I’ve watched both the Presidential and the Vice-Presidential debates, but I haven’t had a chance yet to catch the Canadian debates (we’re having an election too, as I mentioned earlier). But if you’re curious, you can start watching here.
I meet a lot of Americans who seem to me to have an absurdly generous view of Canada and all things Canadian (except our weather). For them I’d like to point out that there’s a lot of bluster and nonsense in these debates too. (I’ll concede that there’s no one as silly as Sarah Palin here, but then again, there hasn’t been anyone as silly as Sarah Palin at that level since Dan Quayle.)
Sadly, I’m not able to vote in either election, since I’m not a Yank and Canadian election laws — at least on their current interpretation by Elections Canada — require that you have lived in Canada within the last five years.
Steve Laniel | 04-Oct-08 at 6:29 pm | Permalink
That election-law business is the suck. It’s too bad U.S. and Canadian immigration laws aren’t harmonized, such that the Canadian residency requirement ends right when citizenship in the other nation begins, and likewise for the U.S. side. I guess there’s no reason that either country’s immigration would be that nice, but still. Still.
Kegri | 07-Oct-08 at 10:56 am | Permalink
Stevie H and his haircut for the arts, FTW!
Spaz | 07-Oct-08 at 12:12 pm | Permalink
Plenty of bluster for sure. But, if forced to compare, I actually thought the Canadian moderator’s did a better job of making the candidates answer the question posed and directed follow ups which we really haven’t seen done well on the two US debates. I also liked the Canadian bluster more. W
e heard some great lines like, “there’s no other word for it than fraud” in reference to Stevie H’s global warming plan or “where is your platform? Is it under your sweater?” in reference to why Stevie H has waited until 1 week before election day and 1 week after the debates to announce his party’s election platform. That was some good stuff!
However, the Canadian debate had not a single wink, which I remind you is not the same as a blink.