One way to make watching the presidential debate fun would be to play drinking games. The purpose of this game should be to take a shot or a swig every time a candidate does not answer a question, distorts the truth with beat down talking points, or inserts one of the countless media generated stories that have precious little to do with the election.
You might hear questions about Chung Byung-Man, the South Korean who met with Kerry aides and was later revealed to be a spy.
Mention of the forged Killian memos is possible. After all, they were pushed by the same network, CBS, that put his campaign advisor Joe Lockhart in contact with Bill Burkett who just happened to be the source of said documents.
What you should do when you hear these stories, after you take your drink, is to prepare to take another if the whole story is left out or skipped around. For instance, if the South Korean spy is mentioned, you need to drink up if it is not made known that Kerry immediately returned four thousand dollars in donations once the story broke. This should have switched the story to one about Korean manipulation of the race, but hasn’t.
Likewise, although he is prone to exaggeration on Iraq (drink at these moments), Kerry has little reason to be involved with the Killian memos and their piling on against Bush. Most people have decided whether or not Bush served out his time, what that meant and so on. Unless Kerry hints at his bizarre conspiracy theory that Karl Rove created the memos (one shot), this should be a dead issue.
The above are just two examples of stories kept alive for the sake of 24-hour news services and their need for content. Neither have anything to do with the election. Both John Kerry and George Bush have been elected before. While it might be fair game for veterans to call into question Kerry’s or Bush’s service when they somehow claim that it will make them a competent commander in chief, both men’s actions since the Vietnam war paint a more instructive portrait of each.
By the way, if you really want to go at it with our little game, then it would be only appropriate that you drink to every time the moderators grandstand and hypocritically lambaste the candidates for the state of American political discourse. If Bush is asked to denounce the Swiftboat ads and their alleged dishonesty, drink up if Bush or another moderator does not hold up a copy of the New York Times story that read, “Memos on Bush Are False But Accurate, Typist Says.”
You should not get the impression, however, that the candidates don’t deserve part of the blame. From Cheney’s unwillingness to truly back down from his “we will be hit” comments to Kerry’s Chomskyesque assertions that a second term with Bush will lead to the total destruction of the environment, there are countless examples of the distortion game being played.
So, when the debate is over, and you have had no doubt lots to drink, sit back and realize for a moment that, at least for me and many people I talk to, the feeling of dizziness, fatigue and the urge to heave you are going through is how I feel when I watch these things stone cold sober.