Ten tips to evaluate the presidential debate

September 27, 2:02 PMPolitical Issues ExaminerJudah Freed

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The first presidential debate is over, and now all the pundits step forward to tell you who won. I'll give you my opinion later, yet this column is mainly to give you ten tips to evaluate the debate for yourself. Please don't let a bunch of "experts" tell you how to think. Your vote belongs to you and you alone.


TEN TIPS TO EVALUATE THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

1. View the Video and Read the Transcript For Themes
2. Prepare a Debate Scorecard
3. Watch the Debate with the Transcript
4. Look for Logical Fallacies
5. Look for Question Avoidance
6. Fact Check for Mistakes or Lies
7. Watch the Nominees' Eye Movements
8. Watch the Nominees' Body Language
9. Record Your Mental & Emotional Responses
10. Tabulate Your Scorecard

1. View the Video and Read the Transcript For Themes

The New York Times published the complete video and transcript (click here). The Kansas City Star published the transcript prepared by the Asociated Press (click here), The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) released an M3 of the full debate (click here). Please note that the transcipts do not contain the "umms" and "ahhs" in speech as the nominees thought about what to say next.

The complete transcript will take about one hour to read, which is time well spent, in my view. I say this based on the transcript being slightly more than 16,000 words and the average reading speed being 250 words per minute, which comes out to slightly more than 60 minutes. Your speed may vary.

As you listen, write on a piece of paper the main themes being discussed. Use a separate piece of paper for each nominee. The questioned asked by PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer will provide most of these themes, yet watch for themes the candidates introduce on their own, such as McCain talking about his Vietnam war experience or Obama talking about his opposition to the Iraq war.

I suggest writing down the themes in as few words as possible, perhaps a couple words or a phrase, one theme per line, with open space between the lines. List these on the left side of the paper, leaving open space to the right of each theme (and below it) for adding notes.

If you want some help identifying the themes, AP published a fairly neutral report by Christopher Wills with Beth Fouhy  that provides a good summary of the main points in the debate (click here).

2. Prepare a Debate Scorecard

On a separate sheet of paper,  draw two vertical lines to divide the page into three equal columns, then draw a horizontal line close to top,above which you can write the title for each column

In the first column will be the title of "Scoring Criteria." In that column, write a list of your scoring criteria, one criteria per line.

You need to decide what criteria matters to you, My list includes such criteria as logical statements, illogical statements, answered questions, avoided questions, effective attacks, ineffective attacks, effective defenses, ineffective defenses, emotional steadiness, emotional outbursts, eye movement congruity, body language congruity, etc. I do suggest, though, that you include at least these six criteria: Effective theme statements, ineffective theme statements, my positive mental responses, my negative mental responses, my positive emotional responses, my negative emotional responses.

At the top of the remaining two columns, put the names of "Barack Obama" and "John McCain" in whichever order you prefer. When you have done this, you are ready to begin scoring the debate, which can do from both the transcript and the and video recording.

3. Watch the Debate with the Transcript

After you have read the transcript, watch the debate with your transcript in hand. This will let you spot any mistakes in the transcript itself, and it will provide a guide for viewing. 

Naturally, you cannot look at the transcript and the nominees at the same time.  So feel free to click the pause button when ever you wish. You also can go back and replay any section you wish.

4. Look for Logical Fallacies

Be on the look out mistakes in reasoning by both nominees. There are numerous types of fallacies, which you can find at The Nizkor Project and LogicalFallices.info among other sites on the Web, for example:

* The "ad hominem" fallacy of a personal attack that avoids the issue at hand.

* The "genetic" fallacies ignore the evidence for an argument but attacks the character of the person making the argument

* The "bandwagon" fallacy  appeals to the growing popularity of a position as evidence of its validity.

* The "red herring" fallacy, often used in debates, diverts the argument from the main point to a related matter that's really a separate topic, thereby avoiding the core issue.

* The "straw man" fallacy ignores a person's real position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position, which is then knocked down (as easily as knocking down a straw man) with the pretense that the person's real position has been knocked down.

Please develop the critical thinking skills to recognize all types of logical fallacies. This is the absolutely best thing you can do to protect yourself from being deceived by anyone.

5. Look for Question Avoidance

A standard technique taught in media training for politicians is to sidestep questions you do not wish to answer and instead focus on your talking points. If I ask you about U.S. relations with Russia and you reply that you can see Russia from your front porch, or you instead talk about drilling for petroleum in ANWR, that's question avoidance.

6. Fact Check for Mistakes or Lies

If you wonder if any statement by either nominee is accurate, do some fact checking online or from any reliable sources available to you.

A good examples was the section of the debate when McCain and Obama disagreed over the position of Henry Kissinger on direct talks with the leader of Iran without any preconditions. Obama said Kissinger was for it and McCain said Kissinger was against it. In fact, Kissinger is in favor of direct talks with the Iranian leadership without any preconditions, but this should start with second tier leaders not with the presidents of the two countries. So, both McCain and Obama were half right and half-wrong.

Both the Democrat and Republican parties have "fact check" sections on their website, but I would not count on these to be objective. You certainly won't find at either website any admissions of false or misleading statements by their own nominee. Reporting on the opposition can be insightful, though.

I suggest going to the following independent sources: Annenberg's FactCheck.org, The Washington Post Fact Checker Blog, St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly PolitiFact.com, and the public fact-checking website, Spot.us.

