2008 Woodie Awards
Students Convene for Presidential Debates
Town Hall Discussion and Television Broadcast in Schimmel
Neelofer Qadir
Issue date: 10/7/04 Section: News
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According to Kolluri, one of the purposes of this event was to look for the media coverage of the debate and to find if it was framed a certain way. "Instead of the debates getting coverage on the issues, the media ends up discussing the stylistic quality of the candidates- what color tie they wore or whether or not they were sweating."
Both Malone and Kolluri stated, "This is the most important debate in presidential history."
Linda Pollack, founder of the My Daily Constitution project, said, "I'm so happy to see a real event like the presidential debate being opened up to students alongside a discussion."
Sophomore, history major Jason Ackerman attributed the ideals of charisma and money as being more important than idealism and real issues as "the beauty or the simplicity of the American voting system."
The debate took place at the University of Miami at Coral Gables, FL with Jim Lehrer moderating a two-minute response, ninety-second rebuttal, one-minute debate at moderator's discretion, and two-minute closing statements for each candidate. Both the first question and the closing statements were determined by a coin toss.
Kerry started out with expressing his and Bush's mutual love for the country but with a different set of convictions. "I believe America will be strongest and safest when we have strong alliances. President Bush shattered those alliances." Kerry spoke of his plan to strengthen military forces, build intelligence, rebuild alliances and reach out to the Muslim world.
President Bush rebutted, "9/11 has changed the way we view the world. We are pursuing al-Qaeda and those who harbor terrorists are just as guilty as the terrorists. After 9/11, we take terrorists threats seriously. We must always be on the offensive." He spoke of Libya's disbarment in lieu of what has happened in Iraq.