs. Clinton was too uptight. But she won because Trump was so creepy he made you uncomfortable.

Post-debate analysis is flawed because it’s about what candidates said. Nobody cares what they said, unless there was a memorable line or screw-up. Plus, the good line likely came from Bugs and the screw-up from Daffy.

The media does fact-checks, but nobody cares about facts any more. We all have our own set of facts, thank you very much.

Campaigns prepare their post-debate spin before the debates even start. Partisans agree with their candidate. And the undecided voters? They’re not watching; that’s why they’re undecided.

Candidates’ debate prep not only misses the Bugs Bunny Rule, it gives the candidate precisely the wrong kind of prep: a roomful of over-caffeinated twenty-somethings pumping the poor candidate so full of contradictory advice, over-rehearsed answers and complicated information that he or she turns into a robot who can’t listen to the actual question and answer like an actual human being.

Here is another benefit to the Bugs Bunny Rule: You can watch debates with the sound off, which is very good for your blood pressure.

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Gary Pearce

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Debates and Bugs Bunny

I couldn’t watch the debate last night because cable and Internet were still out. So, instead of giving you my take, I give you this guide to who won:

Bugs Bunny always beats Daffy Duck, and the most comfortable person in the room always wins the debate.

This rule originated with Jeff Greenfield, the ex-RFK aide turned commentator. He explained that, while Daffy Duck was always spitting, spluttering and flying off the handle, Bugs strolled along, cool, calm and collected: “Eh, what’s up, Doc?”

The same applies to debates. The candidate who is cool, confident, commanding and in control always wins. See: John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

In Sunday’s Presidential debate, neither candidate was Bugs. Clinton was too uptight. But she won because Trump was so creepy he made you uncomfortable.

Post-debate analysis is flawed because it’s about what candidates said. Nobody cares what they said, unless there was a memorable line or screw-up. Plus, the good line likely came from Bugs and the screw-up from Daffy.

The media does fact-checks, but nobody cares about facts any more. We all have our own set of facts, thank you very much.

Campaigns prepare their post-debate spin before the debates even start. Partisans agree with their candidate. And the undecided voters? They’re not watching; that’s why they’re undecided.

Candidates’ debate prep not only misses the Bugs Bunny Rule, it gives the candidate precisely the wrong kind of prep: a roomful of over-caffeinated twenty-somethings pumping the poor candidate so full of contradictory advice, over-rehearsed answers and complicated information that he or she turns into a robot who can’t listen to the actual question and answer like an actual human being.

Here is another benefit to the Bugs Bunny Rule: You can watch debates with the sound off, which is very good for your blood pressure.

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Gary Pearce

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