If you wish to check the reporting by the media itself, progressives trust Media Matters for accuracy, and conservatives rely on NewsBusters.

7. Watch the Nominees' Eye Movements

I highly encourage you to learn the basic eye movement cues in the lexicon of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). When as person is asked a question, for example, you can tell a lot about what's happening inside the person's mind by the person's eye movements. You are looking for congruity, that is, when they eyes and the mouth are expressing the same things.

According to an article NLP expert Robert Dilts, here are the seven basic cues:
* Eyes Up and Left: remembered imagery [e.g., remembering the facts].
* Eyes Up and Right: constructed imagery and visual fantasy [e.g., creating a lie].
* Eyes Lateral Left: remembered sounds, words, and "tape loops" (non-dominant hemsiphere).
* Eyes Lateral Right: remembered sounds and words and "tape loops" (dominant hemisphere).
* Eyes Down and Left: Internal dialogue, or inner self-talk.
* Eyes Down and Right: Feelings, both tactile and visceral.
* Eyes Straight Ahead but Defocused or Dilated: Quick access to sensory information, usually visual [e.g., telling the truth]

Other useful links include an article at Kenesic.com and a video at YouTube with links to related videos.

8. Watch the Nominees' Body Language

You also can learn a lot about the nominee's emotional state by his body language. Does he cross his arms or put a hand in his pocket? Does he gesture with his hand open or balled into a fist? Are his shoulders relaxed or hunched around his neck. Are his hands relaxed or fidgeting? Is he smiling naturally or forcing a smile?

Body language provide valuable information for those paying attention. You are looking for congruity, that is, when they body and the mouth are expressing the same things.

You can find useful articles on body language at ChangingMinds.org, Blifaloo.com, S.P.A.R.K., and even Wikipedia, among other online sources.

9. Record Your Mental & Emotional Responses

Your own mental responses can be quite telling. Make on a note on your scorecard of each time you agree or disagree with a statement by each nominee. Make a note of each time you say to yourself, "That makes sense," and each time you say to yourself, "That's nonsense."

Do keep in mind, however, that your mental responses always will reflect your values, your beliefs, your bias, your prejudices. Are you reacting positively or negatively to everything Obama or McCain is saying because he's a Democrat or a Republican, because he's black or he's white?

If you can honestly admit to yourself that you are not seeing or hearing the nominee objectively, if you would praise on and criticize the other no matter what he said,  I suggest that you still record your responses in the scoresheet, but when it comes time to tabulate your score, you count these points at only half value to offset your bias.

Further, everything I've suggested for scoring your mental responses also applies to your emotional responses. 

Make on a note on your scorecard of each time you feel happy, sad, angry,or afraid because of a statement or body movement by each nominee. You might even put these four emotional categories (glad, sad, mad, afraid) your scoreseeet.

Do keep in mind, however, that your emotional responses always will reflect your values, your beliefs, your bias, your prejudices. If you can honestly admit to yourself that your emotional responses are based on your own inner programming rather than a natural response to the candidate himself,  I suggest that you still record your responses in the scoresheet, but when it comes time to tabulate your score, you count these points at only half value to offset your bias.

10. Tabulate Your Scorecard

A you read through the transcript and watch the video, put a hash mark next to each criteria and under each nominee's name, as appropriate. If you both read and watch, make sure you do not duplicate yourself in scoring the same element twice, for that would throw off your results.

When you have completed scoring the full debate, tally the total number of points for each nominee for each criteria.  However, do not total all the points together for each nominee. Instead. add together all the points for the positive criteria and then separately add together all the points for the negative criteria.

At the bottom of each nominee column write the total number of positive points and the total number of negative points. Next, subtract the negative points from the positive points to for each nominee to get a net score for that nominee.

Now compare your results. Which nominee had more positive points and which had more negative points? Which candidate had a higher net score?

The candidate with the highest net score, based on your personal criteria, won the debate in your eyes. However, since other may have different criteria, your result is only valid for you. That just fine, though, since you are only responsible for deciding your own vote on election day.

My Debate Score Results:

I do not want my scoring of the debate to shape yours.  However,  you have a right to know my results.

I chose to divide the debate into two sections, the financial crisis and foreign policy. When my points were tabulated, Obama was the winner on the economic crisis by a substantial margin, and McCain was the winner on foreign policy by a narrow margin. When all the points for both sections of the debate were combined, Obama came out slightly ahead. By the political calculus of some pundits I've heard since the debate, the mere fact that Obama held his own on foreign policy means he won the debate.

That's as much as I'm going to say about my results. Going into the specific details on my scoring would influence your own scoring unduly. Please score the debate for yourself as objectively as you can and see what you get.

Post your Scorecard Results in the Comments Below.

Once you have completed your scoring, please report your results in the comments below.  Please do not post any raw opinions about the nominees below but save those for other columns.  Please only post here your scorecard results along with some information on the elements your scored.  This approach will be the most useful to your fellow readers.

NOTE: Any general rants for or against either candidate (even rants by David Letterman) belong under another pasting, not this one. Are we agreed to heed this guideline for this page only? I'm going to be on retreat for the rest of Saturday and Sunday, so you are on the honor system here. When i return sunday night, I will delete any non-debate postings in this page that are not relevant to the discussion. I'm trusting each of you, meanwhile to respect this simple boundary for the sake of your fellow readers. Thanks!  

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