Keyes Slams 'Phony' Polls [Calls for ban on political polling]

I didn't mean canned debates. Keyes engages in real debate. Real debate is necessary for sound policy in a democratic republic.

I don't think banning polls is in Keyes' platform. Rather I think it was merely his assessment of their worth. We would be better off without them. Polling uninformed opinion is no way to better inform that opinion. What's needed is more sound opinion.

All modern political debates are canned. Keyes might WANT to participate in real debates, but he'd be an army of one in that. Real debates are a thing of the past, much like real floor votes at a convention, you might get a few at really low levels of government like city councilman, but in the big leagues with live TV coverage it's canned like Libys soup.

It might not be in his platform, but it's what he said should happen. That's part of the problem with Keyes as a candidate, he thinks he still gets to spout off, that is a privilege that is lost to a person once they start a run for office. Every word a candidate utters become part of their political identity.

No we wouldn't be better off without them. Again you're mixing symptom and cause. Polls don't make stupid voters, stupid voters use polls as a crutch, removing a stupid person's brain crutch doesn't make them get smart it just sends them looking for another crutch. We have plenty of sound options, in the modern day of the internet finding out a politician's actual opinions take 2 minutes, just look up candidatesname.com and there you. If people are too lazy to do that, which most are, then they're gonna base their voting habits on whatever quicker thing they can find: polls, looks, easy of spelling the person's name. Doesn't matter. Getting rid of polls won't change a damn thing about people's stupid voting habits, all it'll do is take away a source of information for non-stupid political junkies. That's it, nothing else would be accomplished, except putting another nail in the coffin of the First.

Most people don't want to listen to the debates anyway.

Over reliance on polls and soundbites is a symptom of deeper cultural issues, but that's an effect not a cause.

Agreed. But that doesn't mean we oughtn't fight for real debates which has been one of Keyes' battles for the last several years.

We must try to unstupify the stupid people. It's the lib's and others that want to keep them stupid. Real debates would help some out of their stupor.

(Again, banning polls is not part of any agenda. It seems rather one of those offhand comments for which Keyes is often criticized.)

We have plenty of sound options, in the modern day of the internet finding out a politician's actual opinions take 2 minutes, just look up candidatesname.com and there you.

Here I disagree. It often takes a lot of digging to sound out a candidate's position, to see through the soundbite to the policy. Much of the time the candidate cannot even articulate his own position. I attribute it to lack of education and real debate. A good debate does several things: it raises serious objection to one's own opinion; it helps to reveal what the basis of the opposition is; and it can even cause one to refine his own opinion.

Granted there has been considerable movement toward sound-bite propoganda. However, that doesn't mean we ought not to fight for a return to real debate and forcing candidates to say what their real positions are. The slide toward soundbitism is quite insidious and undermines self-government. The desire on both sides to be elected without really stating anything can only lead to tyranny.

You can fight for real debates, but it's railing against the Chicago wind. The modern age of politics is terrified of the unexpected, it's something to be avoided in every possible minute of the campaign. And the direction Keyes is going in the polls shows why, his campaign is terrible, he's constantly sticking his foot in his mouth, he speaks spontaneously, when giving interviews he allows un-filtered questions... and he's losing a point a week.

The only way to bring it back is to follow Jefferson's advice, we need to slash the paychecks of political office so nobody can afford to make it a career anymore. Then the only people that'll run for office are crazy dreamers.

Any candidate who's position can't be found on his website or at least gotten from his campaign office in less than 5 minutes doesn't actually have a position. Anybody that hides their position is a fencesitting waffler who wants to hear what the voters think before he attests to anything, and these are the worst guys in the world to have in office. I'd rather have a guy I disagreed with across the board than a windsock. Respect the 5 minute rule, don't bother to dig deep for their position, the deeper you have to dig the less of a position they'll have.

The modern age of politics is terrified of the unexpected, it's something to be avoided in every possible minute of the campaign.

Some call it discretion. I prefer the other name, cowardice. But it's hard to take courage when you take no stand and have no standard-bearer.

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